I've been watching craigslist for a POS commuter bike and half toying with the idea of getting a single speed for that to work on my bike skills a bit... a bit more of a challenge for the 1 mile ride or whatever.
So the other day I see a girl that's got her singlespeed up for sale for $100 - it looks like a 1970's or 1960's bike... which is fine, 'cause it's all i really need to ride 1 mile & leave it chained up in a parking lot that has a lot of construction going on nearby.
I made arrangements to go see it - I'm a little confused when I ask her how many teeth are on the back cog & the front cranks and she says "It's a single speed, it doesn't have gears! It's got 3 in the front & 6 in the back." So I decide, okay, she's none too informed about this, maybe a boyfriend built it up for her.
So I go over there last night and it's 2 cute little Asian girls. The one that's selling the bike talks really slow and innocent and blond. She sounds extremely stereotypically blond, while being asian. College girls. (No offense to any asians or blonds meant)
"here's my bike! It's name is Summit... Because it says Summit on it right there! Do you like it? She's cute isn't she?"
And then she tells me how it's a single speed "So the shifters didn't work, so I was riding my bike by this bike race and I stopped and talked to one of the guys to see if he could help me out and fix it! So he took off the shifters for me and made it a single speed!" "So it's a single speed, but you can still change what gear it's in if you really want!"
"And look, this other bike guy fixed the brakes for me! They work really well!"
"And look here! I fixed the handlebars! The tape was coming off, so I put a patagonia sticker on it! So now it's fixed and it says patagonia!"
"here! I'm selling my helmet with it, that's a good thing because my ex-bf gave it to me and it should go!" The helmet looks a bit dented and worse for the wear - maybe the ex-bf wasn't too worried about keeping her head too safe.
She's asking me if my commute has hills on it, and I said, no it's pretty flat and she's going... "Oh, I come from a place with lots of hills?" I ask "New Mexico?" She gets excited "Yeah!!! How did you know?" And I say "Your cell phone # says that when it comes up on my cell phone" She says "WOW... Really???"
So I take the bike around the block and the bike does have a nice feel to it - I don't know if that's the steel or maybe just she doesn't keep her tires as inflated as i do (115 psi can feel a bit rough)...
But I couldn't see paying $100 for that bike - maybe $25 or so at a yard sale and then using it as it was or making it a single speed... It wasn't a particularly nice frame or anything, had rust spots, etc.
I knew someone else was coming to see the bike, so I went to tell her I was going to pass on it because I really didn't think it was what I wanted, and she pouted at me and said "Ooooooh Saaaaadnesssss" and looked crestfallen.
I was also cracking up because when I told an Asian friend that I was thinking about getting a single speed - he was telling me "don't do that, fight your inner whiteness!" (I'm half asian) and sent me to this website:
http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/02/10/61-bicycles/
Now I can tell him - apparently Asians don't ride single speeds 'cause they don't know how to make them.
