Jill Murray
Are you aware of the face-melting awesomeness that is the folding bike?
I was going to buy a cheap used bike, but finding one halfway through the summer, with my particular specifications, turned out to be practically impossible. So I caved, and spent money on a Nice Thing: this cherry red Avenir folding bike*, with 20″ wheels, mud flaps, a baggage carrier and a tiny, loud bell.
I don’t generally get myself exactly the things I want/need. Normally I put up with what I have, or I talk myself into something cheaper, or I MacGyver a solution out of two other objects I have lying around (Yes, Irene, often hairpins and string). So it was hard for me to buy this bike, especially after paying for a moving truck (instead of movers), then a new bed (waited 4 years to get it) and appliances (used). I told myself that really it would be replacing the cost of both a metro pass ($63.00/month) and a gym membership (too much) only I’d actually use the bike every day, so it would, in fact, be more effective than a gym pass. Still, buying the bike would mean Spending Money on Something I Like, which is clearly not what money is for. So I had a second conversation with myself in which I convinced myself I would ride the bike every day, everywhere, even in torrential downpour. Thusly, the purse strings were loosened and a bike was acquired.
Man, am I lucky. This thing is SO MUCH FUN. It’s light and peppy. It accelerates quickly, most noticeably up hills, and I can fold it down into a tight little clump of what looks like scrap metal, and lock it to practically anything… but of course I don’t have to, because I can also just fold it up and keep it beside my desk at work. SO COOL. Bring on the rain.
*(Sadly, there’s no photo of my bike on the site, but click here to see what it looks like unfolded. This is the same bike, but in a lighter aluminum frame.)
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