The single biggest jurgled’out jack-lame excuse for not patching tubes is “I’m too busy.”  Give me a break.

I’ve heard some riders confess to not trusting their patch handiwork.  Starting out as a touring rider, I learned to trust patches.  One thing’s for certain, I’ve never punctured a patch and patches have a higher success rate if you consider the number of new tube failures (during on-ride repairs) as a comparison; I dunno, maybe it’s the mechanic.

Whatever.  Almost all the all bro-jacks give me their tubes.  I got tubes swelling out the g’Jinger-yang that’ll practically last into forever.

Let’s see;  5 minutes to patch a tube or an hour to go to the shop and buy some (?) tubes {What? You buy a dozen, a case, 1 tube;  I dunno, do the math}.  25 cents for a patch and glue or 6.95 for a new tube.  Drink some bad-ass beer or some fermented grape juice from a box or a screw top bottle while you’re patching the tube or you can spend time going to the shop.  Maybe the shop is well stocked with beer and wine; in which case you’re there all the time so fix it while you’re visiting and you’re still ahead.  Don’t forget to leave $6.00 in the shop tip jar to make up for the lost revenue in tube sales and help with the inebriation supplies.

Tomar Algo Animaux!

Mojo Voodoo Vibe is good crack. There’s a relatively new bike shop in Long Beach full of that energy on Broadway just west of Cherry in the Broadway Corridor.  They specialize in vintage and city style bikes and offer restoration services.  It’s a quirky little shop with an offbeat attitude that fits the locale perfectly.  If you walk in feeling a little blah you’re sure to spring out busting happy because the shop hosts are full of good spirit and you will undoubtedly encounter a celebrity of the Long Beach vintage cult crowd.  Evan and Nicole (proprietors) are full of contagious enthusiasm for all things bikes.  Drop in and crank-up your mo-jack.

Mojo Animaux!

http://www.thebicyclestand.org/
The Bicycle Stand
1824 E. Broadway
Long Beach, CA 90802

Shane Perkins, Australia’s fastest track cyclist.


As the Olympics get closer the tension’s gonna get higher.

B’ANimauX!

The Golden Saddle Cyclery is jacking out some great self-promotion.
This video was produced to showcase their new kits.
Gonna have to do a GSC ride-by soon.
The shop is in the the hood of my adolescence.

Muy OrO Animaux!

Designer NaRCisSIsm nAmE eMbLaZeMEnt ovErLoAd!!

Many designers execute a great vision and then totally crash when they cross their design wheel with a narcissistic need to emblazon their name all over their creation.

As the labyrinth of the L.A. bike scene is coming into focus I’m discovering the incestuousness of the relationships. Brandt Sorensen is one of those personalities who is well web-connected across the Los Angeles cycling landscape and has an impressive design sense for jerseys.

I love the colors, the proportions, the sensibility, but an otherwise beautiful esthetic is ruined, para mi, with his name shouted out, big and loudly, across the panels.  In the early days of invention even Hugo Boss subjugated the label name to preserve the integrity of the design.

Visit the Sorensen website to see more.

Muy gauch Animaux!

Ad men are the Goddesses and Sirens of the Culture Avalanche.  Levi’s cracked it out in the clothing game for cycling commuters and Amgen is amp’n out the Tour of California on Metro Transit.  iSpied this velo-vertisement plastered o’side of a Metro-Unit on Venice Blvd just west of the 405. [CogJoint.com]

Organizing the garage.

The Inspiration: [don't know what, where, jack about this cafe (?)]

Another Cog-Joint Event®™©§ opportunity. Don’t miss out on the good times!
It just don’t get any jacked-open better than this. Really: be there or be Square.

¡Órale Ese! Frog Town was my Home Turf.

See you there! [visit the BicyleKitchen.com]
A group excursion is not planned but we hope to see you dancing!

Yeehaa Animaux!

Junking out new bike shop discoveries is a grand part of the urban cycling addiction.

When you’re powering the internal combustion you often can’t crack-out the hidden treasures and it’s just too much damn work to stop and find a parking space in the urban confine to see how anyone else is thriving; when you’re on a jack’d bent trajectory through the city who has time to stop.

Along Beverly Blvd, between Normandie and Vermont, on my way to LACMA* for Earth-Day Festivities, I noticed a little bike shop tucked away between a spread of other booming retail stores.   The proprietor’s name is Jorge and he loves to build wheels and crank the wrench.  Jorge isn’t a bike racer or a city rider; he’s injecting value to the neighborhood.

Magnolia’s Bikes
4073 Beveryly Blvd.
LA CA 90004

No estamos en Kansas Animaux!

*Los Angeles County Museum of Art

eArTH.wHAT?
Earth-Day didn’t even wince as much as a narcissistic sigh from a city overwhelmed with its daily existential reflections as it burns along in a frenzied preoccupation with progress, chaos and survival.

I jacked myself directly into Earth-Day with a 71 mile grand loop, single speed ride from Long Beach to LACMA* to witness the museum’s festivities, watch the documentary “Riding with the Dutch” by Michael Bauch {Long Beach resident} then ride  home.

Riding in the city is not for the timid but L.A. motorists are surprisingly patient although you gotta show you mean business and when you ride with aggressive purposefulness they’ll respect your right to take the lane but back-off one inch and they’ll slam you to the curb; I think I was honked at less than 3 or 4 times.  90% of the entire route was without a bike lane and the right side of most streets are like Paris-Roubaix, I kid you not.

The ride, the day, the adventure is one for the books.

Best surprise treat of the day: Lays Potato Chips followed by a Stinger Honey Gel; the lingering salt from the chips and the sweetness of the honey blast was a little explosion of delight!

*Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Muy UrBano ANimaux!