Ugh. Second flat in two weeks. This time on the dreaded rear wheel. While researching this bike purchase, I read something about the tires being tricky to change because of the Shimano Nexus 7-speed internal-gear hub. Luckily, there’s a trick, which I found courtesy of a Bicycle Times article on the Breezer website [pdf]:

I did encounter the reality of a rear flat while testing this bike. Although the Nexus internal hub is a great design choice, it does require learning a trick or two to reinstall the gear selector cable in the hub while re-mounting the wheel. The owner’s manual recommends experimenting with this in your garage before hitting the road. Good advice, as trying to do this operation in a downpour or in the dark would be problematic without a trial run. A handy bike shop trick that Eric showed me for removing and reinstalling the cable: use a 2mm hex wrench to snag the gear change mechanism and maneuver it into place.

Now it’s off to the bike store to pick up a flat-repair kit. And, if you’re wondering, the wheel nuts are 14mm—so you’ll want to carry around a spare open-end wrench as you ride, too.

At some point in my life I read that the word posh was derived as an acronym for “port out, starboard home,” supposedly the preferred cabin arrangement of people traveling to and from the British colonies in the Far East. That appears to be hogwash, but I can’t help think of it as it relates to my bike commute into and out of Manhattan, for which I’ve coined the acronym BIMO: Brooklyn (Bridge) In, Manhattan (Bridge) Out.

I typically go over the Brooklyn Bridge on the way in to Manhattan because the Brooklyn-side ramp onto the Manhattan Bridge is crazy steep. Who wants that? Of course, you might say the Brooklyn Bridge is equally crappy but for a different reason—tourists. Well, if I get an early enough start, I avoid most of the tourists on the Brooklyn. Plus, the Brooklyn In route puts me onto the West Side Greenway, a more pleasant ride and a better way to start the day.

On the way home, though, I usually take the Manhattan Bridge into Brooklyn. That’s ’cause the Brooklyn Bridge really is lousy with tourists at this hour. They’re watching the sunset (who can blame them?), walking in groups of 20, and wandering into the bike lane to take pictures. Plus, it’s just nice to shuffle it a bit and get some variety in the day’s riding. (I do have to say, though, that the East Side Greenway is a piece of crap. Totally full of potholes and joggers, and huge pools of standing water after it rains.

Inbound, the ride is roughly 7.5 miles. Homeward-bound, it’s about 8 miles. I’m getting faster, and the commute is getting easier, so I try to keep it challenging by trying new tricks. Like lately, I’ve been avoiding shifting into 1st gear. (Yeah, that sounds lame, but I’m out of shape. The good news is that I can do the ride both ways now without resorting to 1st gear.)

I recently bought a new bike: a Breezer Villager. I had enjoyed riding around Brooklyn on my previous touring bike, but it wasn’t a good fit. The frame was too big (23″), it threw me into a hunched-up riding position, and the tires were so skinny that I always worried about bending the rims on the rough streets I biked along.

It was not a good fit, and consequently, I always found excuses to avoid commuting in to work from Brooklyn.

My Breezer Villager, however, is a dream. It’s built to commute right out of the box, with fenders, a dynamo-powered light set, a cushy suspension-pole seat, wide bump-absorbent tires with reflective sidewalls, and an internally geared seven-speed hub—which means there’s no front derailleur and that you can therefore fit a chainguard over the front chainring (so I don’t even need one of those pantleg straps).

I’ve been riding to and from the office for a couple weeks now and love it. The Breezer is not the fastest bike (I routinely get passed by all sorts of cyclists—even a chubby teen with the worst riding form I have ever seen*), but after only about 100 miles’ worth of riding, I’ve achieved time parity (more or less) with my typical subway commute—plus, I don’t have to deal with people.

In all the web research I did before buying this bike, owners raved about it. The only negatives I saw were that it was a bit slow and that it had steel rims and therefore was difficult to stop in the rain. To that I say, slow and steady wins the race—and I’ve not had any problems stopping in wet weather.

My only complaint is the name. When I was a kid, my mom’s euphemism for flatulence is “breezer.” So if I think too hard about it, I’m basically riding a fart.

Other than that, it’s a perfect commuter if that’s what you’re looking for. If you’re in New York City, there are a couple of dealers I know of—A Bicycle Shop on 22nd (near Seventh Avenue), and Continuum Cycles on Avenue B (12/13th streets).

* Seriously. It was painful to be behind him, watching him wiggle in the seat and expend all that extra energy rocking side to side.