Right here’s my newest Outdoors column, which is about why biking ought to by no means have surrendered fully to Massive Dick Disc:

And earlier than you get all indignant, I’m not saying there shouldn’t be any disc brakes. I’m simply saying it’s foolish that almost all bicycles now have them. Pulling a quantity out of my ass, I’d say it is smart for like 25% of bicycles to have discs; the remaining ought to have rim brakes. (Or some mixture of coaster and drum brakes if it’s a metropolis bike that lives outdoors. And I’m not factoring e-bikes into this calculation, since for the sake of this brake-related dialogue I want to faux that they don’t exist.) However Massive Dick Disc is aware of that as quickly as one rider will get an enormous dick disc then each different rider feels both insufficient or like they’re lacking out and desires an enormous dick disc too. So now it’s nice huge dicks discs in your face in all places you look.

Talking of rim brakes, I freely admit I’m beneath the affect of Massive Lug, and Rivendell in fact is the BlackRock of the Rim Brake Industrial Advanced. Consider it or not, they by no means ask me to say stuff like this, however I occurred to note that now you can pre-order a Platypus full:

[Photo: Rivendell, probably with one of those old-timey cameras where you hide under a curtain and the flash is a giant explosion]

I really like my very own Platypus dearly:

And I can completely relate to this sentiment:

I imply if I had to decide on at gunpoint it could undoubtedly be the Platypus. Or perhaps the Jones. Or perhaps I’d simply go together with a street bike and determine I’ll take the subway the remainder of the time. Or perhaps…you recognize what? Fuck it, simply shoot me.

Nonetheless, the entire model looks like an effective way to get your self a Platypus when you’re not sitting on sufficient elements (figuratively talking, by no means sit on bike elements, particularly cassettes and seatposts with out saddles on them) to make increase a body a cheap proposition. My spouse’s Clem Smith was additionally an entire from abroad and when it comes to the elements and the meeting we couldn’t be extra happy with it.

In the meantime, “progress” marches on, and New York Metropolis is lifting its cap on for-hire vehicles (that’s Ubers and Lyfts)…simply so long as they’re electrical:

As I’ve talked about earlier than, these automobiles have come to account for a lot of the site visitors within the metropolis, so at this level it appears delusional to imagine that congestion pricing in New York Metropolis will truly cut back congestion. But it surely’ll be electrical congestion, so at the least you received’t hear the automobile earlier than it runs you over.

In the meantime, the legislative motion in New York Metropolis to require e-bike registration continues to draw supporters:

To be completely clear, I don’t in any method help this. Why? As a result of it’s silly. If license plates stopped folks from operating folks over or crashing into one another we wouldn’t see 40,000 motorized vehicle deaths a yr on this nation. Additionally, as I do know from private expertise, using a automobile that requires licensing or registration on no account prevents the NYPD from issuing me a summons if I select to interrupt site visitors regulation. It additionally doesn’t stop them from charging a bicyclist who kills somebody with a severe crime, even when they select not to take action.

On the similar time, the scenario with e-bikes (and motor scooters, at this level in New York Metropolis you actually can’t separate the 2) is extraordinarily irritating. The had been presupposed to get folks out of vehicles or one thing, however all they’ve actually achieved is intensify present anti-bike sentiment, whereas fucking up the bicycle community besides. Simply as I feel e-bike licensing is silly I’d additionally by no means name for them to be banned, however I additionally suppose it’s time to maneuver on from all of the idealism round e-bikes and acknowledge the brand new points they trigger:

Who cares in the event that they get gas-powered motor scooters, register them with the DOT, and trip them within the streets the place they belong? That’s higher than what’s at present occurring within the bike lanes. I believe the “safety-in-numbers” impact for normal bicyclists stops working as soon as a major variety of bikes within the community are throttle-powered.

Like bicycle brakes, bicycle advocacy was once easy: bikes are nice, we should always make it safer for folks to trip them. Now bikes are electrical and social media is pervasive so it’s turn out to be an ideological battle that usually feels designed to alienate folks: