Tiffeny, Lincoln Square, Chicago, IL

Tiffeny in Lincoln Square on her vintage Triumph named Oliver J from Nottingham, England.

Cycling tip from Tiffeny: If you’re always going from point A to point B, change your route.  That is the best part about riding your bike in this city is the freedom! Not only can you change the scenery but you can find a bunch of Chicago’s hidden treasures that way. 

Lorena, Wicker Park, Chicago, IL.

Lorena Cupcake, Wicker Park, Chicago, IL. October 2010

Lorena rides a Specialized Globe Live Mixte. Singlespeed, frame-integrated rack, coaster & front caliper brake, head tube badge cut out of a box of Hello Kitty cookies.

Worst of NYC Craigslist SPECIAL EDITION: More Bike Love

For many of us, cycling is something we love. And with anything you love, there are pitfalls to be avoided at all costs. In cycling, one of these pitfalls is trying to commingle love of the bike with other, incompatible aspects of life--like relationships. In particular, seeing a bicycle as some sort of conduit into a life of romantic bliss is a dangerous delusion. Just because you have a bike, or he or she has a bike, or you both have a bike, doesn't mean anything. Coupled with that, as humans we seem to always want the worst thing for us: think fatty foods, intoxicants, and Ksyriums. The result is, if you're predicating a seduction on a bicycle, more likely than not, you're just setting yourself up for disappointment. Nonetheless, you can see people heading into this punji stick trap pretty much every day in the Craigslist "Missed Connections" section:

You ran over my cat with your fixed gear track bike - m4w - 24
Reply to: [deleted]: 2007-07-16, 11:04AM EDT
You were the tall, skinny girl in the skinny jeans and winter cap who ran over my cat last week because you could not stop your fixed gear track bike in time. Don't you think you should pay my vet bills? Also, I thought you were cute, even if in a stinky and reckless sort of way. Maybe if we get over this hump we can go hang out together and stuff. Do you like Japanther?

Yes, I already posted this one, but I'm posting it again since he added the bit about "Do you like Japanther?" In fact he's posted this a few times since I linked to it last. Obviously it's a fake, but what's this guy's motivation? Laughs? Attention? Is he trying to solicit serious replies? Regardless, it's a perfect example of people wanting the worst thing for them--like making a keirin bike with no tire clearance, no braze-ons, and no provision for a brake your only ride. She ran over his cat, and guaranteed if they get together she'll end up severing some part of his body in her fixed-gear drivetrain.

your dread mullet is gone.... - w4m - 20 (Lower East Side)
Reply to: [deleted]: 2007-07-14, 3:08PM EDT
but i still like the way the elephant on the back of your leg moves when you ride your bike on Ave A. lets split a pack of blue American Spirits

"Yeah, could you do a tattoo that looks like it's moving when I ride my fixed-gear?" Just like the decals sell the bike, the hair, clothes and accessories sell the person. Another potential disaster. At 20 years old I suppose this poor girl is still about six broke musicians and four STDs away from figuring out what to actually look for in a guy. Though I suppose the fact that she still likes him despite his having cut off his "dread mullet" implies she's maturing a bit.

Woman on Track Bike - m4w - 29
Reply to: [deleted]
Date: 2007-07-14, 11:43AM EDT
Saturday morning you were riding w me down 5th ave from 42nd street to union square. i had a white track bike. you had blue shorts and you had yellow bull horn handle bars. ive been looking for a track bike riding partner that can keep up, and your super fast. wanna hit the streets?

Mixing romance and cycling can be tricky. Certainly some people can do it successfully. (Tim Johnson and Lynn Bessette for example.) But more often trying to find a partner whose interest in cycling equals yours is a bad idea. As George Costanza will tell you, worlds will collide. Finding a girl who likes to drink beer and watch sports, or a guy who likes to shop and get manicures (just to employ some tired stereotypes) might seem like a good idea in theory, but you might not be so happy once it actually happens.

