Eyespans are relative
Young bucks make cool bikes 16
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Posted 11:50 AM on 7 Jan 2007
by Biodiversivist -
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My real name is Russ Finley. I live in Seattle, married with children. Suffice it to say that although I am trained and educated as an engineer, my passion is nature. I very much want my grandchildren to live on a planet where lions, tigers, and bears have not joined the long and growing list of creatures that used to be. In an attempt to minimize the workload on Grist editors responsible for turning my submissions into intelligible articles, I will also be posting on a seperate blog called Biodiversivist, which will contain articles in addition to those submitted to Grist.
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bookerly Posted 4:02 pm
07 Jan 2007
Real men ride bikes for transportation, and don't own cars.
If we want to promote bicycle use, we need something easier on the butt for heavy folks (about 40% of Americans) and to provide safe comfortable places to ride.
Fixies are cool for future Darwin Award nominees, but then again, maybe that's their purpose. (grin).
patrick
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Biodiversivist Posted 12:55 am
08 Jan 2007
Building and riding these bikes suggests several things to me. They have energy, desire, skills, and guts. They are young men at the bottom of their culture's status hierarchy getting an education at the University of Washington. Too young, inexperienced and uneducated at the moment to land a good paying job, or otherwise higher status occupation, this is their way of showing what they are made of, what their potential is. They don't know that, they are just doing what feels good and is fun, as is nature's way.
Someday, they will look back on pictures of their youth with humor and nostalgia, as most of us do. My long hair, headbands, and bell bottom pants looked pretty cool at the time. My pierced ear healed long, long ago.
These bikes are a much more environmentally benign way to do those things than driving a Hummer or muscle car.
In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world
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atreyger Posted 1:02 am
08 Jan 2007
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David Roberts Posted 1:48 am
08 Jan 2007
Biodee, we're going to need some photographic evidence of this, so we can make up our own minds.
www.grist.org
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GreenerBiker Posted 2:26 am
08 Jan 2007
It certainly takes some guts to ride a fixie, especially at high speeds; panic stops usually involve incredible knee pain.
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Backcut Posted 4:20 am
08 Jan 2007
Scenic pics at http://Lhfotoware.blogspot.com
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Biodiversivist Posted 12:55 pm
08 Jan 2007
In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world
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caniscandida Posted 7:21 pm
08 Jan 2007
Your conclusion about David's sidecar for Odin is a total non sequitur from what you had said just before. If what you wrote is true, David did not build the sidecar out of "entrepreneurial spirit," as though the one you saw were the prototype, and he intended to start manufacturing and selling others like it. He did it because he thought Odin would be happier (and presumably more secure, though you did not mention that) in a sidecar than in a trailer.
"Entrepreneurial spirit," by the way, is a source of great cheer to business-loving George W. Bush. It is said that once, during some critical remarks about European economic practices, he said, "The French don't have a word for 'entrepreneur'."
On the "young bucks" and their "tall bikes": From your photo, the bikes indeed look extremely difficult to mount and manage. But also, they look improbable, unnecessary, and totally goofy. They look like clowns' props. Note the smaller-than-usual wheels. Bubba and Funky do not intend to come across as warriors from the Amazon, or from Darkest Africa (whatever that is all about). They want to come across as clowns. And that absurd way they have of braking is a magnificent gag.
Oh sure, clowning around has a sexual component. Women are anecdotally said to find especially attractive those men who can make them laugh.
And circus acrobats have just about the most physically fit, strong, disciplined and coordinated bodies of all mankind. And presumably the ingeniousness and athleticism of their tricks strikes some viewers as an erotic turn-on. To say nothing of the revealing costumes.
Still, they belong to the class of circus performers, a class that many people have a hard time conceiving of as easily integrated into mainstream society, including into the class of possible options as sexual partners. Bubba and Funky have apparently passed into the range of sexual eligibility (but I cannot be sure, your photo is so small and unrevealing); still, only barely.
