Bear in mind VanMoof? I believed they had been bankrupt, however apparently they’ve acquired some kind of futuristic house bike popping out:
In the meantime, the corporate’s co-founders have designed a brand new bike for Raleigh:
Solely within the Netherlands within the media staking out the homes of motorbike designers for spy photographs:
Varied prototypes of the brand-less e-bike have been noticed in and across the metropolis over the past 12 months — typically close by the house of one of many brothers. The prototypes match pictures of a Raleigh-branded e-bike that lately leaked. These pictures had been inadvertently made public (and later eliminated) by Amsterdam-based Uni_verse Studio, the digital manufacturing home that lists VanMoof as a shopper.
The VanMoof’s degree high tube however, clearly the bar for superstar may be very low over there (get it?) within the Low Nations. Then once more, who might resist the charismatic attract of the Carlier brothers, who’re famend throughout Benelux because the Mongolfier brothers of the e-bike?
By the best way, is Taco a standard identify over there?
I had the Taco Ties at TGI Fridays as soon as, they had been unbelievable and I extremely suggest.
[The AI’s best shot at “A food special at TGI Friday’s restaurant called ‘Taco Ties.’” Not bad, though I was thinking more a hard taco in the shape of a pretzel somehow…not that I know how that would work, but I bet the food geniuses at TGI Fridays could pull it off. Also, the apostrophe in TGI Fridays was completely my fault.]
Elsewhere within the media, I learn this story by an Austin race promoter with moderate-to-high curiosity:
The bit about racers pestering him for race outcomes actually resonated with me as a result of I do know from private expertise that beginner bike racers–particularly the awful low-category ones–are completely terrible about that and have to know that they acquired twenty sixth place within the Cat 4 area instantly. (I want to state for the report that I used to be by no means considered one of these riders and that I all the time knew that I sucked, so the very last thing I wished or wanted was my numerical putting to verify that.) However then the story takes an sudden flip:
One week after George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, was murdered by police in Minneapolis, a biking web site referred to as the Radavist printed an op-ed titled, Bike Racing, White Privilege and the Coronavirus. The article precisely assessed the inequity and structural racism that’s inherent in beginner bike racing, and scrutinized my resolution to placed on mass-start occasions because the virus disproportionately ravaged marginalized communities.
Oddly he appears chastened and grateful, though he obtained loss of life threats in consequence:
With the world seemingly in flames, I started receiving dozens of loss of life threats on-line. Folks wrote that they hoped me and my household acquired COVID and died. My daughter, who was a young person, noticed a few of the feedback on social media and have become upset. Our sponsors acquired tagged in most of the adverse posts and feedback, and it wasn’t lengthy earlier than Life Time discontinued its sponsorship. Finally, Kelley and I made a decision to finish the mini-series early.
Right here’s a quote from that Desert Hipster story by the best way.
Folks of colour are dying, they don’t have medical insurance, they don’t have a security web and it is a direct results of years of oppression attributable to structural inequality ingrained in our society. Most cyclists immediately profit from structural inequality and it’s the identical software getting used towards folks of colour. Will you personally be contributing to that oppression if you happen to select to take part in a luxurious non-obligatory occasion the place you unnecessarily expose your self to lots of of doable carriers of Covid 19? YES.
Yikes.
I’m certain I’m not supposed to speak abut this, however to me “white privilege” appears to be like much less like collaborating in a bicycle race and extra like Lucas Brunelle lecturing a black police officer after getting stopped for working a light-weight:
By the best way, the above picture is not the AI’s tackle “white privilege,” however it would possibly as nicely be.
Lastly, in additional bike media information, Path Much less Pedaled Man blows the lid off “The Finest Shimano Drivetrain No One Talks About:”
And right here it’s:
REALLY, NOBODY TALKS ABOUT IT???
What am I, liver that has been chopped!?!
Look, I don’t imply to get indignant right here, however relating to mouthing off on the Web I did every thing first. EVERYTHING. Not solely did I invent making enjoyable of fixies, however I used to be additionally complaining about gravel bikes since not less than 2013:
It was true then, and it’s true now:
Besides that $129 Nashbar body, fairly certain that isn’t a factor anymore.
These had been the times…