Friday, July 18, 2008

Locking in San Francisco

by Jody Perewitz

Nicole Roesch and I were in San Francisco last week for an event at a Kryptonite Dealer. Before
we went to the dealership Nicole and I decided to take a walk around Union Square. Immediately I noticed a bike cabled and locked to a pole with a Kryptonite lock!


Within the next few blocks we saw many more bikes and almost all of them had Kryptonite locks! Wahoooo!

There was some old ratty bikes locked that looked like the lock cost more than the bike but hey in an economy where gas is $5 a gallon 2-wheels, no matter how they look will have to do.

I did find it funny to see so many bikes in San Fran. The hills in the city are hard to walk up
never mind bike up! I give those people a lot of credit; they must have some strong calves!

Later in the day we found out that things seem to disappear in San Fran if it isn't locked
properly. Well as we know if you want something to still be there when you return, use a
Kryptonite!

2 comments:

Shepherd said...

Hi Jody

A great report on the state of things in S.F. as it relates to bicycles and security and HOW DO THEY RIDE THOSE HILLS?

One thing worth noting is the bike you have shown locked up (in your picture) has only ONE (yes that is 1) gear. It is an interesting historical note that before S.F. held the World Courier Cycling Championships (about a decade or so ago) very few would have thought of riding single speeds in the city of hills. A bunch of N.Y. City couriers came out for the championships on their "fixies" (one speeds) fell in love with the city and stayed. Since then the "fixie" culture has grown and grown (as it has all over the country). I once asked one of these stalwort messengers how the hell do you ride the hills with just one fixed gear? He answered
"you learn to ride between the hills" So you can imagine one going across town in large swoooping serpintine arcs.

Also I hope you had fun at Scuderia one of my favorite MC shops in the world, and of course I am sure you made it across the street to Zeitgeist for a refreshing beverage or two.

Best,
C.Fallon

Donna T. said...

Chris - you are, as always, a complete wealth of information. :)