That said, I see two potential scenarios here. In the first, an overzealous guy with no riding partners attempts to show off and drops a frustrated and bored girl at every intersection. In the second, an overzealous guy with no riding partners gets dropped at every intersection by a girl who's a much stronger rider than him. I think in either case this guy will eventually learn to do what the rest of us do: regale our significant others with greatly enhanced tales of our riding exploits after we get home.

you were riding the train i was riding my bike - m4w - 23
Reply to:[deleted]
Date: 2007-07-12, 9:39PM EDT

I know this sounds silly, and so late, but i haven't stopped thinking about you. you were on the train and i was riding my bike over the manhattan bridge, tried to give you my number. i remember your dark hair and waving to me. i hope to god you are looking at this, cuz that would fucking rock
yours aaron

Okay, I'll admit it. This one plucked the spokes of my heart. I imagine the kid from "Breaking Away," riding his red Masi next to the Q train as a dark-haired bambina waves a white hanky from within, like a parting scene in an old movie. This idyll is only slightly tainted by his use of the phrase, "that would fucking rock." Of course it's possible that this guy is an unemployed lunatic who spends the day riding back and forth pantsless on the Manhattan Bridge pedestrian path, trying desperately to get the attention of women on the train. And of course it's also possible that what he interpreted as a wave was in fact an obscene gesture of some kind. Nonetheless, I'm going to allow myself to remain deluded, and to imagine that somewhere something is happening that doesn't completely piss me off.

Worst of NYC Craigslist Bike Ads, #1

Admittedly I have an overdeveloped sense of propriety when it comes to bikes. A bike doesn't have to be high-end necessarily. It just needs to be right. Well thought-out, properly assembled, and with a component selection appropriate to the bike's usage and to the machine as a whole. And while I feel that as a cyclist one should be able to do whatever one wants (blow lights, ignore traffic signs, and so forth), I also feel that certain equipment choices and combinations just should not be allowed.

Cursed as I am with such a keen bicycle sense, there is no more nauseatingly offensive classifieds list as the NYC bikes for sale section of Craigslist. This could be a great resource for us NYC cyclists, like it is in other cities. (Check the Denver Craigslist if you don't believe me.) Instead, it's a bicycle cesspool. Overpriced fixie conversions, obsolete relics being touted as "vintage," blurry photos of crap... It's enough to make me want to yell at my monitor. And I know there are others like me as well. You know who you are. You post snide comments on the board, call people out on their pricing, and generally vent your frustrations on clueless hipster bike-sellers.

Which is why I bring you "Worst of NYC Craigslist Bike Ads." This first entry, appropriately, is absolutely hideous:

59c surly steamroller velocity chris king nitto - $950

(original URL: http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/bik/351232204.html)

$900 for a Surly Steamroller? Only in New York. (Or only in East Williamsburg, or Bushwick, or wherever the kids are living today.)

Reply to: sale-351232204@craigslist.orgDate: 2007-06-13, 11:29AM EDT

im selling my steamer to make some other projects happen

If they are as hideous as this God help us.

59c surly steamroller frame and fork

chris king headset

nitto b123 bars

OK so far... on paper. But what is this thing wrapped in? A tablecloth from an Italian restaurant?

white velocity deepv wheelset(formula hubs)

It's ENOUGH ALREADY with the powder-coated Deep Vs. Seriously, people should be embarassed to ride them by now.

rivendale speedblend tires(change colors)

Those things are freaking ugly. Even Grant Peterson of RivenDELL just threw up in his mouth a little bit.

blue anodized vintage shimano 600 crankset

Finally--a little color!

carbon seat post

It's important to shave grams with a carbon seatpost when you're going to secure it to the frame with about two pounds of drive chain so it doesn't get stolen.

selle italia saddle

What model?!?

itm stem

What model?!? What length?!?

crank bros mallet pedals (ill sell with or without)

Downhill mountain bike pedals have no place on a road bike of any kind and should not be allowed.

miche primato sealed bb tektro brake and cross lever(why not its drilled)

Miche Primato bottom brackets are ISO taper. Your Shimano crank wants a JIS taper. Mixing the tapers on square taper cranks can be very bad for the crank. Good thing that brake's on there--you're going to need it when your crank arm splits and falls off.

mechanic owned and operated for a short time ill clean it upo shortly, top tube and downtube are covered .....its a between bikes bike and i knew id be selling it so i kept it tiptop thats it ill maybe post some other measurements and pics later but no time now leave your # if your interested

Mechanic, eh? I can tell by the mixmatched crank/spindle. Your poor bike hates its life. "Look away, I'm hideous!," it says. Why did you do this to a perfectly nice Steamroller?!? There needs to be an Angelina Jolie of bicycles to rescue these poor things...