econobot

Take that back! I live there and I'm certainly no hipster.

chimblysweep

ok, so my original post was "what's a hipster?"
but god forbid i open that can-o-worms.

hipsters or not, we do have the greasiest pizza, the biggest falafel topping bar, and the most fix-friendly bike shop in the city. and did i mention beer? lots of places to get beer.

econobot

Best deal on the street, imho.

chimblysweep

so, econo, when will you reveal yourself to us? can you come tomorrow night?

econobot

Hah! You've met me a few times. I spoke with Ben and you the other week around lunchtime in Dupont about selling my bike due to bad karma. Still sans back wheel and am not going to be picking up a bike anytime in the next month or so due to an expensive flight to Australia.

chimblysweep

goodness, why didn't you (or did you?) mention that? again, coming tomorrow night?

econobot

Haven't mentioned the upcoming trip to Australia. Have moaned incessantly about my back wheel and bad karma. Won't be making it tomorrow night as I'm currently in the process of selling my car due to this trip to Australia. Prospective buyers abound!

spud

well then, what sort of jalopy are you trying to peddle on us?

Schiek

Live and work in DC. Ride to the job every day. Twelve months a year. Don't work for the Government. Don't work for DOD. Don't have any interest in participating in CM. Not lazy. Not alone.

econobot

95 Integra, 85k miles, automatic, original owner, looking for 5k.

spud

funny, we take comfort in numbers too.

Schiek

Not sure I understand this response. My point was simply that choosing not to participate in CM does not mean you are lazy. Who is this "We" you speak of? I Did not realize CM was an "Us vs. Them" or "We vs. Not We" proposition among cyclists. Good to know.

spud

we as in cyclists in critical mass, as the whole point is to collect a critical mass. yeah you missed the boat, its not us vs them.

Pemdas

where's this fixed friendly bike shop? ive been to two in alexandria since i moved back from richmond. they had nada.

Schiek

sigh. Fair enough.

Maybe we can discuss further if I ever get to one of the DC Pirates outings.

cheers.

-Schiek.

chimblysweep

city bikes, adams morgan. 1 block east of the corner of 18th and columbia.

now, i think most on this thread know i work there part time. that's not why i call it fix-friendly. it's because we're an EAI dealer and can get you NJS anything. We stock stuff like EAI cogs, champs and strong g grips, toshi straps, MKS track pedals, nitto stems, sugino 75 (and we have grand mighty right now!) cranks, random track frames (incl. a Koga dutch national track racing team frame right now), etc.

LóFarkas

Woo-hoo, I'm starting to feel really proud...

Since the Budapest CM was mentioned, let me add a bit of background: It all started in 2004, when the city council wanted to "move" the world car free day celebrations to Sunday from sep22, a weekday, so as not to "disrupt [car]traffic too much". A couple of messengers said: "WTF? The whole point is that car traffic is not the only way" So they, bike shops and bikers organized a lil' CM in the heart of the city. 4000 turned out in protest, demanding more bike lanes etc.
The press picked it up, and the figure swelled to 10000 on Earth day, and to 25000 or so on sep 22. The whole city was full of orange stickers and posters during September. The route was a 10km loop, all traffic closed by police. The group spanned the full 10K, the rear end was just off the starting point when the first guys comleted the loop.
All this has changed a few things: more and more people see biking as a viable transport alternative, and politicians are realising we are a big enough group so that our votes count... Bike lanes, racks, legal modifications are planned. And there are more and more bikes on the street.

Here CM is not such an underground event: everybody knows about it now, the police assist us, and even non-bikers turn out to have some fun in the street. Monocycles, penny farthings, tandems, recumbents are also ridden. Looks like the april/september schedule will remain.


No big deal compared to Paris, where rollerbladers take over the city centre every friday night, or Amsterdam, where (I think)bikers don't bother to organise a CM: there is no need for it as practically everyone commutes on a bike regularly anyway.