Fixies Jump The Shark!

It's official, single speed fixie culture has "jumped the shark". What started out as the subculture of bike messengers living on the fringe and became the iconic symbol of trustafarians and pretentious art school dropouts in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, has now been co-opted by middle aged bike geeks in suburban New Jersey. The now famous bike culture blogger "Bike Snob NYC" has been chronicling the downfall of hipster "street cred" for two years now but I think I can claim the title as the driver of the final nail. Yes, Cathy and I now have our own color matched, single speed, recycled frame, bicycles complete with deep V rims and colored chains. We think they're cool and that's how I know that no self respecting hipster should be caught dead on one. But you know what? I don't care! These bikes are fun to ride. We don't dress up in bike clothes and ride these bikes for miles and miles. We ride them from home into town about 2 miles to get a cup of coffee. These bikes are just perfect for that. I really don't want to have to put on my super hero bike costume and special shoes to make this short of a trip and I feel guilty as hell getting into my car to get there but I am, after all, too lazy to walk. Simple and fun is what these bikes are all about. Maybe if people thought they too would not have to wear a superhero bike costume in order to enjoy riding a bike, they might want to ride more. Hmmm...Maybe I'm on to something. The bike industry has been trying to make this happen for the past few years but it seems like the only company making headway in this area is Electra, a company that focuses a lot of energy on making their bikes fun. But there is something fun about making your own statement with a bike that you cobbled together yourself from reclaimed parts. My town bike is made from an old Schwinn World Sport I found in the garbage pile behind our Long Valley store. A little paint and a few parts and this bike lives to ride another day. I will be honest in saying that I don't love the ride quality of the bike but it's only for a couple of miles so how good does it have to be? Cathy's bike on the other hand

was put together from an old Frejus racing bike. The frame is made from Reynolds 531 Cromoly tubing crafted in Italy

at the Frejus Legano factory in the '70s. It is an amazingly nice ride and Cathy couldn't stop raving about how great it was and was actually comparing it to her custom Serotta!

The down side of these bikes is that carrying the grocery load is not terribly practical, kind of like going furniture shopping at Ikea in this Austin Healy. So after breakfast and coffee we rode home and I got my Fargo with the panniers and headed back down the hill to the supermarket. After another completely craptastic week of weather, Sunday's blue sky and fluffy clouds were a welcome respite and I am happy to say we made it through another day without getting into a car. Oh yeah, did I mention that my pedals glow in the dark?