After gushing all around the Faggin (a phrase I by no means thought I’d sort) lately, this previous Friday I ushered within the weekend astride the freshly-105ed Milwaukee, and wouldn’t it, that bike felt unbelievable too:

To me, the attraction of the Milaukee is its staunch conservativism. It’s metal, but not ostentatiously so, because it has no lugs. It makes use of 32-spoke wheels and has no crabon, nevertheless it has a contemporary 11-speed drivetrain and a threadless steerer. It has a sloping prime tube, nevertheless it solely slopes a little bit bit. And it has medium-reach brakes–not the short-reach necklace clasps you discover on race bikes, and never the good huge long-reach barbecue tongs you discover on Rivendae. They’re simply huge sufficient to permit a 30+mm tire or a pair of fenders, however nonetheless brief sufficient you may mistake them for shorties at first look. Actually, until you simply hate street bikes on precept there’s not likely something in regards to the Milwaukee to offend your sensibilities, no matter they might be. If it have been human, it may simply make a dwelling modeling garments for the Hole, and I imply that in the very best method.

Then on Saturday morning I had some stuff to do in THE CAR THAT I OWN, and with the rain resulting from arrive at about mid-day I made a decision to take the ol’ AMPer together with me and make a cease at Cunningham Park, unquestionably the best singletrack west of the Cross Island Parkway:

And likewise probably the most lung-like in in all probability your complete tri-state space:

[PDF. They’ve added lots more trails since this map was made, too.]

The sunshine, agile AMP was instantly at dwelling on the tight, twisty trails, although after years of driving singlespeed mountain bikes after which the Jones with it’s single-ring clutch derailleur drivetrain I’d forgotten all about chain slap. Additionally, the hiss talked about in the Mountain Bike Motion evaluate Paul included with the bike was extra obvious than it had been on my first experience:

“Exhausting use causes the shock models to suck minute quantities of air previous the )-rings–not sufficient to trigger fading, simply an annoying hiss on huge hits.”

It is because, like a New York Metropolis house, Cunningham packs a heaps and much stuff into little or no house, and so each few ft you’ll discover one other “path characteristic” to get the bike’s joints working–and hissing.

In direction of the tip of that first experience on the AMP I’d additionally began having some points with the chain mysteriously leaping from the center ring onto the grandparent ring on climbs, which was odd for the reason that drivetrain had been working reliably till then. Earlier than heading to Cunningham I’d lubed the chain and made certain the gears have been adjusted, however I quickly discovered that the issue was nonetheless there–and actually it was pronounced sufficient that it appeared pointless to proceed the experience. Clearly I’d must unravel this, however so as to totally unleash my idiocy upon the bike I’d want instruments and spare components and all that sort of stuff, and so in the interim I had no selection however to return to the automotive.

Feeling acutely the consequences of velocipedus interruptus, as quickly as I received dwelling I exchanged the AMP for the Homer, intermittent rain be damned:

Upon reaching the village of Hastings-On-Hudson I discovered a protest underway:

I see no purpose to infect this weblog with politics; suffice it to say I feel we’re lucky to dwell in a rustic the place we get to decide on the president, and we’re additionally lucky to dwell in a rustic the place the folks sad with that selection we get to stroll round with indicators. Nevertheless, I do have an issue with this specific signal:

I imply that’s a tiny piece of cardboard, barely sufficient to air even a single grievance, so even when the quantity of flawed does exceed its dimensions that in itself is woefully inadequate to convey a way of enormity. For that reason, the signal’s diminutive dimension fully undermines its level–until the grievance is actually that she doesn’t have sufficient carboard at dwelling and this little scrap is the very best she may give you. However within the age of Amazon I discover this troublesome to consider. If something we’re dwelling in a Golden Age of Cardboard, and one can solely think about how far more highly effective the protests of the Sixties would have been if there had been this sheer abundance of extra packing materials.

Anyway, no matter could also be flawed with the world, or with the AMP, or with anything, there wasn’t a single factor flawed with the Homer. Even the rain couldn’t dampen my enthusiasm:

And no annoying hiss!