Speed Demon

Speedin' on the freeway...

Day 17

We'd given up on the young fellas old bike. It was a "Hip Kids" bike, which was supposed to convert from a pedal-less push bike to a pedaled cycle. I bought it new from the company on the net. It was an awesome concept, with an amazingly bad design. To attach the pedal mechanism was pretty easy, but getting the chain, training wheels etc to go in place (and more importantly, stay in place), was just a nightmare. And I am sort of OK with tools, thanks. I gave it good time and even carried tools when we used it, which became rarely, then never. It is now sitting on the side of the road, if anyone wants it.

So today we challenged ourselves to buying a new one. I used to cycle a fair bit and have gone through the cheap and nasty bikes all the way to custom frame with Campagnolo Centaur groupset and Vento rims, which is gorgeously adorning our garage floor and gathering dust. I know a bit about bikes, although after walking throughout the bike shop I realized in the 4 years I have not been cycling, things have developed at warp speed, with funky spacey carbon frames being the norm. My steel frame will look vintage when I take it out in the next week or so. I can just imagine the conversations at traffic lights... "wow, a Classic Vintage steel bike, you must have looked after that well"...

Anyway, I was sort of appalled at the masses of crap bearings and general crap on the budget bikes, so we ended up spending a lot more than I would have expected on a kids bike. But it is so big it should last him a few years, and it doesn't look too dorky once you remove the mud guards and the pads, so I'm sure it won't be too much of an embarrassment for said kid to ride to the shops and school in a few years. Sure, he'll have to lose the training wheels :)

I remember learning to ride on one of those kids bikes that weren't quite the 27" wheel but bigger than a BMX - I think 24". I think it was even in the days before BMX were mainstream. Wow. I used to hang onto the side of the house or the fence, and climb up, then push off. I never had the training wheels. for better or for worse. My brother who had already been through training wheels and left his bike under the car, and was given one of those high-bar dragster things with back-pedal brakes to replace it. My sister got a pink bike with training wheels, also with back pedal brakes. I got the second-hand big bike with no brakes. I really should have taken the hint from my parents then - but I was too thick, I now realize.

Anyways, so now the young fella has a brand new Trek. My first "nice" bike was a Trek, but I was 23 at the time and had intended to buy a car, but (wisely) decided to spend a grand on a nice bike instead. Back then $1000 on a bike was a lot of money. My wife, who I had just met back then, thought I was a nutter for spending so much on a bike, but she supported my decision. I think she thought any young bloke who wants a bicycle instead of a car is either really nuts, or really has put some thought into it.

I'd like to think I am the latter :)

The pic was a rush pic. I have to do some searching through old pics today to give a portfolio to a friend of a friend for a possible job... lots of work to do!!

Ciao 'til tomoz.