this makes me think again about the interesting fact that certain technologies are adopted while others fall by the wayside for no immediately apparent reason.

about 6 months ago, i bought two bridgestone picnicas from a retired engineer living in woodside, queens. he informed me that he and his wife purchased these bikes new in 1984 and had probably put 10,000 miles on them in the 30 years they'd owned them. i sold one of the bikes to a friend and kept the other to play around with.

when i decided to fit the rims with big apples i anticipated it was going to be a pain to remove and refit the rear wheel due to the beltdrive mechanism. it was actually extremely easy because the belt isn't designed to be under constant tension; i just pulled the wheel back in the drop-outs finger-tight, gave the wheel a spin and eye-balled it to make sure it was basically square in the drops- and i was on the road in few minutes. 30 years on, the kevlar belt is just as supple and strong as i imagine it must have been the day it was installed.

the picnica was fitted with the bridgeston beltrex system which, thanks to bootiebike.com, the function of this brilliant design is well-explained in this clipping from an 1987 issue of popular mechanics:




a few weeks ago, i did a leisurely 30 mile round-trip ride on the picnica through parts of brooklyn and queens. it was a blast.