JohnnyBee

I spent an entire day in Philadelphia today ... Whoa,
there were more wounded Kittens then I have ever seen
anywhere. As I walked around the city, I looked at
piles and piles of vintage bikes that had been converted
too fixies and SS. Matter of fact, I thought there were a
lot of bikes in Holland, and in Germany. Nothing prepared
me for what I witnessed on a warm day in Philly today.

I made a point of checking out almost all of the C&V bikes
that were parked in row after row, and the ones that were
being ridden. 75 % of them were maimed and scarred for life.
Anything you could imagine had been butchered or mutilated.

Yep, there is a slaughter going on in Philly. Where is PETA
when you need them ?

On a brighter note, I went to Macy's and listened to the
Wannamaker Organ. That made me feel slightly better.



Johnnybee.

David Newton

These bike were being ridden?
Pfft!

EjustE

last time I went down to Philly i was a tad more aware of cars (up my rear). Didn't see too many bikes (and, yes, Amsterdam has to be the riding capital of the world, re: your Holland remark) If someone rides a bike instead of driving to Wawa for the morning special sausage sandwich of the week, kudos to them. And wounded kittens will survive, if not filed...

ShawnBeau

If that disturbed you, you should try Williamsburg in NYC. =)

CMC SanDiego

I was in downtown Philly for a conference last week and was amazed at the sheer volume of old bikes, and the number which were neglected and/or butchered. I did make my way over to "Via Bicycle" to see what they had in stock and it was vintage heaven, bikes hanging from the rafters, packed on the sidewalk, and lined up along every square inch of available floorspace. I was wishing there was a good way to take something home with me, but all I bought were some brass Japanese bells for my daughters mixte and my touring bike.
CMC

JohnnyBee

Amazing isn't it ? Oh the Humanity ... (or lack there of)

It looks like I might have to re-think selling any of my CV bikes
to some of the Philly bike shops in the future... After all,
they are my Kittens.


Johnnybee.

JohnnyBee

Oh no ! There is a Kitten grave yard ?



Johnnybee.

manicmike

how about you ride your bike and don't worry about what other folks are riding. they are riding after all.

rhm

When I lived in Philly I picked up a pair of tubular wheels, with Normandy Luxe rims, perfectly true, off the trash while walking the dog. Shoulda hung on to 'em.

Another time, again walking the dog, I saw a nearly complete old Spanish bicycle. Front wheel missing, rear wheel taco'd. Cottered crank but Zeus drivetrain, leather saddle, aluminum drop bars, that's all I noticed. It didn't roll, and I couldn't manage it and the dog, but home was only a couple blocks away and the trash men weren't in sight. I ran, literally ran the whole way home, stuffed the dog back into the apartment, and ran back to 49th street, but the trash men had just gone by, and the bike was not there any more.

I'd be very happy to hear it was now being ridden as a fixie, but I'm afraid it went to the dump.

Kobe 

University of Penn, Drexel and Temple are all near downtown. I bet you would see the same thing in Boston or any other city that has a lot of college students. I am guessing the fixie fad will be slowly dying off and more kids will be riding them with gears because of the work involved for the casual rider.

I have recently sold a couple of higher end bikes to Penn students. They could have been lying to me when I asked what they were going to do with them, but they said they were going to keep them as is and go on club rides. But hey , it's now their bike, they can do as they see fit.

JunkYardBike

Oh, I thought the Phillies were the subject of this thread.

They don't call it Philthadelphia for nuthin'!

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

I'm really holding my tongue not to get on the Philly bashing bandwagon right now.

....this is very difficult.

Ex Pres 

Had to go to New Orleans last week, business, ya know and saw quite a few bikes around the French Quarter. But no multilated desireable C&V bikes. Pleasantly surprised.

gitarzan

Recipe:

Get a vintage bike from the curb or CL.

Remove brakes, rear gears, low front gear, handlebar.

Spray paint it.

Add a single speed gear, tiny little straight handlebar, colored chain.

Sell it for $400 to some trendie near a campus.

ohjonnybegoode

Exactly...I sincerely doubt this is some sort of Philadelphia-only phenomenon...

