The bicycle/car combo above as featured in Monday's post has proven to be a lightning rod of controversy. (Assuming of course the lightning rod has a sticker on it that says "One Less Lightning Bolt.") Some rushed to condemn the owner, HW, for having an ostentatious vehicle and a hypocritical sticker. Others came to his aid, stating how much he rides and pointing out there's really nothing so odd about sticking a bike on a car once in awhile. And of course this is true. I for once certainly find nothing reprehensible about using a car to convey a bicycle once in awhile and in fact have done it plenty of times myself. (Sometimes you've just got to leave town to lose races, and sometimes you've just got to go mountain biking.) It's just that this particular bicycle with this particular car was particularly amusing. A crappy, be-stickered fixed-gear is essentially urban transport and a middle finger to the luxury SUV-driving establishment, so using one to haul the other in an urban environment is kind of like penning a vegan screed in pig's blood on a piece of cowhide, or spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to make an album with that "raw" sound. But is HW really hurting the world with his incongruity? Not really, it just looks funny.Still, the only reason I hesitate to publicly defend HW is the following photo series, which is highly troubling and which was forwarded to me anonymously by a reader/informant. Contrary to HW's claims, I'm beginning to get the impression that these wheels have never touched pavement at all. (Though who can blame him--those Spinergys are liable to shatter at the slightest provocation.) Moreover, in every case the bicycle has a sticker on it decrying the very vehicle on which it is being transported. (You'll have to take my word for that.) See for yourself:
"One Less Shinkansen"
"One Less Hydrofoil"
"One Less Dirigible"*
*(I don't think a hot air balloon is technically a dirigible so I'll let him off the hook there.)
"One Lessus Equus"
This controversy is like the new 11 speed Campy, in that the more you see of it the uglier it gets. I just hope we don't find this bike in the back of a pedicab.
