Originally Posted by
noteon
That's the dumbest argument so far.
No it's not.
But let's go with it.
Those bikes and those clothes will not allow a New Yorker to go 3 miles, in the summer, on the flats, without showing up to work 2 days out of 5 looking like they just got pulled out of a tub of other people's sweat.
Those bikes and those clothes will not allow a New Yorker to go 3 miles, in the winter, on the flats, without showing up to work 2 days out of 5 looking like they didn't have enough quarters for the clothes dryer.
They're good for maybe six weeks looking professional when you get to work. Not much more. And that's IF you don't get any flats, and IF you don't have any chain problems, and IF you guessed right about what the weather was going to be and dressed perfectly when you left the house.
The article is stupid.
You missed the point entirely.
For a forum nut, 15 miles is routine. For everyone else, it's not.
And I'll give you the flat argument(but even then, many already sport the heavy thorn resistant tires), but if you have chain problems, you got a crappy bike. The dutch bike is designed entirely to be ride and go, and even sports a full chain case so you don't even have to bother with them apart from the yearly or twice yearly trip to the lbs.
If it breaks down, just walk 3 miles and call your boss. It's no different than if your car breaks down or if the transit authority stops service for a couple of hours.