[ad_1]
In 1885, the transportation landscape changed forever when John Kemp Starley designed the so-called “safety bicycle:”
This design persisted for the entirety of the 20th century and even made it into the 21st, although by 2024 it was officially dead, having been completely replaced by the battery-powered stand-up scooter:
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:
