Safety First – Bike Snob NYC

Ah well, the bike was fun while it lasted.

Of course, some of us still enjoy riding the old-fashioned safety bicycle, though increasingly we’re becoming something akin to Civil War reenactors or renaissance fair attendees. I myself ride a safety bicycle on a regular basis, although sometimes I like to negate the “safety” part by equipping it with a pair of ass-ploding Spinergy wheels–you know, just to keep it exciting:

[I’d remove the rim stickers, but I’m concerned they may be structural.]

The Spinergy Rev-X is arguably the most infamous bicycle wheel ever built, having acquired a reputation for spontaneous failure that has supposedly sent countless unwitting riders to the ER. As a champion of traditional safety bike technology such as steel frames and aluminum rims and wire spokes I’m naturally inclined to blame carbon fiber and cutting-edge bicycles for all the ills of society, yet as a contrarian and skeptic I’m also innately wired to discount or laugh off all forms of mass hysteria. This puts me in an awkward position: do I reject the Spinergy as a symbol of bicycle industry hubris and excess, or do I embrace it in order to thumb my nose at the “woosies?”

Well, it’s a tough call. On one hand, as someone who was an active racing Fred during the heyday of the Rev-X, I never personally witnessed or even heard about any spectacular failures other than those I read about in the newsgroups (remember those?). And if anything, at the time, the Rev-X had a reputation among riders for being heavy yet durable. But on the other hand, there’s the famous “Spinergy Accident Reporter” website, which does make for some chilling reading:

Now, before we go any further, I should state for the record that I am a staunch advocate for traditional wheels:

Source link