Bicyclettes

[mlproject]

Even safety conscious old-coots know hearing is not a particularly valuable sense to avoid traffic on your bicycle. By the time you hear something, you're hit. You react far, far, far more quickly to sight, because sound takes physical time to reach your ears.

Yes, you should be able to hear over your music. No, it will not endanger you to listen to it; but you should be smart enough to not have it if it ends up distracting you.

It is 100% illegal to drive a car with headphones. It is not illegal to ride a bike with them.

the stuff that comes out of your mouth gets dumber and dumber. the justification for your shit is always "i've been messengering and riding for years." that's some tired noob vs. veteran scene bullshit mentality.

i used to ride with headphones in bloomington, indiana where there is very little traffic, but in new york city, you have to be retarded to ride with headphones. you can't tell me hearing cars coming up behind you, horns, traffic cops stopping people different from visual signals (lights may be red, but they say go, vice versa) does nothing to how you ride and how you pay attention. hearing cars brake or get closer to me from my side is a huge aspect of knowing what's going on around me in a crowded situation. getting lost in your jams just makes you even slower to react while you're rocking out.

i'm not arguing that hearing something will allow you faster reaction time, but hearing allows you to know your surroundings. besides, on a fixed i'm usually a block ahead of myself mentally anyway since you have to find your line between people, cars, potholes, etc. i don't see how a fraction of a second reaction time will save your ass anyway, so your neurological explanation is pretty sad as well.

now, i definitely wear headphones when doing park laps in central park or prospect park. there is no car traffic, and any foot or bike traffic is low key and managable. now, once in awhile you'll have some cocksure roadie on your ass or trying to run you off the road because they're a cunt, but that's another story altogether.

[monkey nuts]

once in awhile you'll have some cocksure roadie on your ass or trying to run you off the road because they're a cunt, but that's another story altogether.

in prospect park roadies are some fuckers

at least the few i have run into when I was visiting. I was so ready to throw down with these fucks when like 5 more of the lycra clad carbon fucks that I already pass a while back rolled up.

[mlproject]

i've had a group of 3 tell me and my friend that it was their park and we didn't belong there before trying to run into us days of thunder style.

[monkey nuts]

i've had a group of 3 tell me and my friend that it was their park and we didn't belong there before trying to run into us days of thunder style.

next time I'm in town we'll ride the park with my 6' 4" 300lbs hommie and ulocks,and cable cutters and fuck some wise ass roadies up.

don't get me wrong I have nothing against roadies just fuck heads on road bikes.

and roadie bullies should get hurt......bad and there cables cut al of them

[doczein]

how different would it be riding with a 650c front wheel on the road? would my gearing feel different? would it be much different riding a tubular up front and a clincher in the back?

[zelah]

you'd be tilted forward a tiny bit, you'll have a bitch of a time getting home if you get a tubular flat

[fndmybetterhalf]

http://www.virb.com/fastfridaymovie/videos/31298

its neeto.

wow crazy. I've known Kia out here in Seattle for a couple years now...didnt even know he was a fixie rider.

[vee_dub]

how different would it be riding with a 650c front wheel on the road? would my gearing feel different? would it be much different riding a tubular up front and a clincher in the back?

Tubular will have a smoother ride.

[aaronS]

Tubular will have a smoother ride.

if you're riding on a perfectly smooth surface. On a regular street you'll notice no difference at all.

[chris_n]

having a 650 front won't change your gear ratio,

[Yardsale]

I'm glad we had this discussion. I won't be riding around L.A. with headphones, just too much of a liability since I don't wear a helmet

[meta]

Let's play a game. Find cool parts on auctions.yahoo.co.jp.

I want these:

[zelah]

i caved..

[meta]

Thats a sweet Kilo.

[stfuken]

kia!! solid dude..

i'd like to know what the song is in that video.

wow crazy. I've known Kia out here in Seattle for a couple years now...didnt even know he was a fixie rider.

