Would you park a Gazelle...

[Geonz]

Here's my quandary.
A nice man has asked me to see a show. Obviously the question "What should I WEAR?????" has sprung to me, especially since I am utterly the queen of casual... almost all of my skirts are denim and ankle length, and usually I'm wearing Dockers, though the man in question has mostly seen me in sweats, riding my bike. I am hoping it is in my best interests to display a different side whilst remaining true to myself.
An obvious solution is to dress up and ride that beautiful Gazelle. That woudl mean, however, parking it .... on... campus.... It's a college campus. People have had baskets stolen from their bicycles. Most stuff parked outside is the stuff of Big Box stores. (Yea, I think I'm talking myself out of it... I should have the courage to dress up and not have to have it be silly, eh?) Yet, I'd have a good lock... (and I"m paying $400 fo rthis thing... it's not as if it's a $2000 bike, and most people are not even going to recognize what it is!) I also saw it or its clone parked in exactly that neighborhood on a Friday night couple of years ago (which is when I fell in love with it), and obviously it didn't get ripped off then.
Of course if I don't ride it, I'd ride something else... which woudl mean I couldn't really dress up ... tho' it's also close enough to walk.


... update edit... well, the question still stands hypothetically, but he's picking me up (we have seen a movie but we met in the middle and he had *not* asked me to go; he'd told me I'd love the movie and I asked him, but of course we had to because I was riding my bike and going from work... but, still, hypothetically speaking...

[Dianyla]

At $400 it's still going to be at least 4 times as expensive as the average bike in the rack at any college campus.

Just don't do it. If I didn't have my bike locker at my local uni, I would never ride the precious to school. College campuses (campi?) are Ground Zero for bike thefts.

[withm]

Well I am just back from 2 weeks biking in Belgium and Netherlands, and I can say that an awful lot of Gazelles (and similar style) bikes are parked everywhere.... Mind you most are at least double locked - with a "U-type" lock, and also a cable. Bike theft is a huge problem there. Then there were quite a few "dead" bikes, still locked up, but with taco'd wheels or frames. Go figure.

Here is a parking "garage" for bikes in Amsterdam, and a couple closer in. It's all bikes all the time.

[Geonz]

The built-in lock has a big, thick cable as part of it. The owner said that he has parked it on campus on a regular basis (he works there). I parked it on campus for a little while tonight for singing, but mostly I'll be out at teh community college where there simply aren't as many people, period.
WHen it's parked it looks commonplace unless you look closely, because of the fenders and "clunkiness." It isn't clunky to ride :) It reminds me of sitting in the back of my third grade teacher's big car and feeling so big and soft and quiet (our family had VW's).
The dynamo light is an engineering marvel, too. I figured it would be frustratingly dim but it's engineered to place light in strategic places so there are 8 swatches of light right inf ront of the bike, and then a wider beam that shows *everything.* No, I wouldn't go 20 mph on it (I think that can burn out the light bulb anyway), but it's sweeeet. Posting pictures in a sec...

[Mimosa]

I wouldn't just rely on a cable, they cut them through over here. So an additional U-lock is a requirement :D

And the amsterdam bike storage is a great place but where did I park mine? That's why we pimp our bikes :cool: and there is also the chance that it will not get stolen since everybody will recognize it
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/3013/img1397mel7.jpg

[Geonz]

Oh my, that is precious!!!! How did you do it? All those stripes...

[pooks]

I love that bike! I want to do something like that to mine. It's just so BORING!

[bikerchick68]

I LOVE those bike garage pics... how cool is that??? thanks for sharing 'em! and your pimped bike is awesome :D :D

Geonz... hope the date goes well!:)

[Mimosa]

It's not my pimped bike but it could be :D

What normally happens is that you buy a worn down bike at the railwaystation bikeshop (for $70). Then take a can of paint and brush or spray it in the colour. And than with coloured tape (you know the one electricians use) you add a bit of colour and a personal design to it.

[BeeLady]

Well, sue, this seems more like a dating question than a cycle question. Hmmmm. How well do you like this guy so far? Wouldn't hurt to dress up and with your beautiful bike you could wear a nice skirt, even ankle length, maybe a matching bow on your handle bars.

Next time he asks you out, make sure its somewhere you can ride your bike AND feel safe parking it. Does he have a bicycle too? You could share a long cable lock together on the same bike rack and have seperate U-locks (how romantic!)

(My son just spray painted his bike while he's using it at school.)

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I love the fact that all those bikes in that garage appear to be real WORKING/COMMUTER bikes, I don't even see one road bike or fancy bike. That is pretty cool- a place where so many people just ride bikes instead of cars.
Where I live, there aren't ANY bike racks on the street to lock your bike to. I have to get creative finding something to lock to in my town.
Perhaps one day bikes will be more commonplace transportation here in the US when gas has been wasted so much that it becomes almost unobtainable?

[withm]

Lisa

Of the thousands and thousands of bikes I saw on this trip you could probably count on one hand the number of road bikes... well maybe 2 hands. Think cobblestones and brick streets for starters, and then you have the flat tire issues with skinny wheels. Most of the bikes were the mixte type or step thru frames, with chain guards. It's true, only the Americans wore lycra. The locals wear normal work clothes, Many talked on cell phones, wore headphones and I even saw several riding, holding umbrellas (YES, UMBRELLAS) up in the rain to keep them dry. When you ride sitting upright you can see a lot more, and be more social - it was not uncommon to see groups of people just chatting while they ride. Yes, they go at a slower pace but then everything seemed to be at a slower pace over there. Coming back to the US was kind of like a rude awakening after that trip.

But even more of a rude awakening was getting back on my road bike when I came home. I was all wobbly! Took a couple days to feel comfortable on it again. Still, I want to buy a hybrid, now more than ever, so I can have a rack and carry panniers and do my errands, pick up the mail and groceries and the like. Something that doesn't cost well over 4 figures so I can feel comfortable locking it on a rack and have it be there when I return. My road bike is almost never left out of my sight, and when I ride to work, it's right there in my office with me all day.

Martha