Bike Dandies

I have been amused and a little disgusted by the debate taking place
on the Velo Orange Blog this week concerning, among other things,
fork shape and logos.

It's a special kind of man to fuss incessantly about what his bike
looks like. Most recently, someone has been grumping about the
presence of logos (and we're talking pale, barely noticeable etched
logos on handlebars), saying he prefers it when he can polish the
logos off his bike components. What kind of anal fussbudget is
willing to spend time polishing a logo off a pair of handlebars?
What, exactly is the point? Is he creating a work of art? Is he going
to hang it in a gallery?

The Velo-Orange guy (who is doing very nice things for artisanal bike
goods) is very concerned about the bend of the forks on the new bikes
his company is developing. That's legitimate; they're his creation,
and he should make them as nice as he wants, particularly if they
sell better when they're beautiful. OK, I'm good with fork bend, so
far. But for the bike dandies in the peanut gallery to start weighing
in is pathetic. What do they care what the fork bend looks like? All
they're doing is buying a bike to ride (supposedly, although I have
my doubts).

I'm about to put a second basket on my touring Trek. It looks silly,
and it makes the bike a bit heavier, but it's really handy. I picked
up packages at the post office today, and I was just barely able to
get them to fit under the cargo net in the back basket. A front basket
would have been nice. But it certainly wouldn't draw too many
admiring looks from the dandies who drool over bikes in Flickr.

And the fork! It's rusty and it doesn't match the frame! The bike
must be unrideable!

Actually, it rides fine. I couldn't ride for five miles no-handed
(OK, it's a bit shimmy-ish--I can hardly ride 100 feet no-handed),
but it works well for commuting and touring.

Enough.