Bicycles

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I hereby declare my love for my single speed, sit up bicycle.

I am often amazed by the inginuity of bicycles. Just a few cogs and wheels, and for the same energy that you would expend walking at a gentle pace, you can travel at 15kmh. You can often beat heavy traffic (and we’ve got loads here) and end up making the same time you would in an expensive, polluting car. The basket on the front is big enough for my work bag and I can put heavier stuff (including, quite frequently, passengers) on the back. Riding a single speed is easy, relaxing and still pretty good for your health, and the environment. Sure - the journey to work would fifteen minutes or so less in a car, but isn’t that worth it? Plus, there are no laws about riding your bike whilst drunk which means I can ride it to the pub and ride it home again.

I have a 5 speed racing bicycle as well, which I use for long rides on days off - but thats another entity. I don’t expect everyone to do that (everyone finds enjoyment in different things). But - it does astound me that more people don’t use bicycles as regular transport.

Wake up world: Bicycles rock. Cars suck.

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there are in america

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Yeah, I loved bicycles too. A long time ago I got a job that was just about right for cycling - about 5 miles or so. Borrowed my friend’s rickety 5 speed and began to ride everyday. Since my occupation previously had been pretty much “sit around and play sega™” I began to lose a lot of weight. Eventually I bought a mountainbike with a stupid amount of gears and began to do a further 20 miles a day on top of the daily commute. Legs of fucking steel.

The Nottinghamshire countryside began at the bottom of the road where I lived at the time, a quick five-minute sprint and I left all the houses and the traffic behind, it was wonderful. I became so addicted to cycling that even in the pit of winter I’d be out in a pair of cycling shorts and a couple of tee-shirts. I remember once the sweat froze on my forearms, at which point, surprisingly sensibly for me, I decided to go home without completing the full run.

My favourite part of my daily ride was the hill. It was a long bugger sweeping around and about through cuts of trees and empty fields, until you got to the top. The place was absolutely deserted - no houses, no people, nothing much man-made in view except for the continuation of the road swooping down the hill before me. I’d be sweating like a pig by now, and breathing like a steam-engine, but it didn’t matter because for the next mile or so the gradient would carry me, and the breeze would cool me.

Damn I’m missing it now. I don’t have a bike here, my job’s too far and the traffic here is pretty lethal.

Happy days.

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Yeay to that!

I don’t have a car, and i used to transport myself with a racing bike. You can easily hold 20-25 km/h if you trained somewhat. And i had a mountbike aswell. Both have been stolen in the last two months :cry: .

I’ve been seeing a lot of single speed racing bikes lately. Seems to be the new trend.

road-singlespeed.jpg

Don’t know if i should buy one though. I have my doubts about starting and climbing hills without gears :-k . Plus i actually like shifting gears and trying to constantly keep that same pedalfrequency.

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Hey Diekon,

There’s little point in a racing bike in Ho Chi Minh city (my current place of residence). Although in theory you can go a lot faster (and actually I’m pretty well trained - I’ve been cycling for years on all sorts of bikes!), the traffic is so hectic that the hieght of the seat, the body position and the thin tyres all make using a racing bike very painful (in a city with unlevelled roads, traffic jams everywhere and streets from 10-15 motorbikes wide full with mopeds). I do know a few people who use them, but its not for me. I do own one, like I said, and I do go on longer excursions (there’s a great route to a small town in the Mekong delta thats very doable on a sunny day), but just never for the commute!

Single speed racing bikes, as far as I know, are only good for tracks or flat, short time trials on the road. You have a weight advantage, which is everything on a track, but they are utterly untenable for a daily commute. Most don’t have breaks either - you break by backpeddaling. Definately no good in Saigon! If people use them for commuting anywhere then, fankly, they are either deliberately hard core or trendy idiots :smiley:

My single speed is more of the dutch commuter variety:

google.com.vn/images?um=1&hl … le&spell=1

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My city, Austin, is very good for bikers. I don’t ride because of physical problems now (calcinosis in my right knee), but I would if I could. My family in the Pacific NW are all riders; and some of them ride long distances for charity events. They say they’re in the best shape of their lives because of it. My s-i-l here in Austin also rides charity events, or at least she did one last year. I’m donating to all these events several times a year.

I always wanted to ride one of those prototypes such as the Velocipede or Pennyfarthing (like in The Prisoner), but I never did. I seem to remember watching someone ride a unicycle they brought to some event I attended, but I can’t remember if I tried it out or not… I just hope I did. Lol.

Several years ago I was visiting my sister and niece up in Washington state, and her ex took us up to Vancouver for a biking excursion through Stanley Park. That was so much fun. We saw the Beluga whale, and swam in the heated pool that extends out into Vancouver Bay. I came away thinking that Stanley Park must be the best and greatest park in the world.

