heypaul

I was in Roys Bike Shop on Coney Island Avenue in the Sheepshead Bay area of Brooklyn this afternoon. I consider it a high end shop, since they don't have any Huffy bikes there.

It's not my regular shop, as I usually go to Larry's Cycle Shop, which is a very laid back general bike shop, which has been run by the same family for 50+ years. Actually, Roys bike shop has been around for ages also. I remember back in the 1950's when it was located on Sheepshead Bay Road and run by Roy, the father of the current owner.

Anyway, you're not interested in all this history, nor probably in the rest of this post.

Out of curiosity, I looked at the new bikes in the front of the shop. They had three models of a bike with the lowest cross piece connecting the front and rear wheels. It's made by Biria, a German company, and is touted to be the easiest bike to board. Here's a link to some shots of the bike:

https://www.jacksbikes.com/contents/en-us/d691.html

As it is always my intention to irritate people, I'm wondering how upset I could make some of the Robo Bikers in Prospect Park, if I bought one of these bike and rode it in a random manner during their speed runs?

KitN

Biria has a booth along Park Avenue in the mid-55s during Summer Streets. They allow you to test ride their bikes. I'm sure they will require some form of I.D, of course.

I've seen quite a few Birias on the street. They look cool and fun to ride and they are indeed easy to step in and out of. I'd consider buying one. I'm interested in the 3-speed or the 8-speed with generator lights.

I personally couldn't care less about the "robo bikers" in Prospect Park and nor should you. Ride what you like and who cares what anyone thinks?

Stacy

Are there any bike shops that sell Huffys?

Someone's been chaining a Biria to the bike rack down the street from my apartment but its a commuter rather than one of these step-through frames. It also has some kind of European bike plate so I thought it might have been brought back from Europe by whoever parks it there.

heypaul

Oh wow!!! Thanks KitN for the info. I've been avoiding Summer Sweats Saturdays for fear of mixing with other cyclists. But it would be a great way for my friend Rebecca to try the bike out. Are there other bike companies represented? Any chance you've seen a Huffy booth? They're supposed to be coming out with a new line of riding gear made of sack cloth and burlap.

Thanks for the advice about the Robo Bikers. I'm not intimidated by them as much as amused by their intensity and humorlessness. I actually thrive on humorless intense people.

From your experience, what is the policy of most LBS about taking a test ride? Will they let you go out on the sidewalk and ride up and back? I know when I'm testing out a bike in a Target, K-Mart or Toys-R-Us, I ride the bike up and down the aisles, make hat pin turns and lay down heavy skid marks on their recently waxed floors without any problem.

heypaul

Most LBS (Large Box Stores) carry the full line of Huffy bikes.

That's interesting about the commuter BIRIA with the European plate parked near your house. Could it be that someone is commuting daily from Europe?

bettybl

I saw tons of Bria bikes on Summer Streets this past weekend. They had a rental booth and I initially wanted to try it out, but after finding out the brake method is pedaling backwards instead of using a hand lever, I opted out.

Heypaul, NY400 has these orange bikes for rental on Summer streets as well around Spring Street. It looks really pretty and sharp. See ny400.org for pictures of the bike.

Stacy

When I test rode my bike all Bicycle Habitat required was that I leave a credit card and photo ID with them until I returned the bike. They never mentioned any limitations on how long or how far I could take it though I suspect they would've been upset if I kept it over night.

jeebusaurousrex

Riding in a "random manner" would upset pretty much everyone around you, not just the "Robo Bikers".

Then again your intention is to irritate people, so uh...good luck with that.

BTW, they had Biria bikes for rent/borrow at last year's Summer Streets too. They looked nice, certainly better than the beat up mountain bikes and hybrids they had down near Bike Habitat.

roadiejorge