Shawn Richardson Brings the Logic

It’s very rare that a commenter in disagreement with us here on FREEwilliamsburg counters one of our posts with something other than “you f##%king hipster i hate hot dogs and my neighbor’s trust fund makes sex noises,” or whatever you people say. So, we were a bit proud when commenter Shawn Richardson countered Lisa’s post – Sad News for Berliners and Fixies – with a freakin’ essay!
I don’t even really know what he said, because for the most part I have a crippling case of ADD and I tuned out after he wrote, “Here comes the logic.” That was enough for me. The fact that he even offered to bring a bucket of logic to our dinner party made me smile. So, we’ve decided to re-post that comment here as its very own, self-sufficient, living and breathing blog post. For context, he’s responding to the one-off question on the original post, “Who wants to organize a protest?”
Ladies and gentlemen, here for your reading pleasure, is commenter Shawn Richardson’s logical rebuttal to Lisa’s post about fixies in Berlin. After the first paragraph, the rest of the post is below the jump.
Here Comes The Logic, by Shawn Richardson
I don’t think anyone wants to organize a protest; nor should they want to. Are you currently located in Berlin? I think it’s safe to assume you’re not since you’re posting on a blog called FREEwilliamsburg. I can understand your reason for being upset, angered, etc. about the subject. Although, the matter of the fact is that protesting something trivial (in the grand scheme of things this is trivial if you want to admit it or not) like this so far away from the affected area will have very little if no effect (I’m being gracious by saying ‚”very little”). Here comes the logic…

Let’s flip the coin. The German Autobahn has roughly 3,500mi of roadway with no upper speed limit for passenger cars and motorcycles. This is often considered a sort of Mecca by driving enthusiasts. The Eisenhower Interstate System, the US equivalent of the German Autobahn is about 6 times larger in total length but has 0 miles of roadway with no speed limit. Now, I can imagine that this might upset some gear heads in Germany because their brethren across the pond do not get to enjoy the luxury and thrill that they do. How much would you sympathize with these people if they organized a protest in Germany against the traffic laws made in America? You have to admit that this kind of sounds silly and would mostly likely go nowhere.
Take a step back and look at the situation. There are some people who ride fixed gear bikes that have just as much if not more control of their movements than their freewheeling friends. On average though, people do not have the skill to scrub speed as fast on a fixed gear bike as they do on a freewheel bike with brake levers. It’s much easier (for the average rider) to modulate the braking force with a lever as opposed to resisting forward motion of the crank arms. I mean, I agree that theoretically both bike designs can come to a complete stop in the same distance. Since both are capable of locking the wheels then they are inherently capable to holding the braking force at impending lockup where maximum stopping force is achieved. Like I said though, the average user is safer with brakes rather than relying on their leg muscles to stop their bike.
You would agree with me that traffic laws are designed to maximize safety, correct? Speed limits are put into place because it has been calculated that the average (actually below average) driver could not maintain full control of their vehicle or maintain proper reaction times if they were traveling at a faster rate. No Passing Zones are established on straight roads because the below average performing vehicle could not pass a slower vehicle in that distance. Both you and I know that we can drive our cars above the speed limit safely and that we can pass slower cars most of the time even there is a double yellow line, but the laws are there to protect us and other drivers from the percentage of people who do not have superior (or even average) driving skills.
This same mentality of ‚”Safety First” has been taken by German lawmakers with this decision. They’re not trying to rain on anyone’s parade or secretly take action against a niche group of cyclists. They are just trying to maximize the level of safety on their roadways, nothing less, nothing more. So putting this all together, do you really want to call for a protest against safety? I think not. I mean, unless you call attention to yourself by riding like an asshole, then authorities will most likely never know that you’re riding a fixed gear. It’s when people do ride aggressively and disobey other traffic laws that they get attention and this is when their bikes get impounded fixed gear or not.
In closing, this is not meant as an attack. I’m just trying to open your eyes to the reality of your call for a protest. I have nothing against fixed gear bikes. I think they are the sexiest mode of transportation around. It’s all go, no frills; everything is there for the purpose of moving forward. Do I get a chuckle whenever I see a hipster on a fixed gear out of the saddle struggling to make it up a steep hill or spinning their legs to death going back down said hill? Yes, it’s silly, but do I have anything against it, no.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 at 4:43 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.