Velospace: Reaching For The Stars

The entries on Velospace sometimes transcend entertaining and belong in a category I can only call sublime. There was once a time I'd flip through the bikes there and get angry. Now the only thing I feel is awe. It's more than just the bikes themselves; it's also the staging and the presentation. This is no longer bike porn--this is art. Here are just some of the bikes that have moved me recently:

The inverted colors of this photo massage my soul. Looking at it is like lying in a tub filled with warm water and bath crystals, surrounded by scented candles. I bet it even smells nice too. Aroma therapy on wheels...

Not only does this bike evoke an inimitable 80s pop icon, but it also has succeeded in convincing me that there really are some bars that are better left untaped.

The staging here is absolutely spectacular. I thought of one thing and one thing only. Stunning.

Four centimeters of spacers, a stem with a generous rise, and a pair of risers flipped upside down. "Stemz up, barz down." Awww, yeah.

And then there's this. There's no counterpart to this. This bicycle taunts me. It's so very close to perfection! The rakish tilt of the saddle. The risers. The stupid top-tube pad. More cards than a casino. The only thing keeping it from poster-child status is the front brake. But perhaps this will one day be gone as well. Increasingly I hear of new fixed-gear riders who consider it a rite of passage to remove the brake. It's like a fixie briss. If this bike has one, I hope I'm invited.