How about that Elon Musk buying Twitter, huh? Let’s talk about it!
No, don’t worry, I have no interest in that, I’m mostly just here to apologize for my absence (or say “You’re welcome” for it if it’s something that pleases you) and to submit by way of explanation that I’ve been smitten by a seasonal bug. Not only has this curtailed my blog curation but it’s also kept me off the bike the past few days, though let’s be honest, I’d probably be riding anyway if I wasn’t also looking after a kid with the same bug. In any case, hopefully it’s about done with me, and I did find myself fiddling with one of my bikes today, which is generally a good sign. Remember when I noticed the rear wheel on the Vengeance Bike appeared to be off-center?
Well, I finally got around to swapping wheels with the Normcore Bike and guess what? That wheel (which sits dead straight in the Normcore Bike) also appears to be off-center, which means either that something funky is going on with the frame, or else everything’s aligned just fine and the frame is asymmetrical or something. Regardless, inasmuch as it is in no way noticeable while riding, I officially no longer give a fuck.
Speaking of bicycle wheels, I have long been a fan of Jobst Brandt, and I hope that enough time has passed since his death that reposting this image won’t come off as disrespectfuil:
In the days when I was still riding around on the original Normcore Bike, I used to lurk in the newsgroups and read Brandt’s postings. He was profoundly knowledgeable and delightfully irascible, as knowledgeable people can sometimes be. Even though I was still young and excitable enough to be tempted by some of the newest cycling gimmickry, I always fundamentally felt he was “right,” and that my relationship with a lot of that stuff was mostly a dalliance.
Anyway, all of this is by way of sharing this Kickstarter, which I just learned about from a reader who is involved in the project:
In our wayward age of crabon and electronic gewgaws this book could be just what we need.