VV Profile: Dan Nguyen-Tan

Name:
Dan Nguyen-Tan

Occupation:
PUBLIC Advocate, PUBLIC Bikes

Hometown:
Chico, CA

SF neighborhood:
North of Panhandle

Favorite city to ride bikes in besides SF:
Saigon, Vietnam for the adrenaline; Montevideo, Uruguay for the leisurely bicycle-friendly city coastline; Bagan, Burma for exploring temples; Chico, California for the nostalgic hometown rides through Bidwell Park


Helmet/No helmet/Headgear of choice:
Bern brown/orange hat style helmet for city rides and Gryo red helmet for long-distance road rides

Type of bike:
I have several bicycles for different purposes: my Xtracycle to transport a friend or cargo, my specialized Allez for longer rides in Marin, my Dahon folding bike for short trips, my beat-up pink cruiser for Burning Man, my Globe bike with sturdy front basket for musical bike rides, and the 7-person FunCycle (which sits in my garage on extended loan from Bike and Roll) for group rides. But now my primary city bicycle is any of the PUBLIC bikes since the benefit of working at PUBLIC is that I can ride a different type or color bike home each day.



Describe what you like best about your bike:
Which one? I love all my bicycles like Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt love their kids. I am just trying to keep up with them. Every time they adopt a new kid, I think about getting a new bike.



Describe your cycling experience in SF:
I ride my bicycle everyday for transportation and recreation. I feel like I've covered almost every part of the city on bike from Bayview to Ocean Beach. I also love riding on Sunday Streets or in Golden Gate Park on weekends. And I am particularly fond of musical bike rides during the holidays. It's become almost a tradition among friends to ride during Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Eve, and other holidays.

Favorite time or place to ride:
My favorite time to ride is a warm night under a bright full moon. And then I go home and turn into a wolf. My favorite place to ride is Golden Gate Park on a beautiful Sunday afternoon along car-free JFK Drive. I love seeing so many families and people using the car-free street. And I love seeing all my friends using the park on Sundays - the lawn bowlers, the lindy hop dancers, the skaters, volleyball players, ultimate frisbee and disc golfers, and of course all the bicyclists.

Favorite color:
Burgundy

Favorite movie of 2009:
I thought the original story, character development, and dialogue for Avatar was amazingly original, but the special effects were terribly subpar. I've seen better special effects watching reruns of the original Battlestar Galactica. Okay, I admit that I haven't seen Avatar. And I haven't seen many movies in 2009. I'm too busy enjoying the outdoors.

Describe your personal style:
One word: Sweaters.

Vélo Vogue tip of the Day:
Wear sunscreen. Actually that's more of a reminder for myself since I am horribly delinquent when it comes to protecting myself from the sun. And another tip is to eat dessert more often. That will bring greater joy to your life and motivate you to ride more often.

I think if you ride a bicycle in San Francisco or care about bicycling, you should consider joining the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. Membership has its privileges like discounts at many bike shops and other stores. But more important, joining SFBC's 11,000+ members provides the resources and clout for the organization to effectively advocate for improved street pavement, bike lanes, and other bike-friendly facilities.



Tell me about PUBLIC:
Rob Forbes founded PUBLIC and we're launching in spring 2010 with a new line of elegant bicycles and gear for the urban market. We're located at 123 South Park. We welcome people to contact us and test ride our bikes. We're also giving away our first PUBLIC bike before launch so check out www.publicbikes.com.