Now With Added Mobility
In between all the work I had to do this weekend, something cool happened. Apple and I bought new bikes yesterday. The cost was a birthday present from my grandmother, and I used half of it to outfit Apple with some wheels as well, so we could go for rides together. Although neither one of us had been on a bike in years, and even then, they had been much simpler models—Apple had never ridden a bike with selectable gears, and the last bike I owned was a kid’s bike. But it didn’t take long for us to get into the swing of things.
After not really finding anything we liked at The Sports Authority (for the second week in a row), we decided to stop by a local bike shop right across the street from my office building. The shop is great—it’s one of those classic family-run private shops that sells a variety of brands, with prices that range from $100 for kids’ bikes to $5,000 carbon fiber speed bikes. They let you take bikes out for test rides, offer 1 year of warranty service, a free 30-day tune up, and all kinds of other services you just can’t get anymore at those big warehouse stores. I was afraid we wouldn’t be able to afford anything over there, but we found some affordable models that we both really liked. I’ll go into detail about them below; just pop open the little “continue reading” link.
You’ve probably heard of bike makers like Schwinn, Mongoose and Huffy. Our local bike shop didn’t carry any of your mainstream brands; instead, both Apple and I bought bikes under the brand name Giant. Originally a Taiwanese company, Giant’s reach has expanded around the world and they now call themselves “the Global Bike Company” as a sort of slogan. They seem to have pretty good quality stuff.
I went for the Sedona model, and in fact my bike looks exactly like the one pictured here. It’s in a silver-and-black color scheme just like my Trans Am (yay!). It’s a 19” all-aluminum (and thus lightweight) frame, 21-speed with Shimano gears and “self-healing” tires (they’re filled with some kind of slime stuff that helps stop leaks). It’s technically a comfort bike, but it has mountain-style gearing and tires with moderate tread, so it’s pretty versatile. It’s also got a front suspension fork and a suspension seatpost.
Apple’s bike is Giant’s Boulder model, which actually seems to be a 2000 model year bike. It’s similar to the Sedona except it has a steel frame and somewhat more rudimentary components, but it’s a great bike in a nice metallic periwinkle and silver paint job, and the frame size is just right for Apple. I like her gear shifters better than mine—they’re paddle type with windows showing what gear you’re in, whereas mine are twist-grips that can be a little difficult to get into gear (the left grip doesn’t seem to be notched, and there’s a lot of travel between gears).
Overall I’m really happy with what I got. The frame size is big, which took some getting used to because the last bike I had many years ago was actually too small for me. (I was only 13 at the time I got it, so I outgrew its size rapidly.) The Sedona really seems to have some speed too; it’s incredibly easy to get cranked up to ridiculous velocities. I can cover the distance between the house and the community town center in no time at all.
Eventually we’ll need to get some accessories—head and tail lights, bike locks and such—to complete the picture, especially before we go riding at dusk. One thing’s for sure, we don’t plan to ride on the street after sundown. Way too dangerous for my tastes; I mean, have you seen how bad the drivers are down here? On our way home from picking up the bikes, ironically enough, we witnessed a crappy old Aerostar nearly flatten a biker in a right-turn lane. The guy whistled angrily at the uglyvan, and rightfully so. Speaking of which, the Mazda6 5-door wins again—we managed to stuff both fully-assembled bikes in the back of the car, and they were basically a perfect fit. A tricky fit, but in the end, perfect.
All right, it’s already 3:00 and the workload is really picking up. The sales team just gave me a project, and I fear I may have to take it home and work on it after-hours again. Having just come off a weekend of that, I somehow feel amenable to the idea, so maybe I should do it tonight while I’m still in the mood.
Ja ne and sawasdee krab…
Categorized as Life