Two Years

Today since I moved back to the United States from Australia.

Fixed-Gear

Moving on from the impending peak oil catastrophe, it's worth thinking about oil-free transport. Like fixed-gear bikes for example. Can one of my Australian readers tell me if the insipid fixed-gear craze has taken hold there? The Mission in SF is one of the hot spots of this absurd practice. I can't ride a block without having to overtake some tragic hipster struggling along on a fixed-gear bike in black jeans and connies with a bandanna around his neck.

A "fixed gear bike" is really just a pointless hybrid of a track bike and a road bike (too heavy for the track and just too damn stupid for the road). But I can't hate on these monstrosities nearly as well as Bike Snob NYC who has an entire blog devoted to it. It's a surprisingly rich topic and the blog is consistently entertaining.

Check out his Fixed-Gear Bicycle Owners Manual

The highlight, the suggestion that a fixed-gear owner should "do track stands for hours outside of the residence of a person you would like to impress." (Though since I'm prone to doing unnecessary track stands at red lights myself I probably shouldn't laugh.)