So long as you're not one of the "creepy dudes following me home on his bike" (bad last Friday), you'll likely find some speed tv and a lotta bike tools in somebody's basement (with perhaps a few beers layin' around). Winters are for projects in a good way, here.
I could look at the beginning, but I will be lazy. When are you arriving?

What is this, a poetry slam?

Adding on to that, parts don't necessarily cost extra. You get free access to the extensive small parts collection of nuts & bolts and ballbearings, etc. Spokes, as long as you're not sitting around building wheels all day, you can grab some replacement spokes and nipples. Might even be able to get a free tube if you ask... once the guys get to know you, it's a very friendly place, although I found it slightly intimidating at first. Plus, you never know what will turn up as a donation and you can get a sweet deal on some stuff... like a new $160 pair of cycling shoes for $20. There's even a coffee shop next door in case you get thirsty and sometimes free beer, popcorn and weiners on volunteer nights... what more could you want?

Sibley Bike Depot is rad.

I work at a coffee shop, up a hill, from any direction (really) a few hours a week (for the free coffee and a wee paycheck).
I'll take care o' ya.

Thanks for the great tips.

I expect to be in town sometime the first week of Aug.

hey,
don't hate.
appreciate.

Hey ya'll in the vein of not being a hater:

Please tell me that there is no "scene" in the Twin Cities. I'm talking about all the hipster/poser/fashionista/ vs. courier/"I did it first" BS that has been going around.

If the bike culture has fragmented into this sort of Williamsburg/SF fashion scene then It'll be a sad day. When the bike becomes an accessory to an image, then I just have to pass. It doesn't sound like it from what you all have been saying, so I'm hoping for the best.

I'm classically West Coast laid back and I could give a f*** about all that business. And yeah, right now I'm a working mess, and soon I'll be a student again. People want to dress like how they think a courier dresses, have at it. Godspeed, and all that.
In Sac there is nothing like that that I pay any attention to. Maybe the 100 deg temps keep people off fixies, and huge, sweaty bags. In Seattle, the hills and wet kept fashion people away. There were an elite level of couriers, but there were few jobs, and it wasn't glamorized or visible except for World's 03.

I'll admire a nicely put together bike (fix, track, road, mtn, cruiser) as much as anyone else, but if MPLS is even a smidgen of "what the cool people think is cool" vibe, then yeah I say shine to any scene. I'll keep on doing what I love doing, and I'll bet I'll find people in the Cities that feel the same way.

See ya'll in about a week.

Call this a glowing representation of the culture, or an evil media spin, I'll let you judge. My interpretation is that everything is all one and the same; no fragmenting has occurred. But then again, I'm a pessimist.

Thanks for the link.
I'm calling it evil media spin. Interviewing like 4 couriers is not an indication of the vibe of a city. Although it was depressing how the reporter focused on the friggin fashion...Sigh.

I think I'll start my MPLS riding in a black suit, short sleeve white shirt, and white helmet. Tell people the Mormon mission messenger look is all the rage on the Coast.

I'll be ,"So you all rocking the 3M look out here?"

or

"Word of God with your Fed-Ex pick up today?"

Dudes it'll be HOT. Run don't walk.

Has it been a week yet?
I'm tired of the rest of 'em.
Kidding.
I don't even know the rest if them (aka any sort of "scene").
Well, maybe a few, but... I'm a bartender at a place that has far more of an attitude, so, walls up.
We're all Minnesooootan, so we all say "hi", (and then when you leave we say other things...).
; )
You'll like it here.
Really.

It's been 5 days...

FWIW, I'm not a Minnee-sohh-ten, I'm a Montanan living in Minnee-sohh-ta...

god I miss minneapolis....
born and raised between uptown and the washburn high area.
I've lived on the west bank, dinkytown, uptown, stevens, places I don't even remember.
I know that if I ever went back it just wouldn't be the same, but I still entertain the idea. you just don't know what you have when you have it.
home is where the heartbreaks.

I miss hanging out at the smoke shop that was next door to muddy's....

I miss walking through the hiawatha freight yard at night...

I miss 4 am stops at hard times. (there was always someone there)
its not 24hrs anymore is it?
boo

johnnytoobad: i miss minneapolis, too, and i live here. i moved away for two years and then came back last may. things had already been changing quite a bit back then, but you know, a place is never the same when you come back to it. some of the changes have been great, too (non-smoking bars, greenway, train), but still, memories are sweeter sometimes.

I know, I know... I'm glad someone relates. I guess when I think about it, every city I end up says to me "you love it now? you should have been here x years ago"
Its a generational, coming of age type of emotion that everyone feels. I just happen to think that if you spent a good amount of time as a teenager in minneapolis in the '90s, you were one lucky kid.

I just moved from there last week. Minneapolis will always have a place within me.

That's true. I remember discovering the Hard Times, Extreme Noise, the Bomb Shelter, etc., not to mention the things I should be ashamed of having been excited about, like Rolling Soles Skate Shop, Al Johns in Calhoun Square, and the clearance rack in the men's section of Urban Outfitters. Whatever, I was young.

(if you must know, Rolling Soles was a shop that catered to the aggressive in-line skater type. Uhm, well, I was never very good at skateboarding, for fear of falling on my face on the concrete, so I thought maybe I'd have better luck on the in-lines. Jesus. What a dork. I'm glad I finally rediscovered bikes)

ah, the shelter.
I picked up like 5 garbage bags of cans from the bomb shelter right before they were about to shut it down. like it would have helped. all the thanks I got was nearly getting arrested and a confiscated backpack.

how funny to think about that.

I miss gold medal,
and drinking beers under the (3rd ave?) bridge.
and hip hop night at bon appetite.
and "sign my coat"
and the chicago and lake laundramat. weirdly enough.
the list goes on.

i remember him. i think his name was david. i think he stayed with a friend of mine for a while...

...sadly, he was a crack addict. i haven't seen him around for years, and i don't know if that's good or bad.

if youre a straight boy.. bring some cute girls.. youre gonna need em.. ha!.. i jest.. a joke.. ba dum dum..

i have seen him within the last couple of months. outside of first ave., as usual.

He's a good guy, and he's still around. He was holding down a more or less permanent residence last time I talked to him.

that's good. seems like you don't hear too many success stories from the land of the homeless, especially in this town.

SUPER funny. Let's get our facts straight though; it's the cute boys that are needed 'round here.
A joke?
Ba Da, DUMB.

But I had to move.....
I kid I kid