But, there are certain things about electric bikes that I am weary of. For example, they seem like they would be pretty heavy. Or what if you were mid ride and your battery ran out? Would it just suck riding without power? Could you ride the bike in rain? And of course, my own, and everyone else’s biggest fear; what if it fucked up and got all Maximum Overdrive on you?

Well, my boss was nice enough to let me borrow his electric bike. Even though I don’t live more than 2 miles away from work, I was still excited to get a chance to try it out for more than a few blocks. I didn’t initially feel the electric boost, but the harder I was peddling, the faster the bike was going, crazy, right? In my head I was trying to convince myself that these bikes are sweet and it was really nice but at the same time thinking ‘is this actually worth the money that people are paying for these?’

I got home and figured that I should take the battery out and dry it off, due to the rain. I sat there trying to unlock the battery but I couldn’t get it out. I quickly realized what was going on, and felt like a dumb ass in a major way. I was turning the bike on and off, not locking and unlocking the battery.

SO, two of my fears are a thing of the past. The bike can go through rain, I am not sure about an insane downpour, but it did fine in a light-to-shitty rain. As far as a dead battery goes, well, we now know that it rides just fine as a normal bike, and if you are dumb as rocks, you may even think you are getting boosts! The bike is pretty heavy, but in all actuality, it is pretty much the same weight as my cruiser bike with side saddles on it.

So this is in no way a review of electrics bikes, because I have in no way made use of the bikes electric features. I will write about the sweet aspects of the bike as soon as I get a chance to expierience it, but I do now know that it is fine in rain and if it does not get a proper charge it is no big deal.

Varsity Bike & Transit will host a very special Bike Meets Art event with local artist Adam Turman on Friday, Oct. 16 from 4:30-7:30pm. Turman is doing a special, limited-edition “Pedal Less Oil” poster for the event. The event will include a meet-and-greet with Turman from 5:30-6:30 pm and he will showcase his other bicycle-inspired work in the shop during the event at Varsity Bike & Transit on 1316 SE 4^thStreet in Dinkytown (Minneapolis). Varsity Bike & Transit will host pizza and refreshments, as well as other goodies and give-aways.

www.varsitybike.com

www.adamturman.com

The below sales* will take place from Friday, Oct. 16 to Sunday, Oct 18

Overall

A limited-edition Adam Turman/Varsity Bike “Pedal Less Oil” print for $15

$10 off any purchase of $50

Bike Sales

Upwards of 33 percent off electric bikes (savings totaling more than $1,000)

Fuji Palisade commute bike  now $300 (was $440)

Marin Portifino road bike now $600 (was $750)

Bike Parts

$20 off any colored wheel set

U locks less than $10

Bike Service

$10 off any winter tune-up good (good from 12/1-2/28)

Bike Storage

Buy a pro tune-up at $59.99 at get up to four months of free bike storage

*while supplies last

Upon reaching my destination of the nearby bike rack, my ears were graced with the pleasant squealing of car tires, a sound less surprising than the ending to Rocky IV, as well as a slew of syllables unrecognizable to my finely tuned inner ear, but still easily placed as coming from the nearby family of Chinese descent currently battling the serene rumble of a convenient delivery truck.

After having removed the lock safeguarding my baby blue/ old pickup blue/ aqua bike frame, my true journey was about to begin. I began down the sidewalk, squeezing past the middle aged woman, with a purse large enough to safely house its own ecosystem, struggling to decipher the code that makes up the instructions of the electronic parking meter while her dear child whined impatiently from the plush leather seat of their Volvo. Within a few seconds I was nearing the corner where I make my departure from the sidewalk and enter into the wide world of the open road. My last obstacle came from a small group of college students carrying their U of M bookstore plastic bags. I was forced to go directly through their tight entourage, nearly bumping into two of them due to their stressed university minds not being able to comprehend the idea of oncoming traffic and the necessity/courtesy of clearing a navigable route.

Finally, I left the cracked, crooked concrete behind for the smooth asphalt, taking a right turn wider than Jared before Subway and still narrowly avoiding a sudden SUV door opening, courtesy of a polo and khaki clad senior citizen looking an unhealthy, tanning bed induced bronze and sporting a well cared for hair style possibly a result of the fine work done by those skilled hair stylists under the employment of the ever popular Great Clips hair salons. I accelerated past this scene, dancing on my pedals, cruising past the parked cars on my right, claiming the single traffic lane as my own, while catching glimpses of the steady pedestrian traffic on the sidewalk. It is at this time my bicycle decided that my stable position on this earthly domain would best be left behind for a slightly less stable, but considerably more exhilarating flight over my handlebars through the warm summer breeze so many cherish. Drifting gracefully over asphalt and all its forgiving features, with arms outstretched as if to graciously accept a surprise gift, I descended like a falcon speeding towards its unlucky prey. Like the Wright brothers renowned flight, mine was of minimal length but with fairly profound implications.

Forever leaving a part of my smile behind, I got up from my landing, quickly being greeted by a nomadic shrink interested in learning about my current feelings. I quickly removed myself and my bike from the presence of this office-less psychologist and returned to my starting point, a mere half a block away, passing by again the elderly bronzed Great Clips customer, the still sidewalk clogging college kids, the ever persistent parking meter mother and her unappeasable offspring, the chatty Chinese family and finally my starting point, my place of employment, where I could better assess the results of that rapid landing.

