Going Dutch In The Snow

Yesterday, for the first time in years, I didn't anyone riding on the streets.  Today there were a few people pedaling; I think they were all making deliveries.  

The cold, snow and wind were enough to keep most people off their bikes.  However, I think that fear was also another factor in keeping cyclists off the road.  

Even under optimal conditions, cyclists (at least here in the US) are seen as "crazy".  Of course, someone who imputes insanity to others is portraying him- or her-self as sane or right and, by implication, entitled.  Thus many motorists see themselves as the rightful owners, if you will, of the streets and roads.  They expect cyclists to defer to them or simply to get off the road altogether, ostensibly for their own safety but actually to, as a British neighbor of mine says, to "keep up that All American idea that everything should facilitate the movement of automobiles".

Now, I know that there isn't much of a comparison between my hometown of New York and a city like Utrecht in the Netherlands.  Still, I think the following video of cyclists commuting in the snow in the ancient Dutch capital can offer some lessons to American urban planners:

This Made The World A Little Smaller

It is indeed a small world.  (You can add the "after all" if you like.)

And, yes, technology makes it smaller all the time.  

Case in point:  eBay.

I have bought and sold all sort of things, most of them bike-related, from and to people in Canada, England, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy,the Czech Republic, Slovenia,Japan, China and Korea as well as places in the United States I'd never heard of until I encountered them on what's been called "the world's largest garage sale".

Occasionally the interaction involves more than just the sale or purchase of something.  I have had exchanges about people's names (including one with a customer who just happened to have the same name as one of my favorite poets), hometowns or some aspect of cycling or local culture.

My latest such interaction, though, is one of the most interesting.

I sold a nice Nitto stem that, I finally admitted to myself, I'd probably never use.  It was not the right size for a current project.  Perhaps one day the "right" bike or situation would come along--but when?

I kept it mainly because it's a Nitto (Each of my bikes except my LeTour have at least one item from that company on it!) and because it's interesting. It's one of a brief run of TIG-welded chrome-moly stems Nitto made in the early '90's.  Of course, being a Nitto, the welds were much cleaner, neater and  less bulky and blotchy than on other welded stems of that time--including those of pricey after-market stems like Syncros and Control Tech.  The stem I sold is probably one of the few welded stems that wouldn't look out of place on a vintage road  bike.  

The fellow who bought the stem e-mailed me.  He said he received the stem and left nice feedback.  Then this: "I noticed the name on the shipping label.  Are you the gal with all of the Mercians?"

It is a small world indeed!  

P.S.  This is not the first time eBay has "outed" me.  A couple of years ago, a fellow bicycle blogger (whom I read regularly) also connected my eBay ID with me when he saw my name above the return address on the package I sent.  

"The Big East Coast Blizzard" Is Here! Don't Tell Anyone That Bike Is Mine!

By now, you've heard about the Big East Coast Blizzard.  Some of you in Montana and Alberta are laughing at us for making such a "big deal" about it.  You have the right to.  For us, though, the storm really is a "big deal", with the most snow and strongest winds we've had in a long time.  When it's all over, we might have two and a half feet (72 cm) of snow.

The city is indeed shutting down: The post offices (and most stores and offices) are closed,  the buses were halted at noon, and the above-ground trains are going to stop at four pm.  People will, no doubt, be stranded.

Yes, that is my blue LeTour.  Don't tell anyone! ;-)

What If The Bike Thieves Are Bullies?

If you've read any of my posts about bikes I used to own and ride, you know that I've had a few stolen. 

If you've had a bike stolen, you know that few things can make you feel worse.  Actually, at the moment you realize your bike is gone, it seems that nothing can make you feel worse--even if you've experienced the three D's--deaths, divorce and depression. As Tom Cuthbertson wrote in Anybody's Bike Book:  "Stealing a bike from someone who loves and depends on it is one of the lowest things one human being can do to another.  For God's sake, if you have to steal, steal something else."

Recalling that passage, for me, begs the question of how to treat a kid who steals another kid's bike.  Should the kid who stole the bike be punished?  If so, how?  And, if that kid beat up the kid whose bike he/she (Let's not be sexist here!) took, does that change your mind about whether or how to punish?


According to police in Hallandale, Florida, on 4 January two second-grade boys punched another boy and tried to get away on his bike.  Shortly after, police arrested the two boys.  Prosecutors then decided the boys are too young to be charged.  Instead, they will attend a mandatory after-school counseling program.

The comments on the article I linked showed no sympathy for the boys.  Whether they are counseled, punished or dealt with in some other way, the goals should be to show them that there are consequences to their actions and help them to change their behavior--not for adults to exact revenge or express anger or frustration. 

I've never been a parent, so make what you will of what I recommend.  On the other hand, I am an educator, so I think I know a thing or two about what helps kids grow up.  Then again, I remember how pissed off I was when my bikes were stolen...

A Wrap From The Past

It came in a rainbow of colors and was, by far, the lightest product in its category.  It was easy to apply and use, and even easier to replace.  As delicate as it seemed, it actually fared as well--or, at least no worse--than any other item in its category.

Even at 25 cents, nobody wanted it.  So, in the first bike shop in which I worked, we threw it out..

Fast-forward a few years:  I'm working in another bike shop.  Everyone, it seemed, wanted the stuff we tossed out of the previous shop.  Some even grew irate when we didn't have the color(s) they wanted.

What happened?  Well, the '70's became the '80's.  Neon colors became all the rage in everything from ski wear to cycle gear.  ( I rode several winters in a hot pink-and-black Italian cycling jacket.)  Some riders wanted multiple colors to create all sorts of patterns and special effects.

What am I describing?  




It's something you may well have used if you're about my age.  Maybe you're still using it.  If you weren't born the first time it  was en vogue, you may have discovered it recently and think it's the coolest stuff you've ever seen.

I'm talking about a thin cellophane handlebar tape from Benotto. Almost no bar wrap was ever slicker or shinier.  I, like many other riders, wondered how that stuff could ever provide any kind of grip.



Truth was, it didn't.  And that was part of its appeal, especially if you were a time trialist or some other kind of super-fast rider. You see, its surface made it easier to change hand positions on long rides.  On the other hand (pun intended), the only thing resembling grip the tape provided came from the overlaps. 

I'll admit, I used a couple of sets myself.  On my black Cannondale road bike, I wrapped my bars with red Benotto tape; on my Trek 510, I used a rather nice set in a kind of shimmery café crème hue.



 The tape could be had in almost any shade imaginable, as well as in certain patterns, including the flags of Italy, France, Germany and other countries.




By the time customers were demanding it, the price had gone up to around a dollar. At that price, you didn't worry about tearing it in a fall or some other mishap!  And it took practically no time to rewrap a bar with new Benotto tape.

I don't know how long it stayed on the market.  From what I could tell, production seemed to have stopped some time around 1990.  These days, new-old-stock Benotto tape goes for as much as $25 (yes, for a two-roll set) on eBay.  And some company is making reproductions of the thin cellophane tape. 

Imagine that:  A "retro" product made of cellophane.