The next time I visited up there, I stayed with my brother and his family. He drove us up to Vancouver also, but that time we experienced more of the city, ate in a restaurant that served really crappy, watered down Margaritas, and then visited the anthropology museum at the University of British Columbia. That museum is fantastic. I could have spent days there… and all that green. I just love the northwest.

Anyway, driving back, we stopped at a little town in Washington where there was a great Mexican restaurant with just the right ambience, friendly waiters, and the BEST Margaritas ever, big ones made strong and just right. We each had two, followed by a Cucuracha chaser, and I guarantee you no pain was felt at all. We loved everybody and everybody loved us!

But back to biking – the best sport and excercise in the world next to swimming, and a great way to get around town and beat the traffic. Also, being on a bike, I expect you notice more of the people and the world around you. You can be more in tune with the atmosphere and flavor of life. Can’t beat that with a stick and a nail in your foot.

Pennyfarthing from The Prisoner:

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This is my bike: a Koga Miyata Prominance.

I ride it daily. The more time I have, the more distance I cover. I sometimes bike to my mother (about 30 km) and back (total 60). I also just bike around in the neighborhood between the farmlands and small villages and such. Great times!

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wow. thats a good bike.

haha - if I had that bike I would ride it daily too!

next year I’m going to be riding from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh city - I really want a decent touring bike. But I can’t afford one!

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Very nice bike, Arjen. I can imagine how great it must be biking through the countryside.

Brevel, are you Vietnamese and working in China? That must be quite a ride between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city. Is it a long distance? Ya’ll need a Craigs list or some way to buy used touring bikes. Good luck!

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I am lucky with biking as well, because the Netherlands are flat as a pancake! So all biking is just nicely done!

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That does make it easier. Here’s it’s very hilly. I have to plan my long walks in order to avoid too much hill climbing. It’s really great walking here, though, because there’s so much green and natural rock.

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Where is this ‘here’ you speak of?

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No I am English, working in Vietnam. I used to be in China - I bailed recently. I should probably update my profile.

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Ah, I see. What a great adventurous spirit. My sister was like that before she got married. She taught English in Poland and Malaysia for awhile and was a world traveler for quite some time. Do you like working in Vietnam? I expect it must be wonderful soaking up all the culture and making new connections.

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Austin, Texas. The weather here is just glorious these days. I sometimes wish it could be like this forever.

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Why don’t you come over here where it is nice and flat and take that weather with you?

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I love it. It’s pretty different to everywhere else I’ve been, it has its drawbacks as well as advantages (living away from home, limited pool of native speakers to befriend, language barriers etc) but overall its a great place to be working. The language is a nightmare, but the challenge of learning is great. Vietnamese people are very friendly and welcoming and I’ve had some great experiences already, especially on the occasions that I’ve make it out of the city.

Weather though - not so long ago it was 33-35 degrees at 80%+ humidity. LAst night it was a mere 28, but humitidty a stifling 98%!

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Trendy idiots could be a good guess :smiley:. I live in Belgium, and we have long standing road cycling culture. It’ s the second sport, and pro cyclist are sort of the local hero’s here. So people do try to emulate them, and buy all the most recent and expensive racing bikes and assessories. The single speed racing bike is somewhat of a recent phenomenon, but you do see more and more of them. They really caught my eye when i was in Japan last month, there they were riding them all through Tokyo. Come to think of it, track racing is probably a popular sport over there… that would make sense.

And i can see why a single speed racing bike would be no good in Saigon Lol :laughing:. Here in Belgium it’s maybe feasable, there’s a lot of flat, good roads, with here and there some hilly parts.

I also didn’t use my racing bike for commute - i use public transport - but i did use it for all the rest. There nothing like flying through the city at 25-35 km/h. I love the technical part of it, the steering, shifting gears, anticipating traffic at high speed… keeps you wide awake. Yeah, i definately need to buy a new one, soon.

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Luckily for me, I have a great hybrid car; and I can always find good walking paths.

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Are your temperatures Celsius? If so, I think that 33-35 degrees would be 91-95 degrees F here. At 80% humidity, that is downright brutal. I thrive in that kind of heat, but the humidity would bother me a lot. Here in Austin, the humidity is mostly low, so the heat is very bearable in the summer. Right now it’s wonderful, perfect weather for getting outdoors. I go on long walks every other day and just love it.

I’m glad to hear that your experience in Vietnam is so rewarding. If you are around native speakers long enough, you will pick up the language. My niece is in Jordan now studying Arabic and other subjects as part of her junior year study-abroad program. It’s been quite an adjustment for her culturally, but she’s coping very well and making good friends there. She’s going to spend a couple of weeks in Spain between semesters before returning to Pomona/Claremont for the spring semester. She loves languages and hopes to be able to bridge cultural divides and find common ground as she finds her place in the world. You probably relate to that, I imagine.