Streetsblog tends to be in a perpetual state of intoxication as a result of the fumes of its personal smugness, however sometimes they sober up do a extremely good story, and right here’s one in every of them:
A number of years in the past, motor scooters (or what Streetsblog and others name “mopeds” despite the fact that they actually aren’t) rapidly supplanted bicycles because the small-scale supply automobile of alternative in New York Metropolis. I figured some enterprising particular person had seen a possibility and discovered a strategy to cheaply import crappy motor scooters to promote to supply staff, however I by no means really seemed into it or something as a result of, you already know, I’m lazy and I’m not a journalist. However happily Streetsblog has accomplished the legwork and right here’s the story behind Fly E-Bike, that model you usually see on the contraption that almost ran you over:
Once you examine stuff like micromobility and app-based supply and road design and all the remainder of it, the discourse surrounding it’s usually relatively high-minded and idealistic, however the actuality is way totally different:
[I don’t think that’s how aviation is supposed to work, but the name certainly fits.]
And whereas the smuggies are invoking Jan Gehl and Peter Norton or whoever, this man’s modeling himself on Jordan Belfort:
And it’s fairly spectacular, too, apart from the folks he’s burned–like, actually burned:
Alas, it’s a narrative as previous as the town itself:
It’s nearly as if all of the progressive pantomiming gained’t change the truth that New York Metropolis is about one factor and one factor solely, and that’s earning profits:
Most significantly, this text an ideal instance of how the perfect (and probably solely) strategy to make actual cash from bicycles is by changing these bicycles with one thing else completely.
After all, these of us who don’t rely upon making deliveries as a way to feed ourselves can afford to make extra rarefied selections on the subject of two-wheeled transportation:
The weekend began out heat and moist, and the be-fendered Homer noticed me by the sunshine rain and melting snow:
Then on Sunday the temperature plummeted, and so I seemed to the Roadini:
Do I want a Homer, and a Roaduno, and a Roadini? No. However by that logic I additionally don’t want Beethoven and Brahms after I can simply take heed to Mozart, or Fortunate Charms and Cap’n Crunch after I have already got a field of Froot Loops:
Anyway, everyone wants a devoted three-speed one-speed road-and-frozen-trail bike, clearly:
After all all these bikes are equally comfy–not due to the components, or the match, or the geometry, or something like that. No, they’re comfy due to the sq. taper cranks. Sure, in accordance with the Desert Hipster web site, “crank flex results in all-day driving consolation:”
Now I’ve heard the whole lot.