Repressing a Huffy rant

I hate Huffys, and I know I shouldn’t. They are just as legitimate a means of transport as any road bike, and much more practical for transporting groceries (nice long bars to hang grocery bags on) and for keeping a presentable appearance (fenders and chainguards). But when one has to manoeuvre onself around those obscenely wide bars in an overpacked bike room, one grows to curse their fat, relaxed geometry. If only every bike in the room were a slim elegant almost cable-less track bike like my IRO! Mountain bikes are a small level below Huffys in terms of getting in the way, their handlebars being of a slightly smaller width. You don’t need a mountain bike in Chicago! Get a slimmer, lighter bike.

I have been shamelessly pilfering bike parts off abandoned bikes in the bike room. Just stole a front and rear reflector off bikes that had cobwebs growing on them. The sweet Schwinn Varsity that had cobwebs on it, which I salvaged initially in the hope that it had 27″ hooked rim tires which I could then pilfer to replace the unhooked rims I have on my ancient Intercontinental, turned out to be in excellent condition, wanting only some oiling. But now I’m going to convert fully to riding the IRO, which is on different level altogether. Too bad the bell I bought doesn’t fit on its dropbars, because, given that pedestrians don’t seem to hear me coming even when I’m on a bike with freewheels and hence emitting clicking sounds, they’re certainly not going to hear my IRO approach when the only sound that comes from it is a slight whirr of the wheels turning. So that means more yelling, or more “walking” behind pedestrians until they notice me, both of which I hate.

And now I still have two bikes to move from my old home. The weather is great and should be hurtling on my IRO by the strikingly blue lake, but it’s always a tradeoff between the weather and the number of people on the lakefront path.

Besides, I still have two bikes to move.