Bike

Wow, it's been two weeks. Well I'm back. Been pretty darn quiet and no one has been crazy. I did however, decide to commit myself to becoming a bicycle commuter. I would use my race bike that I brought down during the shoot but I needed something that has a little less impact on my body and that can haul some weight. SO I turned to good 'ol Craigslist and bought a beach cruiser. It had long drop down fenders a huge cushy seat, 7 gears and handbrakes. It had really pretty yellow and black metallic paint. It was a pretty decent bike. Problem was I couldn't attach a rear rack and I'm not all for the front basket thing, a little over the top for me. And it was slow, I'm not trying to be a speed racer I guess I never thought cruiser was really CRUISER.



Bought it for $150 and sold in within 3 hours of posting it for the same. I remembered seeing a "comfort" bike at Costco by Schwinn. It was pretty decent, it had a lot of shocks, the seat and the positioning were really nice. Problem is, you really get what you pay for in the bike world. I mean, my race bike was a couple grand; it hauls major ass and has carbon so the whole deal weighs about 3 pounds.SO, the Costco bike wouldn't have been so bad had it not started falling apart after the second ride. Initially at the store when I test rode it the thing squeaked like it was under some great crushing weight (of my butt). Despite the squeaking I bought it, took it home, tightened everything and left it at that. Then the gears started falling apart on me. Not literally but it would take several revolutions for a gear to change and the chain actually fell off in the middle of a ride when I wasn't shifting.

So I'm off to REI. I've been test riding bikes there since work has been held up at the northern offices. We didn't haven't had anything to work on so they have been letting us go early. I'm down to 2 bikes and they're both $400. I figure I get a free tune up and a 100% guarantee. You get what you pay for.