My new bike
I’ve been riding my new Azor Workcycles Transport for about a month now. I’ve ridden it just about every day for a month.
It’s everything I hoped it would be. I got it from Dutchbikeseattle and it arrived just a few days after I ordered it. I hardly had to do any assembly — it arrived in a giant box and about all I had to do was install the pedals and turn the handlebars around. I did have to loosen the brake cables a bit as the brakes were dragging on both wheels.
The bike is a wonderful design. My friend P, who was born in Holland, noted that the basic design of this bike is pretty much the same as Dutch bikes of nearly a hundred years ago — but the technology is far advanced from those days.
The bike has an eight-speed internal hub, drum brakes, and a generator front hub that powers the front and rear lights. The basket is on a rack mounted to the frame, so you don’t have that wobbly front-rack thing going on. It’s a joy to ride.
It is definitely heavy, but I only notice that when I have to lift it, which I avoid doing! It’s not something you just swing over your shoulder and run up the stairs with.
It’s also good looking. I ran into my friends D, R, and A yesterday, three of the most stylish and beautiful women you’ll meet anywhere, and all were agreed on the aesthetic virtues of my new Dutch Bike. In fact I was a bit jealous.
Lauren remarked that it is like a Mercedes of bikes, though she cautioned “not like that hobo Mercedes you used to drive.”
I actually think it is more like a Hummer. An overbuilt, heavy, expensive status symbol that is completely unsuited to off-road use. But even with all its overbuilt, heavy, and overpriced qualities, I am not ashamed to say: I adore it.
–Erik Ryberg
February 1st, 2010 at 9:36 pm
“hobo mercedes” lol.
February 2nd, 2010 at 6:59 pm
That’s the bidness, all right. Congratulations.