Bike Lust

I happen to be very attracted to two wheeled vehicles. I like looking at motorcycles more than I enjoy riding them (though that is fun, too). Check out this Scattante Roma Classico Road Bike for just about $450. Dorky is back in, and this one is just gorgeous dorky. It's a coaster brake with a 7-speed internal rear hub. Perfect neighborhood bike.

My Commuter Ride


But I already have a bike. Here is a snap of my perfectly awesome commuter bicycle, a 1990 Schwinn Sidewinder, which I wrote about here one year ago. It has a DIY milk crate pannier rack (two crates ripped on the table saw and sewn together with zip ties--'tis a thing of beauty).

Here's a list of why this bike is perfect.

• It's paid for, and has been since 1990.
• Buying a new one would land this one in a landfill. Bad for the environment. Before you get to "Reduce/Reuse/Recycle" you should first "Use."
• Nobody wants to steal a scuffed up, 20-year-old, purple Schwinn with milk crates and zip ties hanging all over it.
• It has cool hardware store reflectors on the back.
• It can get scraped, scratched, dinged, dropped, and otherwise mauled and molested with no tears from me.
• No quick release parts--nobody's going to take a wheel or seat, not even just to be a jerk. You need tools to chop this ride (and the componentry is all bottom-feeder garbage that nobody wants but works just fine thank you very much).
• I added Performance City tires, which are nice and smooth smooth.
• I added dorky Zefal fenders that work great. I took a ride after the rain last night and got not a drop on me.
  
• I added a BMX-style seat to correct the frame geometry, which isn't perfect for me.

More about bike frame geometry. Hardcore bike people get totally tweeked about geometry, but it comes down to this: different styles of riding require different types of "fit" between rider and bike. If you're a bike racer, you need to get all mathematical/engineerical about this. If you are just having fun, paying a bit of attention to frame geometry will increase your fun (or decrease your discomfort). Your body shape and size, along with the type of riding and bike you have, determine the kind of frame geometry you want.

For bike commuting, an "upright" fit is preferred; you're stopping at intersections, getting on and off, and basically acting like a traffic vehicle. This Schwinn was a bit small for me, so I cheated a bit and used a BMX seat tube to alter my torso's relationship to the crankset and handlebars. In most cases, this would not work, but it's perfect on this bike. I have a nice, relaxed fit on this rig--I sit a little further back over the rear rack, which gives me even more stability.

The most important thing is seat height. You need to extend your leg fully to the bottom-most rotation of the pedal without locking your knee.

Ethical (well, maybe not ethical) Dilemma



Would doing this to your bike make it less cool? Or less of a fitness thing? Or would the fact that you could consistently top 20mph* (you're still pedaling) mean you'd ride to work more? Save the planet? Would you ride more often and therefore get more exercise for the pedaling you are doing?

*While pedaling, you could easily do much more than 20mph with one of these babies, but you need to stay below 20 to be considered an electric bike and therefore subject to the laws of bicycles. Any greater speed and you're a different animal, such as a moped or something, and that ain't gonna work out as well. Still, I wonder; I have a CY permit in my state, I wear a helmet. What could happen? Well, see the questions below for answers regarding the opinions of authorities other than the police.

Or, would it basically be like riding a motorcycle? Would your wife be wise to this and think you were basically riding a motorcycle to work? Would it be less safe? Would you die and leave your wife a widow and your kids with no Dad?

Would people at work think you're a bigger dork than they already do?

Could you rationalize spending the $450 on this kit (that's what one of them costs--a nicer battery if you go up to $850)? That's that price of the sexy Scattante at the top of this post. But let's say you electrified the Schwinn. You could get to work in 25 minutes instead of 40. You could arrive less sweaty (or go for it and get there early enough to take a shower).

Back in May of 2008 when I first got this bike commuting thing going again (and by commuting thing, I don't mean actually doing it, I mean thinking about it, writing about it, planning it) gas was $4.07 per gal. Now it's $2.58. Based on that current price, my daily round-trip commute powered by the trusty-'ol made-in-Flint 3800 is $3.30. That means I'd have to go 136 car-free days to pay for the eBike kit in gas savings alone. If we assume that it's only bike-to-work weather 6 months out of the year, that leaves only 140 work days (M-F) to ride. Of those, statistically about 30 or so of those will be rainy. So if you did it 100 days or so, then the eBike thing only cost you about $120.