Well, I finally went ahead and bought the Bikkel Neerhem 7 Dutch city bike (www.bikkelbikes.com)
that I enquired about in this forum a fortnight ago. I spent so long obsessing over the choice that
finally I had to settle the matter. As Borges writes, "Anything at all, a map of Hungary, can drive
you mad, if you can think of nothing else".
I'm still not sure I did the right thing. The new bike is actually much _less_ comfortable than
my old supermarket model. I'm hoping this is a matter of adjustment that will sort itself out in
time. Since most things can be tweaked and shifted on the Bikkel, it may take a while to get all
the proportions down to the millimeter. For the moment, I'm back to the wrist and tooshie
agonies of yore.
On the plus side, the Nexus shifting system is a dream and lives up to expectations. I no longer
have to memorize elaborate shifting scripts to feel confident of taking off after a traffic halt.
The roller brakes are also strong, supple and rainproof. They don't do werewolf howls like my old
brakes. The bike feels much slower than my old one at the same speed because the stopping distances
are so much shorter, and thus allows me to try higher speeds. And the covered chain, skirt guards
and mud guards all make it possible to wear any of my skirts without hem rips and [censored] marks.
On the downside, this creature is heavier than I ever imagined. When I initially tried to lift it in
the shop it didn't seem so bad, but after the various extras were added - hub dynamo, front basket,
a second anti-theft - it turned into a behemoth. I should have listened to myself after my Cambridge
experience taught me to mistrust dynamos. I thought it was just a question of quality. In fact,
whatever the quality, I'm now sure dynamo lighting is an absurdity - it blacks out on you at
precisely the moments of starting or braking or walking when you need it most, and you can't use
it.to see around your parking stall.in the garage.
A more pressing problem is that I find this bike extremely hard to steer. She squirrels all over the
place. It's as though the slightest bump in the road will send her carreening into the next lane.
I'm finding traffic intersections scarier than ever, since I cannot manage the turns and the cars
around me have trouble figuring out which way I'm trying to go. Moreover, I am farther than ever
from being able to remove my hand from the bars long enough to signal.
What could be causing that? Forrester in EFFECTIVE CYCLING goes on about fork rake and head angle,
but he's so arrogant and incomprehensible I feel like giving up. The bike has an adjustable head
angle,and I do find that the farther forward I set this, the stabler the bike feels. On the other
hand, setting it forward increases the distance between the bars and the seat and I find myself
falling, once again, into the abyss. I also surmise that after their long residence in the shop the
wheels may need pumping, but unfortunately the valves are different from those of my old bike and my
pump won't work on them until I can get a new valve on it. A collegue has suggested that the wheels
may not be true. The vendor did add the hub dynamo to the front wheel and perhaps did not take time
to true it afterwards. I'm only alarmed at the possibility that the bike is meant to be that way and
will stay that way - my balance problems may not be able to keep up with it.
I cast the Bikkel's natal horoscope for the date-time stamp on my payment slip. To my utter
horror, she is the astrological twin of Harry Potter's Professor Snape, Scorpio with Capricorn
rising! Even if I find
would have associated with a bicycle. Perhaps I must name her Severine.
Heyho.
Elisa Francesca Roselli Ile de France