my new bike

Marian Rosenberg <[email hidden]> wrote:

<snip a charming story about setting up a nice but ugly bike>

I hope you have a nice and uninterrupted time with your new old bike.

I have been spending some of my most pleasant recent riding on my ugliest old one-speed junker. I
built her out of scruffy-looking old parts wherever I was able to use them, but she's painstakingly
lubed and adjusted and she fits me very nicely. Within her limits, she's as sweet a ride as any bike
anywhere. It's nice to remember sometimes that a bike needn't be fancy or feature-laden to deliver
the goods.

Chalo Colina

My local bike shop looked at me rather oddly when I tried to get them to do something similar to a
bike I found at a garage sale...

"Marian Rosenberg" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I currently live in China.

The easiest way to get around is by bicycle.

After I had been here for a few weeks I realized this and early last October I bought a bike. I
went to the local bike shop and I tried very hard to get the cheapest bicycle in the store.
However, they refused to allow me to buy such a poor quality bicycle. "Not good enough for a
foreigner." Instead they wanted to sell me one at more than double the price. I kept refusing and
the price of the better bike kept dropping. I wasn't trying to bargain or haggle but I succeeded.

I really know nothing about that first bike. It was an okay bike but there wasn't really anything
about it that could be called impressive. The name on the bike, which probably means nothing to
anyone, was CFoge. I think the eventual purchase price (with basket, bell, lock and luggage rack)
was 220 rmb or about $25.

Before going on summer holiday to the US I loaned my bike to a friend. By my standards my bicycle
wasn't all that good but his bicycle was terrible. When I came back I found that my bike had been
stolen and my friend had bought me a secondhand bike of similarly poor quality to replace it.

Within five days of returning to China I bought a new bike. This time I didn't go to my local
bicycle store but went to one nearly a kilometer and a half away. This store also had a pretty
good selection of Chinese Giant Bicycles. I ended up getting a Giant Athena. Not a great bike, but
head and shoulders above what I had been riding. With bell, lock, luggage rack, and an unexplained
box containing 9 liters of green tea this bike cost 496 rmb or about $58.

I really liked that bike.

I took that bike with me to Beijing.

I went out and got lost in the countryside with that bike.

I put as much as 60 klicks on that bike inside of one day.

It was a nice bike.

Monday morning I looked out my window at the stunning blue sky. I had a distinct lack of headache.
I had a distinct lack of sinus infection. I had a distinct lack of toothache. I showered, got
dressed, and went outside to put my new bike computer on my bike. And I found that I also had a
distinct lack of bike.

My foul attitude in response to having my bike stolen from inside the compound did result in
finally getitng my drain fixed, my phone line fixed, and my washing machine replaced. I don't much
care for being a [censored] at people but, possibly because the [censored] so rarely comes out, it is an
amazingly effective tactic. However, I got told that if the school were to consider replacing my
bike there was no way they were going to spend nearly as much money as I had spent. $60 is a lot
of money over here.

I did not want another poor quality bicycle. I had gotten used to having a nice bicycle.

I decided instead of buying a new beautiful bike after all of the responses I recieved along the
lines of "well duh of course this would happen" I was going to get the ugliest bike I could find
that was still a nice bike.

It took a bit of effort to find a second hand bicycle market. If it hadn't been for the piece of
paper with the instructions for the taxi driver I never would have found it. It looked to me just
like any other place in China with a lot of bicycles parked out in front. For example, on the
street near my school entrance, there are always at least twice as many bicycles as there are
visible staff and customers in all of the nearby shops.

Most of the bicycles at the market were nothing special. I found a few that looked okay. However,
the standard of quality in available second hand bicycles was definitely not good. They were
mostly the kind of bikes were everything makes sound except the bell. Then, after glancing at a
few hundred bikes, I literally came to the end of the line and found two good bikes.

One was barely distinguishable as an Emmelle bicycle under the dirt, and the paint which had been
badly applied with a heavy hand when repairing rust damage to the fenders. The other was still
almost shiny and had a name unknown to me painted all over it in garish colors. The nearly shiny
bike had shocks and was definitely a fancier bike. But, I didn't know if it was a better bike. So
I went for the known brand name.

75 rmb. I ought to have bargained but didn't bother at that price.

They changed the ripped up seat for me for a seat which was easily the most uncomfortable thing my
ass has ever rested upon. And my ass has rested upon some pretty uncomfortable things.

