Buying a new bike
I’m a bit stressed out at the moment, which is why I haven’t posted for a while. Lack of focus, legs like jelly, staring sadly out of the window, you get the idea.
What brought on this terrible state of affairs? Well, my hardy bicycle seems to have decided it wants to stay in the shed from now on. The sun is shining, the roads are empty, and I’m in the house. This is not funny at all.
Problem is, my bike was only quite a cheap bike when I bought it about three years ago, and now things are starting to go wrong. Worst, the rear wheel seems to have lost its roundness, so it rubs against the brakes as it goes round - you can guess that this does little for cycling performance. I had it realigned by the cycling shop a few weeks ago, but that didn’t last long.
I tried loosening the brakes so much that the rubbing stopped, but unfortunately that has made it all but impossible to stop on a downhill stretch. And while I do enjoy racing along, I don’t particularly like accidents in which I become horribly mutilated and end up in a French hospital for Christmas.
Mrs B and my sensible in-laws all asked, not unreasonably, why I don’t replace the wheel rather than the bike. Well, good question. The official answer is that I don’t want to keep buying parts for a bike that is at the end of its natural life - throwing money away, and all that. The unofficial answer is that I would prefer to have a shiny new bike. And after three years of struggling up hills on a bike that weighs a couple of kilos more than anyone else’s I think I have earned the right to have the same quality equipment as the guys I cycle with.
So the long and the short of it all is - I am buying a new bike, with the agreement (though not necessarily the blessing) of Mrs B. Yippee!
Having checked out a few possibilities - it is not easy to check out many when you live in rural France - I’ve entered dangerous territory. Not choosing a bike, which is fun even if the shops are all miles away, and not at all dangerous, but cycling forums.
If you don’t know forums, they are places where lots of people with similar interests talk about their hobbies etc (on the internet). Never tried one? Go and search in google for ‘forum’ and your favourite hobby e.g. ‘knitting forum’, ‘harley davidson forum’ whatever, and I bet you will find one you like.
The problem with forums is that they can be time-consuming (read - addictive). I already spend too long on web development forums and a couple of others, so it is very risky looking at another. Be that as it may, the members over at the Cycling Plus forums have been very helpful, and it would be rude of me not to help people in return when I can. So even when I get my new bike I won’t actually have time to ride it, which is a bit of a shame.
Meanwhile if anyone reading this has a preference between Specialized bikes and Bianchi bikes please leave a comment - it will make a nice change from all the poker and viagra comments that usually get left here. Who is it that spends their nights posting adverts for prescription medicines on a site about France, I wonder? Doesn’t seem like a very fulfilling way to pass your time if you ask me, but I’m no expert.
Speaking of forums I was thinking of adding a ‘discuss France here’ type forum to this site one day. Problem is they can end up taking lots of time and not earning any cash, which the long-suffering Mrs B might take exception to. Let me know if you would be interested though and I’ll think about it.
