i tend to look at all bikes, be they fixed or geared. one cold blustery day in boston i was talking with two friends, one a mess'er, and the other, a fellow student. messenger guy has this super hot black HH with colnago flash forks and black phils, i see this bike creeping up boylston, so i check it out from afar, then as it's going past, there's a semi trailer in the street, so i had to bend down to check it out. totally did a little 360 heel turn-crouch to see under the trailer. when i re-entered the conversation, my friend said: "man, you've got it baaaaaad." i think the bike turned out to be some huffy or something that really wasn't worth the look, but the fact that it was pretty much uncontrollable...

my girlfriend gives me crap for it sometimes. not so much in the last year and a half though. and she knows that if we see some girl on a bike while we're out together, and i say "oooooooh, damn!" 99% of the time, i'm looking at the bike and not the girl.

it actually happened last week. this woman on a bianchi something-or-other (geared, with ultegra), pulled up next to us and i was just looking at the bike very intently, examining each part of it...what kind of cassette is that? what are the gears? aww, triple, bummer, nice saddle, hey!, her handlebars are at the same angle as mine! it took me like, 5 minutes to realise the woman had the same shoes as me. it happens a lot when i'm riding in the car. i'll sit up in my seat and totally rubber-neck some dude on a bike, to check to see if he's got campy or what.

i didn't used to be so into road bikes, but that's mostly what there is in berkeley...i have been seeing more fixed gears lately....nothing fancy though. mostly conversions.

this guy came into my shop the other day with an older converted raleigh. chrome lugs, gold campy cranks, campy hubs...looked super nice, and i told him so. he worked at another shop, so he was just all like "oh. thanks." some other guy came in later in the week with a '70s PX-10 set up pretty much period-correct (as a road bike). i stodd there, oggling the bike for a few seconds and i asked "is that a..." and at the same time we both said "PX-10." and then he said he probably had one in my size at his house, among his 50 or so bikes. hopefully, next time i see him, he'll let me know and then i'll have a new PX-10!!!

anyway, yeah...bike sickness...i think we all have it to some degree...