Re: Urban cycling update

On 9/30/2024 10:59 AM, AMuzi wrote:

On 9/30/2024 8:26 AM, Zen Cycle wrote:

On 9/28/2024 3:09 PM, Mark J cleary wrote:

On 9/28/2024 1:44 PM, AMuzi wrote:

On 9/28/2024 1:09 PM, Shadow wrote:

On Sat, 28 Sep 2024 09:34:28 -0500, AMuzi <am@yellowjersey.org> wrote:
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https://nypost.com/2024/09/27/lifestyle/nyc-bike- messengers- reveal- their-surprisingly-busiest-time-of- year/

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    All bikes shown have thick chains, no gears(maybe hub gears on
one) and no apparent brakes. Hub brakes by back pedaling?
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<https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/ victor- ramirez-credit-sammpicnyc-instagram-90397651.jpg>
    []'s

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Right, primarily fixed gear.
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I crazy dangerous job that I expect some people have no trouble taking. Not me that would be crazy. Also, having road a bike for most of my life and many miles I have never road a fixed great bike. Does this mean you are either pedaling for not? The hub must not be a freehub or cassette. In my world I have no idea how anyone could ride a bike like that, seems incredibly dangerous. Do they use cleats and what is basic speed your are going?

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"I can't work in an office. I don't like wearing suits. I like to ride. Fixed gear, steel frame, no brakes. The bike cannot coast. The pedals never stop turning."
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That's a quote from a movie that came out about ten years ago called Premium Rush, an action adventure story focused on a bike messenger in NYC starring Joseph Gordon Levitt. The storyline is meh, a bit cheesy, but there are a _lot_ of great riding sequences in traffic on fixed gear bikes with no brakes. There is a lot of good stunt riding by Danny MacAskill, but Gordon-Levitt did quite a few of the stunts himself, at one point misjudging his distance to a parked cab. He plowed into the back of it, shattering the window, and ended up with 31 stitches. They worked it into the the movie. The acting is decent for the most part with some recognizable actors, most notably Michael Shannon.
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IMHO it's far and away better than American Flyers or Quicksilver, though doesn't carry the poignancy of Breaking Away.
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The movie opens with an AlleyCat race, allegedly with some footage from a real alleycat in NYC. The climax action sequences require some suspension of disbelief, though not nearly as much as the trainwreck Quicksilver (Kevin Bacon called that the worst film he ever made).
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https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1547234/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt
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 Regarding 'alley cat' races in live traffic, a group of my employees participated in one in Chicago run by some friends of ours.
 Besides the obvious risks, some large amount of liquor, and I assume other substances, mangled two of our young ladies:
 https://www.yellowjersey.org/photosfromthepast/MIMISTC2.JPG
 I had to call parents of the other one early Sunday to say she was in a hospital.

yup, it gets worse:
https://abc7chicago.com/archive/5986557/
"Last Sunday, Matt Manger-Lynch was killed racing through a red light. The 29-year-old chef and Chicago catering executive was in the lead during a 40-person alleycat race on the Northwest Side."
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