Whether these young men are accurately described as "at the bottom of their culture's status hierarchy," I rather doubt. They are just college students, after all -- and if they are recognized as college students, that already gives them a fair degree of status. And no one holds their youth against them; indeed, that is a definite plus. And on top of that, they are obviously displaying such resourcefulness, cleverness, athleticism and energy as are in fact rare commodities among college students. Within our astoundingly diverse culture, there are all kinds of local and particular hierarchies. And no doubt Bubba and Funky enjoy a decent amount of status within theirs.
Does wealth matter? Consider this exchange, from the movie "Pretty Woman," made in the 1980s, the Age of Greed (Part I). Richard Gere does not know how to drive the fancy sportscar which he just borrowed from a friend; Julia Roberts, the prostitute whom he has picked up, does indeed know how to drive it, so he lets her take over. As she drives, she asks him, "How come you don't know how to drive?" -- as if a basic criterion of masculinity is knowing how to operate vehicles and get them to go. He answers, "My first car was a limousine" -- as if the possession of obscene wealth automatically trumps any other masculine virtue.
On being "blown off" by the jerk on the "fixie": BioD, that had nothing to do with any "social faux pas" (a perhaps redundant expression) that you may have committed. That had to do with the jerk's homophobia. Do an experiment: Go up to young men on the street, and say, "I would like to take your picture"; give them any justification for the picture that you like. I predict a significant majority will decline, and many of them will look at you contemptuously.
On tattoos: You have a vivid imagination, BioD. Or should I say, a culture-bound one. It is true, I think, that in the US military, acquiring a tattoo is associated with accomplishing some great feat. In a sense, though, it is a sign of weakness, because it signifies acquiescence to the pressure of one's mates and their ridiculous traditions.
Tattoos, scarification and other alterations of the body are indeed of prehistoric origin. But they are used differently in different cultures. By no means are tattoos to be associated with masculine virtue. In the article from Smithsonian.org that you link us to, it is explained in some detail that in ancient Egypt, it was the women who were tattooed, not the men.
As for the "Ice Man," the prehistoric corpse found in a glacier near the Austrian-Italian border, he seems to have been something of an outcast, as best his life can be imaginatively reconstructed: nothing macho or high-status about him; certainly nothing to associate his tattoos with being a "young buck."
Chickens are our cousins!
So are other sensitive animals!
Enough is enough!
No more factory farms!
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bookerly Posted 7:53 pm
08 Jan 2007
It's not that fixies or tallies may not be fun. But we are talking about people who ride bikes without brakes in the middle of automobile traffic.
HELLO!! I have trouble seeing that as cool. It is a world of difference from tie dye and pierced ears (and yeah, I had the full regalia too, but it didn't endanger my life).
I spent a number years trying to promote bicycling as an alternate means of transportation for people, and frankly, young people who rode around like madmen were not helpful to the cause.
The thing about China, is that bicycling is so middle class and ordinary. Parents carry kids, old men carry their wives, so many people ride reasonably carefully (and I have tried to join that idea, I refuse to get a bike with gears because I don't need to go any faster than I already go).
Why don't they stuff phonebooths or something to attract attention.
For me, the coolest young people are those I know who volunteer to help others and/or work to save the environment. THAT'S my definition of cool.
Greenerbiker, please read your last sentence and consider it.
BioD, the children remark is an ouch. Okay, I qualify in that regard. Except that I would argue that the children I teach, while not mine biologically are mine in a truer sense.
Question for you. If we want to encourage people to use bikes as a way of life, who are better role models, the tallie fixie crowd, or David and Odin, and how about yourself? You are cool.
