I picked up my 20-inch 2007 Norco Rideau on Friday of last week - my first day back from Philly - and was able to ride it to work and back on Monday (and Wednesday, and today). It's always a joy to get a new bike and feel how much less effort is involved in getting around than you'd grown accustomed to! To be honest, I even notice the difference after getting a good tune-up, but it's even more pronounced when I go from a 2-year-old machine to a brand new one.
This week was full of treats for me, as the comic haul was great, the Rangers games were amazing, and even work's been pleasant! I also had a minor medical situation to take care of, that I hadn't been looking forward to, and in keeping with the overall tone of the week, the problem turned out to be a non-event! (Even the Flat Tire Count for the week has so far totalled zero!)
Being a pessimist by nature, when I have a week like this, I'm left expecting the other shoe to drop (meaning, a comparable run of bad luck). For the moment, though, I'm just enjoying the ride (in more ways than one).
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7 comments:
Pictures! We want some bike p0rn! Toss us bike nerds a bone and post some pictures of the new ride.
I just sent my racing bike in for a complete strip, repaint and rebuild. It's not quite the same as getting a new bike but it's going to *seem* like a new bike when I get it back.
Sounds good.
I know I've bugged you for getting a new bike (with handle bar streamers and NJ-devil hockey cards attached to the spokes), but why?
I try to keep my bike up and that means about a $100 a season at the bike shop. (when they say stuff like 'Drop the housing and replace the bottom bracket', I reach for my wallet)
so why the new bike rather than fix up the old?
I buy a new bike every other year. In a 2 year period, I put about 5000 kms on a bike, considering I ride it most days for about 8.5 months of the year, or about 120 round trips each year, of about 20 km in length. By the time 2 years is up, the parts I haven't already replaced are starting to get a little rough. And I broke both axels on my previous bike, to give some idea of how much wear my bikes get (including a handful of trips each year in brutal weather).
With a new bike costing $400, $300 of which I can get refunded through work's Health & Wellness Program, it seems like a worthwhile investment to start fresh every couple years rather than slowly replace every part on my bike, often involving a breakdown somewhere on my 10 km trip to or from work.
Just seems like a no-brainer to me.
Now that I think of it, it's not much different than why Vicki and I replace each car after about 5 years, instead of driving them into the ground and spending lots of money on repairs and tow-charges whenever the car breaks down. Just doesn't make sense to us. Money, you can make more of; time, you'll never get back.
Still no pictures, I see. [sigh]
I wonder about the environmental aspects of completely replacing your bike and/or car on so frequent a schedule.
As for only getting 5000kms out of a bike, I wonder if you were to step up to the next level of quality whether you would get better mileage. I don't know what you do in the way of preventative maintenance but that goes a long way towards extending the life of a bike as well.
As an example, I put approximately 7-10000 kms a year on my bike and annually, I only have to replace my chain and my rear cassette.
Don't get me wrong. I don't begrudge anyone buying a new bike whenever they want. But even low-end consumer-grade bikes shouldn't wear out in two years.
I guess I was (once again) unclear: I replace the bike (and our cars) as frequently as I do, because past experience has shown that if I don't, I start having a greater frequency of breakdowns (in the vehicles, not me!)
While I could certainly just put up with that - I did, when I was young, my mother was poor, and our car broke down once every year or two - I've made the choice to go a different route, and keep the vehicles fairly "fresh." With the cars, in particular, we've had a great past 15 years, with nary a "stranded by the side of the road" story to show for it. In fact, the only one of those I can remember, was with a rental car! Once again, "Money, you can always make more of. Time, you'll never get back." I'd rather spend a little money keeping things in good shape, than waste some time walking my bike 5 kms home or to work, or sit by the side of the road while my car's radiator cools down. If I were handy and could fix bikes and cars myself, I'd keep 'em running by working on them myself; as it is, it's a better scenario to replace them (since I've yet to find a mechanic who's friendly, available, cheap and reliable).
As for the no picture: just not really worth the time to me, taking the shot, downloading it onto my laptop and then adding it to the blog. It's not like it's significant to me. I'm sure you can find it online, if you visit the Norco site, though (mine's silver).
I should also mention - I suppose - that our used cars, and my used bikes, don't go prematurely into landfills.. they're re-sold (or given) to people who either don't mind taking the risk, or can't afford not to. So I'm not sure how that's a negative from an environmental point-of-view, especially considering that I've significantly reduced the amount of driving I do as a result of biking to work. If that's the way I can make biking to work.. well, work... then it seems like it's all good for the planet, if you ask me!
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