![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/www.ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/images\/miscphotos\/bicycles\/chargepluggrinder.jpg\")
<\/div>\n<\/p>\n
- \n
- The Firmstrong Urban Delux<\/a> is a monstrous limo of a bike with a retro steel spring fork. I’m guessing it weighs about 80 pounds, and probably handles like a rhinoceros. But it oozes beach-cruiser style.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/www.ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/images\/miscphotos\/bicycles\/firmstrongurbandelux.jpg\")
<\/div>\n<\/p>\n
- \n
- Trek’s District Carbon<\/a> is an enigma. It costs almost four grand, weighs less than 16 pounds, and has high tech race-worthy features out the wazoo, like a handmade carbon fiber frame and 16-spoke aero wheels. But it’s a single speed and sports a belt drive. (There is a cheaper sibling, the District<\/a>, for a third of the cost, but its shiny aluminum frame doesn’t match up.) This bike screams “richer than thou hipster.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/www.ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/images\/miscphotos\/bicycles\/trekdistrictcarbon.jpg\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n- \n
- Then there’s the Nirve Cannibal<\/a>, a bike that meets all the criteria. It’s a mixture of high tech (front disk brake) and retro-nasty (3″ rear tire, chopper-style chromed fork, and in-your-face graphics). Too bad it’s currently out-of-stock.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/www.ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/images\/miscphotos\/bicycles\/nirvecannibal.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\n- \n
- And, finally, for comparison purposes there’s the tried-and-true Electra Townie<\/a>. Most of Electra’s bikes look pretty much the same, and they’re really too mass-produced to be eye-catching…unless you live in a city like Midland, Texas. However, with a rear derailleur, the bike doesn’t meet the simplicity criterion.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/www.ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/images\/miscphotos\/bicycles\/electratownie.jpg\")
<\/div>\nI’d love to have the Trek but $3500 is a steep price to pay just to make a statement that most people wouldn’t understand anyway. The Cannibal might be a bit too radical, and I’ve already got one bike that’s 10 feet long so the Delux is redundant. The Plug Grinder is too utilitarian in appearance, and the Townie is a clich\u00e9.<\/p>\n
Maybe I’ll just stick with my 20-year-old Red Shred after all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’ve recently developed a powerful lust for a so-called cruiser bike. I’m not sure if there’s an official definition of the genre, but to me it’s any bicycle that exhibits a combination of mechanical simplicity, out-of-the-ordinary styling, and an emphasis on comfort over speed. It’s prettier than a commuter bike and less, um, focused than… Continue reading Cruising for a New Bike<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cycling","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- And, finally, for comparison purposes there’s the tried-and-true Electra Townie<\/a>. Most of Electra’s bikes look pretty much the same, and they’re really too mass-produced to be eye-catching…unless you live in a city like Midland, Texas. However, with a rear derailleur, the bike doesn’t meet the simplicity criterion.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
- Then there’s the Nirve Cannibal<\/a>, a bike that meets all the criteria. It’s a mixture of high tech (front disk brake) and retro-nasty (3″ rear tire, chopper-style chromed fork, and in-your-face graphics). Too bad it’s currently out-of-stock.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- Trek’s District Carbon<\/a> is an enigma. It costs almost four grand, weighs less than 16 pounds, and has high tech race-worthy features out the wazoo, like a handmade carbon fiber frame and 16-spoke aero wheels. But it’s a single speed and sports a belt drive. (There is a cheaper sibling, the District<\/a>, for a third of the cost, but its shiny aluminum frame doesn’t match up.) This bike screams “richer than thou hipster.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n