CanisCandida, word.
patrick
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caniscandida Posted 7:55 pm
08 Jan 2007
In sexual competition between males, involving physical confrontation, it is apparently true that rival males eye each other. But it seems that when they do so, they are searching for advantages or deficiencies in their rivals' ability to fight and inflict damage: e.g., they are estimating relative body size, and the size of such peculiarly male processes as horns, antlers and tusks. Behavior consistent with this has been observed in beetles, and in several lineages of hooved mammals, carnivores and primates -- by no means an exhaustive list.
There is, perhaps, fossil evidence of similar behavior in the late-Cretaceous ceratopian dinosaurs of east-central Asia and western North America, such as Triceratops. At least, it has been well argued that sexual evolution lay behind the appearance of various assortments of horns in the Ceratopians.
But what in the world are these flies doing? No matter how long their eye stalks are, they apparently cannot bludgeon one another with them.
Clearly, BioD, you should apply for a grant, and spend a couple of years in Borneo, studying this important matter. No doubt there are other worthwhile causes thereabouts that might engage your interest. : )
Chickens are our cousins!
So are other sensitive animals!
Enough is enough!
No more factory farms!
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caniscandida Posted 8:32 pm
08 Jan 2007
Your "definition of cool" is worthy of highest praise. From your mouth to God's ear!
I am afraid I missed BioD's "children remark." Perhaps just as well.
Thanks, Backcut, for your "coaster brake" story. I did not know that term; but bicycles so equipped are obviously the basic, all-purpose standard. I never never liked the squeeze-the-handle-bar-thingies way of stopping. It is so counter-intuitive. If the hands are associated with steering, and the feet are associated with motion forward, then halting the motion should be an operation of the feet, not the hands.
Chickens are our cousins!
So are other sensitive animals!
Enough is enough!
No more factory farms!
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mihan Posted 3:58 am
11 Jan 2007
But that would mean that kitties would be riding behind me, which would be distracting (for me) and even more frightening (for kitties). Plus, I love the image of my sweet kittens with little helmets on. Cute!
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Biodiversivist Posted 4:43 am
11 Jan 2007
Patrick, Canis,
The childless remark wasn't meant as a dig. People who have chosen not to have children are much greener than I can ever be, having spawned two. I don't care for the Darwin Awards because I empathize with those who lost a loved one and are having that loved one made fun of. In most cases, a resistance to alcohol is being selected for.
In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world
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bookerly Posted 2:30 pm
11 Jan 2007
BioD,
Ouch! You are correct about the Darwin Awards, I don't actually care for them either (mainly because I think that paying too much attention to them gives those of us who haven't yet qualified an unjustified sense of superiority!).
So, it was a terrible example. But the point I was aiming at (and missing) is that I cannot for the life of me understand why we should encourage people to ride bicycles with NO brakes, and in traffic yet. It disturbs me because I believe that people who do so are risking not only their own lives (needlessly), but the lives of anyone they hit if they go too fast.
But you are correct, the Darwin Awards are a tasteless example. I offer ten thousand mea culpas.
I once put a cat in a basket, and tied a piece of cardboard over the top so it couldn't get out. I don't think it really enjoyed the experience (no cat I have ever had liked being in cars either for that matter).
CanisCandida, I love vegetarian borsht!! Yummm. I don't see it much here, something else I miss! No place being perfect! (smile).
patrick
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wiscidea Posted 3:00 pm
26 Jan 2007
"People without children should qualify for the same award because the award is about "not" passing genes into the future and nothing more. Evolution is a mathematical process and therefore does not care how it is done or if it is done."
What if people without children choose to invest resources in the protection and education of their brothers, sisters, nephews, or nieces? Evolution is a mathematical process that might not care much about the individual. It definitely cares about genes. An individual who removes himself from the breeding population (through stupidity or choice) does not necessarily remove his genes. His action might very well protect several other related individuals and allow them to pass copies of his genes on to the next generation.
I used to think Darwin awards were funny. But now that I've taken some time to think about it, Darwin awards are not very Darwinian.
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Biodiversivist Posted 6:31 am
28 Jan 2007
In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world
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