:Cyclostat

Dear Boston Biker,

I saw this today and thought of us. It’s from the Oatmeal’s website, and it is concerning “slight differences”. One such difference is between cars cutting each other off, and pedestrians doing the same. Click on the photos for a larger view.

VIA

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Spotted this beauty the other day. I have NO IDEA WHAT IS HAPPENING. Is is it a fungus?

Maybe it looks like dirt or something (that;s what she said) from this angle, so I’m going to show this from another view.

I think the grossest angle is the one that shows the depth of these lesions. It kind of looks like burnt mozzarella, or the cheese on top of nachos. Did the tire partially melt?

That’s right, they stick out a few millimeters. Bike Herpes. It is contagious?

If you know the owner of this bike, or you know anyone who has touched this bike, then now is the time to call them and let them know.

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As a cyclist who uses my powers mostly for self-interest, I’m always happy to hear about those who use their abilities for good.

Like the guy from Tri and Give a Dam (BTW: amazing name). This guy races all around the country to raise money for clean water in Kenya. Good guy, right? I just use my bike to humiliate Northeastern students, and get to work on time.

Anyway, Delta airlines fucked up his bike. See video:

If you want to know more, you can check out this article in the Consumerist. Personally, I’m never going to fly Delta. They charged him $200 to fly with his bike, and a) won’t reimburse him for his bike and b) won’t even refund him the $200.

I have always wanted to bring a bike on the plane with me, so I can bike around my destination, but I’ve never done it. Basically because I know that airlines don’t care about bikes, and shit like this will eventually happen. Plus it’s fucking expensive. Has anyone brought a bike on a plane?

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I stumbled across this beauty, which seems to have been manufactured by the GMC company. Hey, I’m all for car companies investing in Bikes – it’s the smart thing to do. Unfortunately, it looks like GMC put as much thought into their “Denali” bike as they did into their cars.

If you’re wondering about the name, the Denali is a mountain in Alaska, which makes sense because this is a road bike. Oh, and Denali is also a line of cars from GMC. So why not compliment a 40k car with a $170 road bike? Yeah. Good marketing.

I didn’t lift it, but I’ll make a bet that this bike weighs a good 30 lbs. Just check out the thickness of the dropouts! I’m not sure if it is visible from this photo, but they are just so THICK. Like disgustingly thick.

I don’t know why they did this. Maybe General Motors just doesn’t know that a bike is supposed to be light. Maybe they just didn’t have the know-how or budget to manufacture some decent dropouts. Maybe they were  lazy?

But the raison-du-blogeuire is truly the owner’s choice of a lock. Please, children look away. Adult males: try and make sure the screen is outside of punching range. I think adult females can probably handle this, but I’m sure there is some precaution they should take.

First, let’s just take a moment to examine this giant turd in its entirety. Then, turn your attention to the tiny cables. That’s right: it’s locked with not one, but two easily clipped locks. The kind that are meant for helmets, or to lock small pieces of paper to one another. ZOOM:

I think the scissors on my keychain can cut through this

And there you have it. The type of bike porn where the actors are too dumb for you to enjoy it. This might be the most retarded bicycle ever created. I am, of course, included the Fixed Speed in this superlative. I wonder how long this bike will last, or if the owner uses it for anything besides putzing around town. Does he race triathlons on this? Is this one of those guys who pulls up infront of you at a light, only to bike at half your speed?

HOW DO YOU EXIST!?

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I had some stuff to take care of in the city (boston proper) yesterday, and I had a little downtime beforehand. So, I decided to explore the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy park.

For the uninitiated. the RFK park is the sweet, green fruit of the big dig.  The space for the park was a result of when the city buried the central artery, so the park more or less runs on top of route 93. I’d say that it’s an improvement over the shit-show of a state highway running through the biggest city in New England.  And it only took 30 years and what, like 25 billion dollars?

Anyway. If you have a chance – the park is beautiful and practical. You can walk (or bike) from the North end, all the way to Chinatown. How cool is that?

Of course, there are some shitty portions. In the North end, it is a paradise of fountains and dogs catching frisbees, but the park gradually gets smaller as you approach the waterfront and South Station. I crossed the street around South station, hoping to find more park, but it was just a sidewalk with some green patches on the side. I’d say that Chinatown got cheated in this deal.

The other drawback for my cyclist fellows is that a lot of the paths are gravel, and might mess up your paintjob/ give you a flat tire. So, for some parts, I ended up biking on the sidewalk like a teenager, or shirtless guy with vertical bar extenders.

My final complaint is that it wasn’t even evident to me that this park existed. In google maps, all I can see is route 93. In Bike-view, I can kind of see the RFK park, but it is dwarfed by all the high traffic roads around it.

Anyway, I’d like to see this park expanded, but I somehow doubt that this will ever happen. Oh well. Here is a photo of a bike with a flower in it a la Chic Cyclist.

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