Last semester by bike got stolen by our apartment management. Well, not really . . . but kind of. I had locked it up to the bike rack near our apartment building, but since my bike had a flat tire, I didn't use it regularly.
Every year, the management here at Wymount goes through and clears up any bikes that haven't been registered with their office. They warn the tenants when cleaning season is coming in their monthly newsletter, which I unfortunately didn't read that month. It wasn't until I went to look for my bike a few weeks later that I even noticed what had happened. I talked to the lady who is in charge of that and we went looking through the piles and piles of bikes they had picked up this year. There were about 300. I'm not even exaggerating. It looked kind of like this. But my bike wasn't there. It was weird. I'm not sure where it is. The lady felt bad for me and said that when they get around to donating them to either DI or the juvenile detention center (where they apparently have a great bike repair crew), I can go back and pick out a bike of my choice. All I can say is "!!!!!!!!!!!". I got a call from the nice lady today and she said that I can go on Thursday afternoon to find my dream DI bike. This bike will most likely be a step up from the bike I had lost. I got my old bike from Craigslist for about $60. This one will be free!
I'm thinking about getting one of those racing street bikes with the curvy handlebars and thin razer tires. You don't want to have one of those go over the back of your knees. That's bad for the veins (see 1:21).
Bike riding is easy. Tasty life.
6 comments:
OH MAN!
I totally want to go too! That would be like a dream come true.You could go and find the sweetest set up ever.
Here is my advice:
The most expensive part of a bike is the frame
The second most expensive part of a bike is the wheels (NOT the tires or tubes, but the rims and spokes and hubs)
Try and find a sweet frame with wheels that aren't out of true.
Then you want to make sure that the bearings all over aren't shot.
Try riding it to make sure the cranks aren't wobbly and the fork and stem turn smoothly and aren't messed up.
If you get a nice bike, it would be worth putting a little bit of money into it because a nice bike can be a lot of fun.
I wonder what kind of frames they will have there.
I would steer clear of any frames that you have seen in a department store, and don't buy any bikes that are made by car manufacturers.
Trek, Specialized, Cannondale, Giant, Gary Fisher, Raleigh, etc. are all good bikes. Most bikes will be pretty good if you have heard of them before.
I know I saw some kids on campus riding some really nice bikes around. I can't imagine they would let their bikes get impounded, but you never know. Maybe one of them got amnesia and forgot he owned a bike and it got picked up.
I like steel framed bikes. They usually have thinner tubing and look cooler. A steel frame will be like a pound or two heavier than aluminum, but it absorbs the vibrations of the road better. Titanium is the best bike material but it is ridiculously expensive and I doubt anyone with a titanium bike would ride it around campus, much less let it get confiscated.
Any steel called Hi-Ten steel is basically riding a soup can.
If you want to get a really good deal on a bike, you could read Sheldon Brown's website about bikes. He will explain what everything is, does and means.
Man, I am pretty excited for you.
You can get parts pretty cheap and there are some really good shops in Provo and the surrounding areas that will help you put together what you want.
Try sitting on the different bikes and see what feels the most comfortable. Make sure that nothing has been rusted into place so you can change the seat height and switch out the handlebars for some drop bars.
Let me know which bike you choose. That is so cool. It is like walking into a hidden cave full of treasure and you get to pick anything.
Here are some things to read up on to learn all the cool things you could use in picking out the sweetest ride:
Threaded vs. threadless stem
componentry ranking (shimano goes Dura-ace, ultegra, 105, tiagra, sora. Everything will probably be Shimano.)
brake adjustment (it isn't very hard at all)
If you know what kind of riding you want to do, the decision is even more exciting. I really like riding single speeds. It makes the bike lighter and I think it is pretty fun. You can turn almost any bike into a single speed if the drop-outs are not vertical (drop outs are where the rear wheel connects to the frame)
I have track drop-outs on my bike now, and I have another bike I tinker with that has slanted horizontal drop-outs that I am filing to get better chain tension. Changing the size of a chain takes some time (about a half hour) and a tool called a chain-breaker, but it isn't difficult or confusing or anything. It just pushes the pin in the chain out of the way and then you can take off one or more links.
If you want to go on long rides, then you might some gears, but you don't need a whole bunch.
If you do any mountain biking, then you probably wouldn't want a road bike frame,but it can definitely be done. I took my bike out on some horse trails a few weeks ago and got covered in mud and dirt and snow and it was a lot of fun.
There is a whole sport called cyclocross where people race what are essentially road bikes with treaded tires through hills and streams and stuff. Its pretty cool.
Anyways, whatever kind of bike you get, I think you should post lots of blogs about it. Or send me lots of emails.
have fun picking it out.
You know when you want to go to the DI and get ya a bike? Thats awesome! I go to the DI anytime whenever I want!
I just copied and pasted Chris's comment into word. It is two pages long.
I'll bet Katie loved Chris' comment about bikes!
That's cool that you get a "new" bike, Bryan.
Have fun with the choosing!
I still ride the 5-speed Schwinn bike my parents gave to me for my 17th birthday. It's not on Chris' list, but I love it. Every few years I take it to a bike shop to get tuned up again. I can't wait for summer time when I can run errands on my bike!
Here's a link for you:
http://wikimapia.org/1659037/Pile-of-Bikes-Sculpture
This is an actual sculpture in Portland, which is a very bike-friendly city. Since Chris likes biking so much, he should move here with his family after he finishes school in Nebraska. Then I can be nearby and be an extra grandma to Soapie.
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