Rocky Hillside

Archives for: October 2006, 22

10/22/06

Rocket-Powered Bike

Rocket bikeMagnify the image

Stored inside [Orion Propulsion's] portable trailer/workshop I found a bicycle that seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary, until I noticed the tank, pipes and frame behind the seat. Now, keep in mind that Orion does not build vehicles -- they specialize in rocket engine design, development and fabrication. Nevertheless, you have to have demos, so why not make them fun?

The two-wheeler is in fact the Rocket Bike. It does 0-55 mph in no time flat, and is powered by a very high tech fuel... roofing tar. Yes, ANN confirmed that the bike is powered by the same stuff it usually rolls over when moving. Add an igniter and more NOS, and off you go, triple-underwear and all.

Entertaining, but among the last things I'd like to see (which more or less guarantees that rocket-bikes will be everywhere in a year or so.)

Gerty and The Noisy World

Magnify the image

Gerty and I emerged from a quiet Indian restaurant into the din of a little shopping district. As we walked toward our bikes, Gerty stopped and looked around as if she were seeing the world for the first time.

Gerty: The world is a lot noiser now.
Me: Noiser?
Gerty: Yep.
Me: Um. What?
Gerty: Everybody is always talking to someone now.
Me: What?
Gerty: Look around. No one just walks. Everyone is talking. Everyone is on a cellphone. All the time.

I hadn't really noticed, but we could hear, if not actual words, the drone of four conversations.

Suit With Fixie

JoJo, who writes not nearly often enough at Den of Awkwardness, is back on her fixie, "Julep":

Several times while riding to meetings or even walking alongside a colleague while rolling the Julep with us, I’ve gotten appreciative nods from messengers. On the way home one night a girl on a road bike inquired if I was a messenger, too. I don’t know if she believed me when I said I was a lawyer, because she snorted and snipped, "yeah right, me too."

After a summer of being a dorky rider, it feels good, in a vain sort of way, to shed that skin and don some street cred. I really, really love the contrast of wearing the lawyer clothes and riding the Julep downtown. While I enjoy the contrast, for all I know it could be a signal to those much hipper than I of the death knell of the fixed gear: "Fuck – it was bad enough when the posengers and wannabes all decided to ride fixed, but now even the suits have fixies!"

It's About Style

Black bike leaning against a tan and white inside wallMagnify the image

If talking about practicality and simplicity and economics and health are not enough, time for the secret weapon: style.

From TimeOut New York (via StreetsBlog):

When it comes to style, New Yorkers like theirs with an edge. . . .

What is New York style?

“A bike in the living room, or bedroom, or hall. Not a fancy, $1,000 bike, but a clunker you can lock on the street. All the New Yorkers that I think are stylish ride bikes.” —Joshua David, cofounder of Friends of the Highline

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Rocky Hillside

In the dark of the moon, in the flying snow, in the dead of winter,

war spreading, families dying, the world in danger,

I walk the rocky hillside, sowing clover.

-- Wendell Berry

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Edging away from the edge of American space

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