that's cool you know the location!! we gotta do that again some weekend---where we post ad's address and see what's there now! I have more ads from this scribner's and i can't recall if any more were located in boston or not!
That is sad. I had seeing areas being overtaken by strip malls, chain stores, etc. I mean, don't get me wrong, chain stores have their place; but peoples seem to forget the charms of individual independent stores, ya know?
You stopped by back-pedaling. Which was, on these bikes, a bit tricky.
There's a reason that when bikes with two wheels and a chain first came out they were called "safeties." They were direct-drive at first too, though, where you resisted the pedals to stop and couldn't coast. People with modern fixed-gear bikes often stop the same way.
Oh wait, I had a bike that stopped with back-pedaling when I was little. The first time I rode a bike where backpedaling had no effect, I was super weirded out.
Chances are that was a coaster brake, which is common on children's bikes because they don't have a lot of hand strength and it doesn't require any maintenance. It's not the same thing. On a direct-drive bicycle, like high-wheelers, the original safety bikes, and modern fixed-gears, the wheel only turns if the pedals are turning. If you make the pedals stop moving, the wheel stops moving. (Front wheel in the case of a high-wheeler, rear wheel on safety and modern bikes.)
On a bike with a coaster brake, it still has a freewheel (the thing that allows you to coast downhill, the wheels moving while the pedals don't), and pushing the pedals back engages a brake that's inside the rear hub.
I got my first bike with hand brakes when I was twelve, so when I was helping an adult friend re-learn to ride a couple of years ago it didn't even occur to me that she'd never used hand brakes before, and she freaked out when she couldn't stop by back-pedaling. Oops.
Another way of putting it: on direct-drive bikes you can actually ride a bicycle backwards by pedaling backwards. You can't do that with a coaster brake.
You can't stop. You have to ride them so that you're always at the right speed, even before you get there. Anything happens suddenly to change this and you just can't brake suddenly, no matter how you try it. You're riding what's mostly a unicycle with a saddle stabiliser. Any braking force on that wheel, even if you throw your weight right back, and it'll have you over the bars.
Original ones have spoon brakes on the rear tyre. These can be used to scrape off excess mud, and little else.
Modern ones are fitted with powerful modern rim brakes. Now you have the choice to catapult yourself instantly over the bars, at the touch of a finger. Still won't stop you though.
He probably didn't sign on for the thousand miles thing, and now looks very concerned about spending that amount of time with an uncomfortable seat wedged up his butt.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2013-06-28 08:42 pm (UTC)Today its a Bank of America.
View Larger Map (https://maps.google.com/maps?q=81+Summer+St,+Boston,+Suffolk,+Massachusetts+02110&layer=c&sll=42.354102,-71.058665&cbp=13,282.43,,0,11.34&cbll=42.354095,-71.058623&hl=en&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=81+Summer+St,+Boston,+Suffolk,+Massachusetts+02110&ll=42.354112,-71.058626&spn=0.0049,0.011362&t=m&z=14&iwloc=A&panoid=j66ZMaKPtLltLQLZG_vR5g&source=embed)
no subject
Date: 2013-06-28 08:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-06-28 08:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-06-28 08:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-06-28 09:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-06-28 09:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-06-29 04:54 am (UTC)And I took drugs....advil for aches and pains. Caffeine. Allergy meds. :^)
no subject
Date: 2013-06-29 03:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-06-29 03:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-06-29 04:57 am (UTC)There's a reason that when bikes with two wheels and a chain first came out they were called "safeties." They were direct-drive at first too, though, where you resisted the pedals to stop and couldn't coast. People with modern fixed-gear bikes often stop the same way.
no subject
Date: 2013-06-29 04:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-06-29 05:30 am (UTC)On a bike with a coaster brake, it still has a freewheel (the thing that allows you to coast downhill, the wheels moving while the pedals don't), and pushing the pedals back engages a brake that's inside the rear hub.
I got my first bike with hand brakes when I was twelve, so when I was helping an adult friend re-learn to ride a couple of years ago it didn't even occur to me that she'd never used hand brakes before, and she freaked out when she couldn't stop by back-pedaling. Oops.
no subject
Date: 2013-06-29 05:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-06-29 04:00 pm (UTC)Original ones have spoon brakes on the rear tyre. These can be used to scrape off excess mud, and little else.
Modern ones are fitted with powerful modern rim brakes. Now you have the choice to catapult yourself instantly over the bars, at the touch of a finger. Still won't stop you though.
no subject
Date: 2013-06-29 08:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-06-29 02:30 pm (UTC)