I Love My Bicycle
I have a car, you know. I'm American, after all. A 2000 Saturn SL/2 sedan (purchased in 1999) with 222,500 miles on it. I drive it a little under 5000 miles per year these days.
My commute isn't far—about 3 miles each way. Not too hilly. Perfect bicycle commute distance at about eight and a half minutes. I also don't live too far from downtown in our city of 100,000 people. It's actually more effort to drive downtown than ride.
So I ride my bicycle. Even on days like today, with wintery mix falling from the gray skies.
Setup
A while ago I bought a new 'round-towner hybrid bicycle from a cheap online retailer. I think it cost me $220. Aluminum frame, 700c wheels, 8 speed derailleur. Frame's a little small for me, but I have trouble at my height, and I make do.
Bike is simple. Cable pull V-brakes. No suspension. Single front chainring. Grip shift.
I've added studded winter tires, a rear rack, folding metal cage panniers, and fenders.
Rear light is an inexpensive USB-chargeable LED flasher. Headlamp is a 1000 lumen Zebralight attached to the front reflector with a rubber band made out of an old 21" front motorcycle tube.
My office bag is a laptop backpack I bungee to the top of the rear rack. It does fit in the side, but it's a little tight.
Fixes
The bike came with standard substandard pedals. The bearings went in them after about five months. Cheap metal replacement pedals have been going strong the last two years.
I'm on my third set of brakes.
Lots of tubes. I've only had two real flats in three years, but have replaced maybe eight tubes. They pinch during install unless you have exactly the right amount of pressure in them during the procedure. Too much or two little, and the pinch will eventually herniate and blow out. I've never had this happen with any of my past bicycles, so this one is new to me.
Efficiency
There’s no machine known that is more efficient than a human on a bicycle.Bowl of oatmeal, 30 miles—you can’t come close to that.
Bill Nye said that. He's an avid cyclist, much more so than I am.
It's not free—you gotta eat. But it feels free when you just jump on and hit the road, never needing to fill the tank. And I get rockstar parking almost everywhere I go. Also free.
Next Bike
I want a larger frame. And I could go back to the old Chromoly instead of the stiffer aluminum, if I could find one. I had such a frame on a 1990s-era MTB with a shot drivetrain that I sold, an action I now regret. I should have fixed it up and put more comfortable bars on it.
And I might go back to 26" wheels. Parts are cheap and plentiful on those.
But I'll bet my current bicycle lasts a while longer.
───────────