Bike Product Rants
Since I’ve gotten rid of my car as of last month and no longer spend over $1000 per month on being a car person, I’ve developed and over $1000 per month bicycle habit that I will attempt to quickly curb. I’m beginning to accept the fact that I’m just another idiot with a little bit more money than the next, harder working guy. Something I’ve been able to rationalize with the mentality of “I’m reasonably intelligent, therefore I’m not wasting, I’m researching.” This may simply be bullshit. Bicycles are not something I feel that I’m particularly talented at anyways, which is great reason to tinker around with track bikes. They are simple, and therefore stupid people can understand them. And because I sit in front of a computer for 10 hours a day, the fact that they are very impractical for living on nob hill, and stupid choice for utility, or comfort, works to my health’s advantage.
Anyways, today I decided to change my bicycle chains because one was stupid and ugly and came with the bike, and the other was getting close to worn. I decided to buy the SRAM PC-1 bmx chain, because I don’t feel right buying 60$ Wippermann 1G8 or Izumi V chains just to have and NJS stamp and the srs.biz look. I mean, I guess it’s ok to buy them just for looks, since I guess its a good product, but those KMC colored chains are just fruity, and the white chain the damn bike came with was just beyond retarded.
The bike also came with soma hellyer “track” pedals, and these things are pieces of shit. They got all bent up quite easily, and they just dont feel sturdy at all. They are also $60. At first I thought, well maybe they are a light-weight pedal for the track, not for retards like myself riding fixed gear bikes in the city. So I went to the website, and it said “shaped for more cornering clearance,” which clearly means city biking, and which also implies “for retards doing retard track bike bullshit.” In short, these pedals are not worth the money, the weight reduction sacraficed too much structural integrity. I promptly went and got another pair of MKS Sylvans, only $20, absolutely reliable, and not light weight at all. If you dont go clipless, these pedals are the best city track pedal, especially if you use a track bike for things they werent originally intended for.
The last product I bought was new straps, since what the bike came with were these Christophe leather straps. I want to call them the worst straps in the world, but I’m certain there are plenty of shitty straps. They basically feel like rubber bands. I cant imagine trusting them for any long term serious use if you do any kind of back-pedaling or stand-up pedaling at all. I’ve used vintge alfred binda leather straps with a laminated layer between the leather since you can get lucky and find them used for like $5 from time to time. I decided to just go ahead and buy the MKS Alpha Sport straps for $70 because they were leather straps with nylon lamination. I was hoping they were the case of a good product for an expensive price, and it was. Those other crappy leather straps and another crappy red pair I had once were basically like rubber bands. These MKS Alpha Sports are like parachute cord. They should considering rating toe straps with a lb. test raiting like fishing line. I guess the only better straps I can imagine are the MKS Alpha Sport double straps, (not the soma double leather straps, those are shitty and non-laminated leather).
A summary of what I just ranted about.
Products I recommend
SRAM PC-1 BMX Chain $10
MKS Fit Alpha Sport Leather Toe Straps (not MKS Alpha Spirit) $90 (mine were $70 somehow)
MKS Sylvan Track Pedals $22
Products that are SHITTY GARBAGE
Soma Hellyer Track Pedals $60
Zefal Christophe Leather Toe Straps $7