This site was formerly Living Room, but before that, it was The Bike People. We have simply returned to our emphasis on bicycling in the city in the context of cultural, social, and environmental sustainability. All our former content is still available through the article indexes on the left.

Invasion of the Snow Cruisers
Much like stoned dirtbag lift-ticket-moochers, the cruiser bike is synonymous with ski-town living. Simple bikes with fat tires, coaster brakes, fenders, and baskets--and often ski-racks!. These bikes are the staple low-impact transport from home to grocery to trail head to bar (where they also take an iconic place above the inventory).

Crested Butte is blessed with a nordic ski center that practically starts down town, and a well-designed bus system that will take you from your doorstep to the lifts. The streets were full of ski-toting people biking and walking to the bus stop to get to the slopes.

The evolution one-speed cruiser to modern mountain bike is present in all its forms in this mecca of fat-tired transport. Stock 1960s Chicago Schwinns rub wheels with modified cruiser proto-MTBs; top-of-the-line mountain bikes from one or two decades ago serve the same purpose as the garage-sale cruiser--carrying you where you need to go with fat-tire stability and a touch of style, regardless of weather, temperature, snow level, or sobriety.

Text & photos by Tarik Saleh, February, 2008.

 

 

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