In the end a little time and a few trips to my friendly neighborhood dentist would leave me in satisfactory condition. Let the pieces of my front teeth act as sufficient sacrifice to appease the bicycle gods long enough for your ride home to be one free of such interesting experiences.

Some days biking and dealing with bikes are more interesting than others. Yesterday was one such day.  Riding to work through Loring Park I spotted a woman riding a brighter bike than mine, which is an accomplishment (good or bad, you decide).  She was riding a watermellon bike mostly flourescent green with pink wheels and other parts.  I thought it looked great and would’ve loved to seen it closer but chasing down woman has never been a good way to start off with someone.  Hopefully I will see her again.  It would be hard to miss her.

Then, at work we found a YouTube video a couple of years old of Jameson at the old store.  It is short but great because he says how great it is to work at a shop in a very eloquent way.  It is always good to realize how good you have it.

At the bike shop we had a problem I have never seen before.  A fellow worker who will remain anonymous (his name starts with a K) managed to get a ratchetting wrench stuck in between the frame and the kickstand that he just installed.  As the bolt was tightened the wrench moved down and was pinched between the frame and bolt.  This was a new bike so we had to be careful to remove it.  Luckily the owner was very kind and went to have dinner while we dealt.  After a couple of failed tries and destroying the tool we cut a slot in the end of the bolt and loosened it with a screwdriver.  An hour to put on a kickstand is embarrasing but it was a good learning experience.  Never use a ratchetting wrench (Pedros in particular) to install kickstands.

After work I was coming home on the Midtown Greenway thinking too hard when I was passed by another biker.  He slowed down in front of me which seemed odd.  He had a mini boom box strapped on his bag and gave me a minute or two of our own personal sound track and then took off again into the night.  I enjoyed it whole heartedly and love the fact he was buzzing around just to give a little bit of pleasure to strangers.

Kingston

Some days biking and dealing with bikes are more interesting than others. Yesterday was one such day.  Riding to work through Loring Park I spotted a woman riding a brighter bike than mine, which is an accomplishment (good or bad, you decide).  She was riding a watermellon bike mostly flourescent green with pink wheels and other parts.  I thought it looked great and would’ve loved to seen it closer but chasing down woman has never been a good way to start off with someone.  Hopefully I will see her again.  It would be hard to miss her.

Then, at work we found a YouTube video a couple of years old of Jameson at the old store.  It is short but great because he says how great it is to work at a shop in a very eloquent way.  It is always good to realize how good you have it.

At the bike shop we had a problem I have never seen before.  A fellow worker who will remain anonymous (his name starts with a K) managed to get a ratchetting wrench stuck in between the frame and the kickstand that he just installed.  As the bolt was tightened the wrench moved down and was pinched between the frame and bolt.  This was a new bike so we had to be careful to remove it.  Luckily the owner was very kind and went to have dinner while we dealt.  After a couple of failed tries and destroying the tool we cut a slot in the end of the bolt and loosened it with a screwdriver.  An hour to put on a kickstand is embarrasing but it was a good learning experience.  Never use a ratchetting wrench (Pedros in particular) to install kickstands.

After work I was coming home on the Midtown Greenway thinking too hard when I was passed by another biker.  He slowed down in front of me which seemed odd.  He had a mini boom box strapped on his bag and gave me a minute or two of our own personal sound track and then took off again into the night.  I enjoyed it whole heartedly and love the fact he was buzzing around just to give a little bit of pleasure to strangers.

Kingston

After being in Dinkytown for 13 years, Varsity Bike has moved down the street three doors.   As with all change there has been the expected changes, as well as the unintended ones.  During our time in business we have always had bikes on the sidewalk, a public tool block (which is 12 basic bike tools like allen wrenches, tire levers,  axel wrenches, chain tool, etc.) and an airhose for  anybody’s use.  This April, after an anonymous complaint, we were forced to remove the bikes and the public tool block (which was attached to an Metro Transit bus bike rack for people to learn how to take their bike on the bus) from the sidewalk.  We also had cargo bikes, like the Bakfiet, on the side of our retail space in the private common space in our building’s common entryway.  We were required to remove them as well. 

We have been working with the city of Minneapolis Planning, Zoning and Development Review to allow us to put out bike racks on the sidewalk for more parking and trying to find a new way to put out the public tool block.  We have been allowed to put out the bike racks for customer and employee bike parking as well as an air hose for public use.  We have not been able to come up with an appropriate way to have our tool block outside.  We need to have the tools retract when they are not in use so they do not block the sidewalk.  Unfortunately, our first experiment with retracting key fobs did not work because they were constantly being broken as they were not strong enough for rigorous use.  We are looking for a new long-term solution.

We at Varsity Bike are applying for an Outdoor Display and Sales variance to use the private space in our buildings entryway.  This variance is for the use of displaying our large cargo bikes like the Bakfiet, the Yuba Mundo or other traditional for sale bikes.  This space is dead space in an alcove and is not useful for anything else. The current zoning rules allow for hardware stores to display lawn and garden items such as lawn mowers in spaces similar to this.  The display of bikes would seem to fit into this same exception to allow a seasonal business to display large items outside during the peak selling season.  Without specific mention in the zoning laws, bikes are not allowed currently.

There will be a public hearing in late July to determine if this variance will be approved by the city. We have received support from the Marcy Holmes Neighborhood Association, the Dinkytown Business Association and our Minneapolis Council Member Diane Hofstede.  We believe this variance will not be an issue for anybody and hope that all our neighbors support it or at least do not contest it.