[knucks]

i caved..

what's that stem?!

[zelah]

what's that stem?!

modolo x-something. got it off nashbar for like 20 a few years ago

[kenthenoob]

kia!! solid dude..

i'd like to know what the song is in that video.

"Something Poetic" by PlentyFace

as stated in the comments on youtube:

[hipset]

[Gem_art]

I'm not quite sure how I stumbled across this article but it's a scientific take on cycling with headphones in:

http://www.bikexprt.com/bicycle/hearing.htm

[chingon]

a pic from last nights race, will post more later....

[so-so]

sup with the leg over photos.

I just changed up my gearing and it's amaaaazzzinnnggg.

went from 47-17 to 47-16

granted not a huge change, but it feels so right, I feel like I can get the speed up way more before I end up spinning to fast to keep it going reasonably.

[dystaind]

Gem, thanks for sharing the article.

Sorry to revive if this headphones this has become dead and gone-- but I just want to clarify. Yeah, I guess I don't want to sound like a dick, but most of all I think I may not have stated what I felt/thought in the clearest manner.

I guess for clarification-- I'm talking about headphones on bikers. I DEFINTELY don't approve of wearing one if you're in the car. That one should meet disapproval across the board considering how dangerous a thousand-pound-death-box is... but I still stand firm in my (notice the emphasis on myself) disapproval of wearing headphones while biking.

It's a personal choice and everyone can have opinions about them. I personally feel that they lower your awareness around you, meaning concentration and aural awareness. I dont' mean you'll fall off your bike because you're listening to psyche rock-- but you won't be taking everything in the same way as you would sans headphones. My beef with headphones is that with that lessened awareness, you become a dangerous riders-- for other bikers, pedestrians and cars.

I've been nearly swerved into by a few bikers who had headphones and didn't hear/see me passing. Granted, they could just be bad bikers who don't look over their shoulders, can't control their bikes, etc. etc. because I've run into a number of those. But when they have headphones in, I'm sure you can understand that it doesn't add to my positive feelings towards bikers with headphones in.

My statement of endangering comes down to this-- my beef is with people who do shit that MIGHT (even a slight chance is still a chance) endanger me i.e. swerving in and out of lanes, not look over your shoulder, wearing headphones, etc.

But at the end of the day, bike how you want to, build how you want to, listen to what you want to. We can't all be perfect and accidents do happen, so hope all is well and ride safe guys.

[chingon]

from the skid comp

A big thanks to monkey_nuts for putting it on.

[hipset]

i ride 44X14. its pretty dumb

[doczein]

chingon, did this race take place in albuquerque?

any dc/md/va heads heading to either the varsity alleycat in philly this coming weekend or the abc race (followed by the mash premiere)in baltimore on the 8th of dec? i'm gonna try to go to one or the either... i don't know if my schedule will permit me to go to both.

also, riser/flatbar heads... how are the hills with them? do you guys ever find yourself going up a hill wishing you had horns/flipchop? i can't decide between risers or horns.

[le_chic_garcon]

If anyone finds a torrent with Mash SF tell me. I don't expect Mash to ever be on a torrent. I'm keeping my hopes up though.

[monkey nuts]

chingon, did this race take place in albuquerque?

yes it did take place in Albuquerque.

big fun.

29 all fixed racers is huge for our little city.

[goldengloves]

Just caught it; But great photo Hipset!

[aaronS]

any dc/md/va heads heading to either the varsity alleycat in philly this coming weekend or the abc race (followed by the mash premiere)in baltimore on the 8th of dec? i'm gonna try to go to one or the either... i don't know if my schedule will permit me to go to both.

also, riser/flatbar heads... how are the hills with them? do you guys ever find yourself going up a hill wishing you had horns/flipchop? i can't decide between risers or horns.

i wish i was in philly for that race. as far as risers go u'll have no problem climbing hills or anything as long as you keep them about shoulder with or an inch or so smaller. if you cut them stupid short you'll have problems