The Slow Bicycle Movement

I haven't joined anything in awhile so what the heck – here's a button and a link to the Slow Bicycle Movement. It sounds like a good idea to me; I ride for transportation, pleasure and exercise, and I pretty much never go fast. One of these days maybe I'll do a post showing some of the gear I've found to be useful on my two-wheeled adventures. The bike I've been riding comes standard with almost everything I would've added, including lights and racks, but there are a few more things that have really made a difference – made it possible, really, for me to use a bike instead of a car for almost all my transportation.

Even though I'm madly in love with this bike, I have been sort of considering getting another one, just for fun and to add a little variety to my life. If it seems like an unnecessary luxury or an extravagance, well, I guess it probably is. But just a few tanks of gas or a half a year of auto insurance would easily pay for the kind of bike I have in mind, and when I think of it that way ... maybe it's not so awful to just daydream about spicing things up a bit with an alternative ride.

A few years ago I was obsessed with those beautiful black Dutch bikes that everyone seems to be riding now all of a sudden, which has caused the magic to drain out of that idea like silicon out of a leaky breast implant .... I don't want a bike that draws any special attention to itself. I also do not want a bike that looks like an adult-sized version of the dream bike you begged for when you were a pigtailed little girl with missing teeth and jelly sandals. It actually makes me feel a little embarrassed when I see adults outfitting themselves like children ... like the other day when I saw a graying hipster wannabe in striped t-shirt, propeller beanie and enormous horn-rimmed glasses with masking tape on the bridge, riding down the sidewalk the wrong way on a brand new totally tricked-out bright red cruiser decorated at the factory with streamers, bells, pinwheels and other corporate-sanctioned schwag. His appearance made such an impression on me that I looked at him twice, thinking maybe he was "special" in some way ... and maybe he was. But to me he mostly just looked like a grown man disguised as a ten-year-old boy. What is the purpose of such a display? Is he trying to express his playfulness? A sense of whimsy and fun? Is this the twenty-first century version of the midlife crisis?

ANYway. I guess I am kind of a snob when it comes to bikes, but the bottom line is I like it when people ride bikes, period. Whatever kind of bike will get people out of their cars and into the saddle is fine with me.

For myself, my main goal for the new bike I'm thinking of is that it should have the one feature I wanted when I started shopping for my current bike, that I ended up deciding to do without when I realized just how perfect the new bike was (except for that one missing feature) – and that is, a women's or step-through frame. It's just more comfortable to ride, and I like the way it looks, and with a really low frame I can ride in a wider variety of dresses.


I rode one of these Italian bikes a few years ago and liked it a lot, but it wasn't really what I was looking for at the time. Maybe I'll try to find another one somewhere now. I love the internal gearing and hub generator on my black bike and this one has both of those features too. Plus, the frame is super-low in front of the pedals – the lowest I've ever seen on any bike – which makes it very comfortable to step on and off no matter what you're wearing. Kind of a weird look, but I don't mind that.

Or maybe I'll get another cool old bike somewhere and renovate it. That can be a good option too, if the frame is solid. I have a couple of other old bikes that are fun and interesting, but I don't ride them much because they're just not as stable or comfortable as my main bike. On the up side, I've enjoyed painting them and dressing them up a little, because decorated bikes are only embarrassing if they're decorated at the factory – painting your own is awesome! In fact I've just started making these funny removable decorations for bikes to give to a couple of my friends, kind of like a little corsage that you can tie onto your handlebars or top tube or wherever you like.

Do you ride a bike you would like to decorate with a bicycle corsage? Leave me a comment or email me at tinarama at gmail and I'll send you one!