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I know what I want for Christmas: a bastard big front brake

The commuter lifestyle’s been interesting. I don’t have a long commute–10 miles a day–but it’s still taking some getting used to. One thing’s for sure: I’m a hell of a lot stronger on the bike for spending an hour a day on it.

Spending so much time on a fixie is definitely interesting, and it’s brought to light some flaws which need fixing. To wit: a front brake in the rain isn’t enough. Back-pedaling is cute and all, and the girls get all moony when you skid around, but the difference between me with my middle finger raised and me ground under the wheels of some proto-yuppie’s oversized pickup truck is braking ability. It’s the rainy season now, and the ol’ front brake just don’t work too good after a few puddles.

So I spent some time thinking, and poking around on the internet, and getting used to being paid regularly, and I came to a conclusion: I want a fixie with a bastard big disc brake on the front. You heard me, kids. I want to take a purty, lugged, steel frame and slap an evil, car-inspired brake on it. Why? I like not careening. Because I don’t have a billion dollars to throw at the custom frame-making Zen monks, I’m probably going to try to find a nice, huge frame (I’m 6′4″, y’know, which means I look silly on other people’s bikes) and toss an aftermarket touring fork on. Zany hijinks ensue.

Expect pictures.

Speaking of expectations, my friend, co-worker, flatmate, and co-conspirator Peter and I have wonderful plans in store. It revolves around bikes and being happy. I’ve already said too much.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 10th, 2005 at 9:14pm and is filed under Bicycles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.