A sled for… a sled! Photo: Dan LeMaitre
If I’m going to be honest, I’m a band wagoner. I’d like to color it a lesser shade of red, but my embarrassment isn’t so much around being swayed by what I thought was quite frankly a dumb fad employed by hipsters, but that I ever thought it was a fad at all. You see, I moved from New York to Los Angeles this year, and as little as two months ago was living in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. There wasn’t a corner I could turn without running into a fixie. And so when I ran away from the city and its never-ending rat race, I was running away from everything that I associated with the city, including fixies and, more generally, bikes. However, a dozen weeks into a daily bicycle commute from my Santa Monica home to our Venice offices and I’m as gearheaded and stoked on these wheels as the rest of them.
These bike rides have gone a long way in alleviating a lot of that city-centric stress I was totin’, and the Solé City Cruiser is the the longboard to the more aggressive “shortboards” of fixies and street bikes. This Windward model’s minimal frame made it super comfortable to roll around on, and with coaster brakes (meaning you pedal backwards to slow down or stop), I was cruising without worry. And while bike seats are usually a literal pain in my ass, these springy cushions made distances traveled nearly irrelevant. There is even a nifty rack above the back wheel that’s great for tying down duffels and 12-packs. The only criticism would be simply that you have to position the bike in a certain manner for the kickstand to function properly when a board is attached. But for the most part you’re not going to be leaving your board unattended when off the bike, right? Why would you do that?
Bring the pack, but leave the stress at home. Photo: Dan LeMaitre
Finally, let’s be clear that while the official name for these is “City Cruiser,” for all intents and purposes they are indeed Beach Cruisers, ’cause beach people are happier — it’s scientifically proven… somewhere, I’m sure of it! — and as is clearly stated in the headline, this bike is for happy people only.
Check out Sole for more information. List price is $499. You’ll get places so much faster than walking. And ours has a surf rack on it. Ask them about getting one on yours.
Alright, alright. It also would make a great city bike… though why you’d ever limit it to the city is beyond me. Photo: Dan LeMaitre
