The Hip -- and the Hipsters...
Mood:  caffeinated
Topic: RIDE REPORT
3/13/06 - Today's Monday. Last night I removed the braze ons for the shifter bosses from the downtube of the Tempo. Well, the right side one. Came out a-okay. Will do the other side soon. Saturday, the 11th, I went for a long ride using my new drivetrain... over to Summit, down the long way, and then back around and along Mountain Ave... the harder gear ratio made some of the hills difficult but I kept going!

When I stopped for a cup of java in Summit, I ran into a few locals. One dood asked me, how does a bike without gears work. I explained and he said "ah, it's a fixed gear? I've seen them like that down south," and then he added "it seems to be a trend with the college kids, they can't have gears."

This made me wonder, come to think of it, is it a "trend" to ride? Possibly; most bike companies are now offering a singlespeed or fixed gear bike -- some are even offering track bikes -- and not all those bikes arew intended for the 'drome. Some will hit the streets. Companies like Surly continue to make gear, cogs, and wheels for fixed gear riders. Is this a "trend"?

People think that because something is a trend, it's bad. This isn't always true. Crack cocaine was a bad trend. Fixed gear bicycles might be a good one! Moreover, just because late comers take to riding fixed because it is perceived as cool -- the so-called "hipsters" -- that doesn't remove from the originators of the hip-ness, the original riders, their own motive, which has nothing to do with looking cool and is all about fun riding.

Moreover, trends have a way of lingering. Some are addictive -- both crack and fixed gear riding come to mind. Obviously a crack addiciton is a bad thing -- it interferes with a person's quality of life, clouds their mind, and may kill them.

A cycling addiction, however, is fun, provides some measure of exercise and gets people out of their cars and officer cubicles into the air outdoors where they can relate better to each other and the world around them. It's a good trend, and anyone who stays in the "trend" will not remain a "hipster" very long. Once they see how much fun riding is they will keep it up even if it's hip-ness fades and it is no longer the "cool" thing to do.

- Elvis