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April 20, 2005
Have Bicycle, Will Travel
Today at lunch I rode my SUV of bicycles home, fixed a flat tire on the Limousine of Bicycles and rode it back to work by myself. This Limo is built for two and it felt kind of weird riding it. I’ve only ridden a tandem bike once, and it was kind of squirrelly feeling but I thought that was the guy on back shifting his weight around too much. But no, it felt that way by myself.
My sister gave me this old Huffy Tandem bike to try to sell at the TCBC swap meet on April 30th. It needs a little work though, so I’m fixing it up tonight. I don’t really know what I’d do with a tandem bike, so am not sure if I need it or not. Dan joked with me about accumulating bikes. Well, I am getting rid of bikes too, not just collecting them. I think I’ll hold at 4 bikes with different purposes. But that’s a different story! This tandem bike is a mess.
I don’t know where she got this thing from, but I would definitely not recommend them for fixing up bikes. Here is a list of the problems so far:
Dry-rotted tires that are old and cracking.
Whoever changed the front tire last did a poor job of it. The tube was punctured because they didn’t put a liner in the wheel to protect it from the spokes. The inner-tube was also folded over on itself, twisted around and creased.
It’s a ten speed without a front derailleur! What? They just forgot to put that back on?
The brake pads on the back were riding on the tires.
The front handlebars creak every time you pull on them. May just need tightening.
The front wheel has a wobble in it. I know how to replace and repack bearings now!
None of this is major. I plan on fixing them all tonight. Then I’m not sure what will be the fate of this fine Limo. Until I sell it, maybe I’ll rent myself and the bike out for rides and bike tours and sightseeing. Anyone want to go on a long bike ride, check out the nice trail system we have, but aren’t sure if you can make it by yourself? Hire an experienced cyclist, in halfway decent shape, that knows how to fix a flat on the trail! A tandem bike ride could be just the thing for you! It’s cheaper than hiring a motorized limo too!
Another thought I had was ‘Bike-Pooling.’ You know, like ‘Car-Pooling’ to work but on a tandem bike. Anyone want to commute to and from work but don’t know the best route or are afraid to try it? Hire the limo with a driver! I could come to your door, hand you a bike helmet, stow your work stuff on the rack, and off we go. Then after work we’d cruise on back in the sunshine. What a beautiful way to get back and forth to work. Actually this is kind of a fun idea. I told one of my coworkers this idea and he actually thought it sounded like fun to do sometime. Several of us are still trying to get him to ride his bike to work.
Do you need a little more exercise in your day? We can ride fast on that bike and go up hills too! I know where most of the good hills are now!
My wife told me these were weird ideas and no-one would take me up on them. I don’t know. It sounds fun to me, but I’m the driver for hire and I don’t mind meeting new people and working hard. I think she thinks it’s weird because she still thinks of bikes as purely recreational. She didn’t think it was weird to hire a stranger taxi driver a few weeks ago. And just like a taxi, why not hire one that some experience and can help get you to your destination safely?
What do you say? 5-10 bucks per ride? I think this could buy a lot of bike parts for the community bike shop.
Posted by carl1236 at April 20, 2005 04:52 PM | Bicycles