bromptonyc

Hey guys - here's a quick update after 1.5 years of owning the Brompton bike and thoughts on the CitiBike share program in New York. I live in New York City. What do you guys think?

My 1.5 year update and thoughts on CitiBike: https://www.bromptonyc.com/2013/07/15...-citibike.html

My original brompton review: https://www.bromptonyc.com/2012/07/my...ton-story.html

Quick summary: I continue to view purchasing the Brompton as one of the best purchases I've made. I think the Brompton folding bike complements the CitiBike share program very well. I think that the CitiBike share program is beneficial for all bikers in general. It seems to be a win-win situation for bikers in New York.

Ozonation

A nice update indeed, and I enjoyed reading your posts about your Brompton - thorough and detailed! I think I recall reading one of your earlier posts when I had just bought mine last year.

My Brompton continues to be one of the best investments I've made. Although I don't live in a particularly bike friendly city, it's not bad, and the folding compactness has made the Brompton a great travel companion. I suspect my wife and I own the only Bromptons in our city!

p.s. The raw lacquer is slick, but I love my sage green! Still, if I had to do it again, I might - believe it or not - go for racing green or even black!

Paul71

I also remember reading your blog. Your review really convinced me to purchase a Brompton.

noglider 

https://nyti.ms/1jMpAod

Winfried

With NYC being a compact and flat city that is suffering with so much traffic, it's too bad it's taking so long to turn it into another A'dam or C'hagen.

https://downtownfrombehind.tumblr.com/

smallwheeler

the changes have happened remarkably fast and also, NYC isn't flat...

noglider 

Neither is it compact. Are you sure we are talking about the same city?

thugpipe

Flat nyc is not but Compact isnt really unfair although I think densely packed would be more correct, its not like the sprawling american city plans seen outside of new england.

noglider 

NYC is 468 square miles (1,213 square km). It's a big city by any measure.

We also have some real hills here. Visiting midtown or downtown Manhattan does not give you a complete view of what the city is. Midtown and downtown are flat.

smallwheeler

a lot of people seem to think nyc is located between houston and 110th st.

a friend asked me once, "where do you live exactly?" when i told her i lived in brooklyn, she said, "oh. i thought you lived in new york city."

*facepalm*

i had a friend who has lived her entire life in mid-town come over to hang out at my place and she wanted dim sum. i suggested we ride our bikes to flushing ave. when we were about half way there she said, looking around in astonishment, "oh my god.. i never knew... all of this... was here... "

noglider 

Do those ellipses denote heavy breathing?

My daughter lives in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Heading there and out does show how vast Brooklyn is. Queens is even vaster. It takes forever to get anywhere, because there are places with little public transit and no highways.

Tonight I am racing at Kissena Velodrome. It will take a long time. It's in a terrible location to reach.

Azreal911

I think all the locals in New York City cyclists would have to do the 5 borough tour that was you can see how bloody big the city is!

smallwheeler

i've lived in bushwick/ east williamsburg for 12 years. when i moved here it was completely empty - just closed factories and abandoned buildings. now, the loft spaces are filled with 22 year-olds (which is exactly what i was when i came here) from the suburbs. so much so, my friend calls the neighborhood "east childrensburg".

if you are going to kissena from bushwick you will be better off taking a car service ($30) than taking the subway (1.5 hours)

bushwick car service: 718-497-4444

good luck on your race!

take some pics...

noglider 

No, I'm leaving from my place in the West Village. I went there a month ago. I took the 7 train to the end and rode from there. I rode back to Manhattan from the velodrome.

East Childrensburg is excellent. My daughter is 22! But she fits in very well, as if she's lived there all her life.

smallwheeler

an interesting graphic:

smallwheeler

i like to think my friends and i pioneered the area and i made it safe for your daughter and her compatriots. when we moved there, there were literally packs of wild dogs and tumbleweeds of garbage blowing through the streets. the first 10 or so of us had an agreement to meet each other's girlfriends at the subway if we were not going to be home. we had a system.




cycling from bushwick to kissena park or corona park/flushing is an amazing day trip.

noglider 

That's an amazing space. My wife and I live in a loft in the West Village. Our ceilings are "only" 10 feet high.

I know I should do the Bushwick-to-Flushing trip one day. I'm sure it would be an eye opener. I've taken the Transportation Alternatives NYC Century ride, and it's pretty amazing.

My daughter is in a still-very-dirty part of Bushwick. One night, walking her dog, a whole pack of rats pass right in front of them. Her dog is crazy for rats, which is inconvenient. Suddenly, my daughter looked down and saw a dead rat in the dog's mouth. My daughter had to remove it from the dog's mouth.

smallwheeler

it's an amazing ride. you get to transit maspeth, ridgewood, woodside, elmhurst, corona park, etc. if you detour slightly south, you can ride through forest park which is huge and "unknown". i "discovered" it accidentally. passing through each neighborhood is like cycling through different countries. polish, ukrainian, malaysian, italian, indonesian, indian, chinese, ecuadorian... you can make a real "foodie" tour out of it.

imagine: perogies and borscht, nasi lemak and sate, handmade italian sorbet, sayur lodeh and rendang, dim sum, and catfish tacos.

i used to fret over having to host friends when they come from out of town. now, it's easy. i just take them on this ride... it's just one of many possible versions of a "real new york" experience.

noglider 

Fantastic.

Have you seen this?

[h=1]Everything New Is Old Again[/h]