MIN 

The irony coming out of NJ is overwhelming. :gulp:

JohnnyBee

Whhassamatter, did you booger up a CV bike ? Feeling a little
guilty ?

BTW, I'll ride when I want, and I'll worry when I feel like it.

Uhh.... the issue is not if I'm riding or not, but the destruction of
so many CV bikes that so many of us here work very hard to restore
and appreciate.

It's just a damn shame to see so many butchered bikes.



Johhnybee.

kbjack

There should definitely be subforum dedicated to fixie angst. We could call it: 'YOU are the (multi-geared) revolution you imagine'...or 'No, actually, gears are for CHEERS!' Or, more provocatively: 'I saw a fixed gear and my dick fell off.'

phoebeisis

Gee, Wannamaker- I haven't heard or seen that name in 50 years. Wasn't that a dept store in Philadelphia? I live there in the mid 1950's. I remember that name, and I remember we would wait for people at a big bronze bird in the entrance of another dept store-maybe Gimbels?

Oh, on the fixie craze- it seems a shame, but it is their bike, and it is generally done to high volume-cheapish- bikes.Many of them aren't even chrome Moly frames-and they sure as heck aren't 531 frames.

I wouldn't do it because I'm 58 and I need gears; besides gears were a sign of an expensive desirable bike when I was a kid- 3 speed English racers, and the really exotic 10 speeds.Gears-and brakes-are good.
Charlie

rhm

Yup.

The world is full of people, some of whom do stupid things. Okay, so hacking up a nice bicycle frame is kinda stupid. It's a bummer. But the world has lots of problems, and in the big scheme of things, it is hardly worth getting too worked up about this one.

Bicycles are good. Anyone who's riding a bicycle is part of the solution. Any fad that makes bicycling cool is a good thing.

But wait, this thread was supposed to be about critically wounded kittens, wasn't it?

Wildlife, including but not limited to birds and rabbits and frogs and praying mantises, all these things are good too. Kittens seem cute, but they grow up to be cats that kill wildlife, including birds and rabbits and frogs and praying mantises. This is bad.

Therefore making fixies, as well as killing kittens, is fine with me, even if they're cute.

Critically wounding kittens is not so good; cruelty is inhuman. Cats torture their prey before they kill it, so maybe they deserve it, but we should behave like humans, not like cats.

roccobike

Last time I was in Philly it was like vintage bike heaven. Atala'a, Nishikis', Peugeots all over the place. I saw a pristine vintage 1988 Nishiki Sport that looked like it just rolled out of the showroom. The lady who owned it was walking it through some traffic. Saw a beautiful Peugeot chained to a bike rack also pristine. People ride these immaculate vintage bikes like it's no big deal.
Then I came home.

David Newton

Multi-speed bikes were pushed on us by the bike corporations. They told us the chicks would gather 'round if we had a foreign bike.
We were doing fine on our Western Flyers. We don't need no stinkin' gears!

KonAaron Snake 

As someone from Philly, it's one of the most bikable cities I've been to in this country and a great place for cycling. We have a lot of singles and fixies because we have a lot of messengers and because the city is fairly flat...it's easy to get around by single.

We have a ton of quality stores...and like any store, they do what the customer wants. If it involves hacking off a hanger, they do. I get annoyed when I see a beautiful bike mangled into a hipster special, but most hipsters are broke and are converting their dad's world sport.

Is it really any great loss if a mass produced world sport, raleigh record, etc. is turned into something being ridden? I think not. I've cringed the few times I've seen it done to something of quality, but is there really a shortage of Schwinn Le Tour's?

KonAaron Snake 

Side note...I'm buying a 92' Derosa this weekend, and the kid who owned it is now one of the real collectors in the Philly area. He bought the Derosa as a newbie to cycling, and was going to convert it to fixie. The guys at Via talked him out of it...and after building it up, he's become a major bike nerd and lover of classics.

JohnnyBee

Wow ! We have a Convert.

There is still hope for Mankind



Johnnybee.