Return of the Bicycle

Despite much temptation, I refrained from following up about the LA MTA and its bad decisions, despite regular coverage by the national press, local opinions and a rumored LA Weekly article circling about. I am personally waiting for someone more versed in the particulars of LA transit history to weigh in on the matter (I really wish that Mike Davis had a blog).

Anyway, I'm done. As we say in Portuguese, "acabou!" Focusing solely on transit in LA makes me extremely sad, especially when there is increasing evidence that city residents and commuters aren't taking care of their most vulnerable populations. It's enough to ruin my week.

It is for this reason that I present to you, my casual and loyal readers, the return of the swing bike! Not since last winter's rage for fixed-gears has a bike seemed so interesting. Imagine a completely impractical bike made solely for the souther California beach-biking culture! There's no commuting, no going on tour, and definitely no dodging cars in traffic: it's just pure fun. I know too well the importance of fun in promoting bikes within car-saturated SoCal; it was definitely a huge factor in my "bicycle awakening" four years ago. My only hope is that the swing-bikes don't get too disruptive when I take the beach route along PCH, that is if they catch on.

In my temporary locale of Ipanema beach in Rio de Janeiro a swing bike would be far too impractical. With the plethora of cargo bikes and mountain bikes that I see every day, I couldn't imagine it having a place. (Also, considering the near monopoly that caloi has here, I can't imagine alternative novelty bike such as these becoming popular.)
And with that, I leave you with a swing-bike poppin' a wheelie.