Getting the local bike store to understand I wanted this bike made good as new was a torturous
uphill battle. In the end they grudgingly swapped the rear derailleur for a new one. However, they
didn't have a front derailleur. And they didn't have new gears. And they thought my brakes were
fine. As I am rather fond of having the bike actually stop when I apply the brakes I had rather
different opinions on the matter. (When the old brakes were removed the rubber pads were so worn
down that the metal shoe was visible.)

So, I took the bike to the big Emmelle shop I had found a few weeks ago. It was also a battle to
convince them of what I wanted done. Didn't I realize how much money this would cost? See you can
buy a perfectly nice new bike at that price.

But, after some effort on my part, they were finally made to understand that I am a foreigner who
suffers from minor bouts of temporary insanity. Once they realized they could still profit from
the nature of my obvious mental afflications they were willing to take my money and apply their
skill to my bike.

I dropped the bike off at noon-ish and was told to pick it up around
5:30. They severely underestimated the amount of effort involved in rehabilitating this bike and
I got out of there around 9pm.

New rear derailleur. (Shimano) New front derailleur. (Sunway) New seat. New brakes. One new
shifter cable. New wheel center thingybits. New rear gears. (Shimano) New front gears. (Shimano)
New pedals.

I did get to keep the tires. I also kept the rims, which, judging by the rust spots, are probably
steel. And I still have most of the same spokes I had when I bought the bike.

I will still need to get the seat raised as I am pretty sure my knees shouldn't be able to bump
my elbows.

I also need to find a place to put the bell and get a decent bell. The current bell (put on this
morning) intereferes with changing gears. I admit that the terrain is such that there is
absolutely no reason for me to change gears other than because this 10 speed is my first bike with
multiple gears and I CAN.

So far the bike has cost 428 rmb. And, even as a pretty nice bike it is still just as butt ugly as
it was when I bought it.

-M

Marian Rosenberg said:

I currently live in China.

The easiest way to get around is by bicycle.

Do you know anything about cycling in Hong Kong? I am thinking about studying there next summer, and
the possibility of cycling to get around comes into consideration.

Is it dangerous? I imagine it's safe enough, if everyone does it. Would I be able to buy a bike as
cheaply as the ones you describe? Should I bring with me multiple locks? (Living in Toronto, Canada,
I know a thing or two about bikes getting stolen).

Thanks,

Adam

Jacobe Hazzard said:

Marian Rosenberg said:

I currently live in China.

The easiest way to get around is by bicycle.

Quoted message said:

Do you know anything about cycling in Hong Kong? I am thinking about studying there next summer,
and the possibility of cycling to get around comes into consideration.

I have not been that far south yet. Once my reading and writing skills are good enough that I will
be able to get around without relying on my spoken Mandarin skills ... I'll try visiting places
where they speak Cantonese.

In big cities on the mainland you usually have excellent bus service. However, the busses lines (at
least up north) don't even provide you with pinyin so you have to be really sure of where you are
going. And, I've never seen a short distance bus that had a place to put bicycles.

But, they do allow incredible amounts of luggage if you want to try the bicycle bag trick. And taxis
are always willing (here) to have a bike jutting out of the trunk.

The traffic will almost certainly be astonishingly insane, but, as a large city, there will almost
certainly be too many cars for them to do much beyond honking.

I'd say, unless you are thinking about taking a bicycle _and_ ttaking hat bicycle would mean
displacing other things from your luggage allowance, go for it.

Quoted message said:

Is it dangerous? I imagine it's safe enough, if everyone does it. Would I be able to buy a bike as
cheaply as the ones you describe? Should I bring with me multiple locks? (Living in Toronto,
Canada, I know a thing or two about bikes getting stolen).

Getting a cheap bike should probably be easy. In Hong Kong getting a really nice bike should also be
easier than here.

You can buy locks, bringing good ones probably won't hurt.

-M

Adam,

I've been to HK quite a few times. I can't recall seeing that many bicycles while there but I'm mostly in the Kowloon or Central area. HK and surrounds are very hilly and the public transport system is excellent.

To quote my Lonely Planet guide

"Bicycling in Kowloon or Central would be suicidal, but in quiet areas of the islands, in Shek O on Hong Kong Island or the New Territories, a bike can be a nice way of getting around. The bike rental places tend to run out early on weekends."

I'd expect bike prices in HK to be considerably more expensive than mainland China. If you are going to be living in HK for a while, consider hopping over the border to Shenzhen or Guangzhou to buy a bike there. Shop around in HK first.

Spider