Life in these United States (No.2)

Since when has the humble bicycle become a lifestyle accesory?

When did it evolve from a simple, cheap and clean form of transport to a pastime requiring the posession of several auxillaries and large sums of money?

When was the last time you wanted to do a Paul Newman-on-bicycle routine, only to be deterred by the traffic whizzing at 100 K's around you?

My body was relatively unscathed from the collision that night, but my bike's taken some long-term damage. It's still rideable, but being the perfectionist, i can't bear to see it in anything but top-notch shape. The front wheel has gone out of true, and the front forks are bent, albeit very slightly.

I thought i'd pop over to Village bikes on lakewood ranch, to get things lined up, instead of going all the way south to bikesenjava, where i had $pent 100 dollars to my satisfaction, a few days before the accident. the staff was a curious mix of aussie salesperson, eastern european mechanic and american receptionist. They were so busy, they couldnt take 15 minutes to do a simple wheel alignment for me.

'we're very busy up till wednesday, as you can see' said the aussie bloke, pointing to a handful of bikes. I requested them to give me 15 minutes of their time, explaining how i had no other means of transport, and how handicapped i'd be without the bike, at which the aussie bloke said that they could give me a wednesday appointment.

Dentists give appointments.

I'm quite annoyed at how most of these specialist, 'performance' shops actually perform for thier customers. An illiterate bicycle mechanic from India would put these guys to shame, in terms of efficiency, flexibility and multitasking. Just because you have a clutch of bikes to build, doesn't make you so busy as to deduct 15 minutes from your critical operations and help a potential customer who can bring in more buisness. these guys do have previous undertakings, deadlines and commitments, but going out of the way for a walk-in is what really sets you apart from the crowd. That's what makes your customers prefer you over the others, and bring in the dollars.

I'm not going back there for the wednesday 'appointment' ; that's for sure.

In all, it seems getting things like a new fork will be twice or thrice as expensive as getting a new bike altogether.