Usedari's Travels in Bikedrobia

Adeline Adeline Store Visit

Adeline Adeline Store front — Store Exterior

While walking into Adeline Adeline (in TriBeCa at 147 Reade Street) you feel as if someone lifted you up and carried you away into a surreally perfect place of grown-up fantasy. For a brief moment you are transfixed at the door, wondering where to start.

At the helmets from Nutcase, Bern and Yakkay? At the marvelously curated line of baskets of all shapes, sizes, materials and prices? (my favorite is the Hoxton by Brooks) At the book section? At the saddle wall? The bikes?

Julie Hirschfeld, the owner stood at the register during my visit, and she is happy to answer your questions about your bike needs. The staff is super-friendly and welcoming. The long shop has the ambiance of a hip downtown boutique, sans the attitude. The bikes are in three general sections, with the timelessly elegant Pashleys close to the front, the seriously monochrome black Dutch bikes in the middle, and the best-seller Linus line (is the plural Lini?) hidden in the L-shape alcove. They are all so perfectly beautiful.

I picked up the Bike Snob’s new book called Systematically & Mercilessly Realigning the World of Cycling, but there were at least 4 or 5 other titles I would love to own, including David Byrne’s Bicycle Diaries, and The Golden Age of Hand-built Bicycles from Rizzoli.

If you are in the market for well-crafted, unique, retro-classic, “unsporty” lifestyle bikes, or need to complete your set with stylish accessories, you can’t find a better place in the city. If you are in the neighborhood, it’s really worth the trip.

Notes To Self

I’m counting down the days until my departure to Budapest, but there were two places I really had to visit before I leave. One is Adeline Adeline, the first “woman-centric” NYC bike shop in TriBeCa, and the other is the Rapha Cycling Club on Bowery. Separate reviews to follow on each.

Today looked like a perfect day, not too hot, overcast after earlier showers. I made my way downtown from my mid-town office on 9th Ave, then Hudson, Washington and Greenwich which turns into Reade. Adeline Adeline is at 147 Reade Street. 6:30 PM on a workday seems to be the best time for bike- and guy-spotting. I also saw the first bamboo bike in my life. It looks so sturdy it almost appears to be fake. :)

I must say the new semi-divided bike lanes actually work,

the traffic flows quite naturally and the lights are timed right. Somebody must be pulling some strings at the city around paving TriBeCa with cobblestones to keep bikers away. Or I find no other explanation to make it the least-ridable neighborhood to date. And those streets with the cobblestones don’t have a bike lane.

While riding, I made the following mental notes and I’m trying to capture them before they disappear.

I really need to get an iPhone and an iPhone mount (like the GoRide by Bicio featured in an earlier post) to navigate any area I’m not familiar with. The bike lane disappeared from under me quite a few times, and it is hard to keep track of which one-way street has a bike lane and which does not. There are a lot of people riding against traffic, but you don’t see the traffic lights coming up to the intersection that way.

I also need to get a helmet- or handlebar-mountable camera, because there are so many beautiful shots on the way which I currently can’t capture. I vaguely recall inventing some very clever contraption, but now I forgot what I actually meant. It had to do with a remote control built into the glove or the handlebar to be able to take pictures. Or simply, I need voice control.

I need to add the new clips ASAP, this half-clip nonsense is just way too dangerous.

I was riding in a knit jersey dress, with leggings, which is a nice, comfortable yet feminine (or so I imagine) urban look, gives you more coverage and comfort while moving, but the skirt of my dress either needs to be shorter, or have more room in the step, because I almost tripped two or three times getting caught in my skirt while getting off. There must be a mathematical function of skirt length versus width to be safe on a bike. Even if it’s a step-through.

My blue colored snake skin ballet flats worked surprisingly well, in a way they were more comfortable than my usual sneakers, due to their hard sole. I’m not sure how well they will hold up in the clips.

I also need to get cycling-friendly prescription glasses. My vision is deteriorating very rapidly, but I don’t notice it starring constantly at a screen about two feet from my eyes. I want something non-sporty looking, but with large coverage. Perhaps some over-size sunglasses with clear lenses.

But my greatest discovery was that I enjoy riding on Park Avenue the most from all places in NY. It’s fast, it is in traffic, so there aren’t pedestrians walking in your way, and if you ride on the left side of the inner-most lane (totally wrong and potentially dangerous in many ways, especially annoying cab drivers, apparently) you actually have a much more civilized, seamless experience, which I believe ultimately is much less dangerous. You are more visible to drivers, you are not between cars and the curb, there are virtually no pot holes and sewage drains, and the road does not tilt as steeply as on the right side. So I really vote for making a new rule, and letting cyclists (above a certain speed) ride on the left side of the inner-most lane.

Also, pedestrians don’t seem to be aware of bike lanes at all. In fact, many of them walk on it, since it’s less crowded than the sidewalk. I think there should be a public awareness campaign in subway cars and on cab screens, and on the side of bus stops informing people about cyclists and what they should look out for when stepping off from the sidewalk, hailing and getting out of cabs around bike lanes, etc. And the bike paths need to get better signage, some sort of simplified map at intersections to know what comes next, if your lane is about to end, or split into two directions, things like that.

Rapha Cycle Club coming to NYC on July 3

“A combination of gallery, shop and café” Can’t wait to see it.

Location update via Bikerumor: The Rapha Cycle Club NY, which will be open by the first weekend (2/3) July will echo the existing London space and be part retail store, part gallery and part cafe and will be located at 352 Bowery (at Great Jones).

Size my Bike iPhone app

“SizeMyBike computes the optimal geometry of your road or mountain bike’s frame that is ideal to your morphology. Six body measurements (height, inseam, sternum, arm length, foot length, and shoulder width) allow for an accurate computation of the best geometry. This information is useful in choosing the right frame size and obtaining an excellent adjustment for your bike.”