Category: city bikes

Biking in Astoria

Wheel of Misfortune

My bike died yesterday. Or maybe not. A few days ago I noticed a creaking sound when I pedaled, but it wasn’t coming from the pedals. It seemed to be caused by some motion when I was on the saddle, so I assumed the seat post had become dry and crusty — that makes bikes…
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The Perfect City Bike

I purposefully try not and post pictures of my bikes or talk about my latest bike ride. I hate blogs that do. Really, who the fuck cares about how fast you biked on what bike but you? But for educational reasons–people really do ask me more than you think about what city bike to buy–I’ll…
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Sexy Parisians

Oh those sexy French frames. There’s a good story in the Times about the Paris bike program… perhaps coming to a corner near you. I was in Lyon a few years ago and was impressed with the system. At least as impressed as I could be without actually riding one of their bikes. I wrote…
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Buy someone else’s book

But only after you’ve bought mine. The Ride is an outstanding new bike-related journal/magazine out of London. And yes, I say that because I have an article in it. But so does Greg LeMond (and about 40 other writers). Outside of actually riding a bike, this may be the only time Greg LeMond and I…
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Amsterdam again

So I’m in Amsterdam again. On day five, I saw my first fixed gear bike. It wasn’t like I was missing them or looking for them. I just find it interesting, one in five days. Meanwhile there are now hundreds of bakfietsen. In some ways, symbolically, a new bakfiets here is kind of like an…
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NYC bike

In a comment, Carlos DJ writes: Hey Astoria Bike, I’m sure you get emails like this all the time. I just moved to astoria (close to astoria park) and wanted to get back into biking. I haven’t biked since the early 90’s when i was in high school so I’m quite outdated. Do you have…
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Ring, damnit. Ring!

I’ve been fine tuning my Egyptian spoke bell for a while. The positioning is kind of finicky. It’s got to be just the right distance from the spokes. And the pull’s got to be right so you don’t have don’t worry about doing it wrong. And truth be told, I don’t really need a bell…
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Top-of-the-line coaster brake hub?

Is there such a thing as a top-of-the-line one-speed coaster brake hub? I’m thinking of (gasp) turning my fixed-gear into a free-wheel one-speed. I want a light and fast one-speed for commuting. Ideally I’d get another bike, but I think maybe I have enough. And though I have loved my fixed-gear, the Screamin’ Salmon, since…
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Pimp My Bike

I just picked up one of my bikes from Astoria’s best bike store, Bicycle Repairman Corp. (Did I mention there’s a different new bike store in Queens Plaza right by the entrance to the bridge? It’s more sales than repairs, but you can’t beat the location. I’m sticking with Bike Repairman, but hopefully Astoria can…
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