This story starts in Montreal, Quebec.
There’s a student there that walks and takes public transportation everywhere. Sometimes, she rollerblades, but that can be difficult on cobblestones.
So, the student requested a bike. She has a nice bike, a Raleigh mountain bike. But, you don’t really want to take a nice bike to the city.
For a bike to be a viable transportation option, it must do three things. You have to be able to ride it (it must work), it should not attract attention (security through obscurity), and it must remain intact when left (and properly locked). The bike should be considered disposable.
The search began for a bike that could be ridden. I looked on craigslist.org and found an awesome yellow Mongoose (not a WalMart bike). $100. This bike was just too nice to pass up. I bought it, brought it home and looked at it. It just shouts “Steal me!”. Although it meets first requirement of able to be ridden, it fails the second by being highly visible and shiny.
I continued my quest and ended up at Alternative Bike Shop in Manchester, NH. I was expecting a whole heap of used bikes. They had several good used bikes, including one red, women’s, Ross. It’s not really a mountain bike, but it has big tires. It has some very interesting brakes. It has a tiny bit of rust, a few scratches, old tires, and a delightful patina that allows it to blend into any bike rack. Since it was a bike shop, I paid much more than I wanted to, BUT it has all new cables, a new chain, everything has been checked and adjusted. A tune up at a good bike shop costs around $70, and that was definitely performed on this bike.
The bike is perfect. Rugged enough to ride in the city, ready to be used, and not likely to be seen as valuable.
To make sure the bike and all the important parts can be left unattended for a short span of time (an hour or six), you need a lock. A nice big u-lock will keep the frame and back wheel safe, but the seat and front wheel can just pop right off. So, I bought a cable, and u-lock.
I also bought two accessories, a rack and a water bottle cage. You just have to have a rack for stuff, and water bottle cage for a drink.
Now, I had the bike and all the stuff. It was time to put it all together. The water bottle cage went on without issue. But the rack would not fit the frame. No way. I repacked the rack carefully and exchanged it for a silver spring rack.
I started installing the new rack and it was immediately apparent this would not be easy like the water bottle cage. There was a nice, sturdy reflector post and the brake cable went through a hole in it. I didn’t want to disconnect the brake cable, I didn’t want to touch the reflector. But there was no way the bike rack would fit on the frame with the reflector in place. Something was going to have to change. After much longer than I care to admit, I removed the brake, the cable, and the reflector. Now it should be easy to put the rack on, right? No. It took me a significant amount of time to concede defeat and recognize the only way the rack could be secured to the frame would be with longer screws. By now, I was tired of playing bicycle mechanic and realized the value of the service applied which made the humble bike more costly than one would expect.
WalMart is right down the road, and I figured I could get both the screws and a new brake cable there. Reusing brake cables is possible, but it’s not always worth it. WalMart had screws, but no brake cables, so I decided to reuse the cable.
The longer screws worked, and the rack was loosely mounted. The brake was reassembled, and it was time to hook the cable back up. Except it wouldn’t. It wouldn’t go into the tiny little slot of the brake thing.
I got a new brake cable at Sports Authority. It didn’t want to work either, until I discovered you have to pry the opening with a screwdriver to get the cable through, which I did. From that point forward, the project was easier. I clamped the brake shut, put the cable on, pumped up the tire, tightened all the nuts and bolts and checked my work. It looked good.
Now, it was time for a test ride. In the dark. I put on a safety vest since getting run over after all that work would be tragic.
The rear derailleur wouldn’t shift. I was very upset, but, I had faith in the guy that sold me the bike. After a bit jiggling and a few drops of oil, the whole bike ran flawlessly.
I tightened up the kickstand, routed the lock cable through the seat, coiled it on the rack, and I was done. Well, I was ready to put the tools away and clean up any spare parts, which I did.
It’s a nice bike. I don’t like it as much as my mountain bike, but it will certainly work well in the city. I drove all over southern NH and into MA to get the parts and now, for completeness, I’ll list those travels.
- Purchase bike at Alternative Bike Shop.
- Visit Blue Steel Cyclery in search of a lock and rack. They had nice locks, but not what I wanted. The sales guy was really nice.
- Check out Goodale’s Bike Shop for a lock and rack. They had nice locks, but not what I wanted.
- Drove to Chelmsford Cyclery and bought the lock, cable, and rack I wanted.
- Went to the hardware store to see if I could find fasteners which would allow the rack to fit on the bike. No.
- Drove back to Chelmsford Cyclery and exchanged the rack.
- Visited WalMart to buy longer screws and try to get a brake cable.
- Got a new brake cable at Sports Authority.
That is the tale of the bike for the city. The lock is probably worth more than the bike.
Lessons Learned
- You can buy a used bike at the bike shop. It will cost more, but it should be ready to ride.
- Deliberately purchasing something humble can be difficult.
- Try to pry the brake apart before giving up and buying a new cable.
- The bike itself may be less important than ensuring it is intact after being left.
- Sometimes you just have to buy longer screws.
- BIXI Bike
Outcome
One amazing yellow Mongoose!