I have another new bike, or rather another old bike. A reconditioned steel-frame road bike that has been converted to single-speed; a courier-style commuter special. Not, of course, rebirthed by me. That would require a patience and mechanical ability I do not possess but can be purchased from others. In this instance the other is sydneyvintagebikes. I found them and it on eBay.
My new bike is not exactly trying to kill.
However, it does take somewhat longer to stop than the Santa Cruz Chameleon I've been riding for the last year. Actually, it takes waaaay longer to stop.
It’s to be expected; the SC has braking hardware that can bring a large, runaway truck to a standstill. And it weighs a tonne, so it's natural state is one of rest. My new commuter ride has a couple of bits of wire attached to levers that, when pulled, request a change of speed rather than demand it. “Oh, go on, pleeeease slow down…” Far easier to stop it on an uphill section, of course. This is aided in no small measure by my lack of speed up hills in my one and only gear, or, as my brother put it, absence of gear. If I think the lights in North Sydney are going to be red I need to start squeezing the brake leavers by Naremburn.
This morning my thumbs kept twitching in their desire to change the non-existent gears, “phantom-limb” style. My brain worked overtime as it thought, for the first time in a long time, about avoiding the pot-holes my SC tractor-wheels devour.
Quite a different experience, but I think I'll get used to it quickly enough.
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