Clueless Craigslist Girl

[Cataboo]

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.

[Biciclista]

wow what a website.

[singletrackmind]

I thought the "Tandem mountain bike-ready for the trails!" was bad. It was an old road hybrid-like tandem complete with backwards fork.

[Cataboo]

I thought the "Tandem mountain bike-ready for the trails!" was bad. It was an old road hybrid-like tandem complete with backwards fork.

I'm sure the tandem was worse. This was just funny. Sweet girl though

[Zen]

"Ooooooh Saaaaadnesssss"

My new favorite phrase.

[lph]

this story is still cracking me up

[Cataboo]

It's a nice change from the other personality type I've been running into on craigslist lately... the lonely bike guy.

He wants to bike, but he's got a wife and kids. So instead he spends time buying bike pieces and upgrading his bike and selling bike pieces to appease the wife...

When I go pick up said pieces... Lonely bike guy is soooo happy to be able to talk bikes that he keeps me talking for an hour or two.

I picked up some shifters on Sunday from a lonely bike guy. He wants to go biking with me this Sunday! He heard I had a titanium mountain bike frame, so he couldn't sleep all night and.... Ordered himself a titanium mountain bike frame the next morning.

He seemed like a nice guy, his wife & kid were right there... but oh wow, do some people just wanna talk bikes!

The old man who lives across the street from me will quite often run and get his bike when I bring mine out. He'll then start pumping up its tire, or fixing something on it... or he'll go start fiddling with the bike rack on his son's car... He seems to be another lonely bike guy. I never actually see him on a bike, he just pulls it out as a prop when I come out with a bike.

[sgtiger]

LOL! One of my friends used to like to say I was one of two Asian blonds he knew - the other being his adopted brother. If I was acting air-headed or clumsy, he would tease that my blond roots were showing.

I think that website was inspired by all the Stuff Asian ________ Like blogs and top twenty lists. My favorite is Stuff Korean Moms Like. I can relate to quite a few of those. Some of them stretch the truth only a tiny bit, like the force feeding one.

Catronia, how true about the archetype of the lonely bike guy. I've definitely met a few of those. They are wistful when they hear that Dh got me interested in biking and want to know how they can get their wives to ride more.

[Cataboo]

Catronia, how true about the archetype of the lonely bike guy. I've definitely met a few of those. They are wistful when they hear that Dh got me interested in biking and want to know how they can get their wives to ride more.

Yeah, they're always wistful when they hear that I do a lot of outdoor stuff with my boyfriend. Which is actually a pleasant change from doing it by myself with previous boyfriends.

I'm always slightly irked by one of my bf's coworkers - who used to talk to my bf about how to get his wife to get interested in biking or exercising (she was a stay at home mom with his young kid & he worked and raced all the time), but now he talks about his new gf - who races with him and is in his bike racing club or something.

[Biciclista]

I run into those lonely bike guys too! (this looks like a major thread shift)

last weekend, i was riding a trail near the waterfront and this guy comes up to me and admires my bike, (his is a big purple Davidson, beautifully done)
he knows I commute to work because he's been in my building. I ask him if he does, he sighs, my wife won't let me. That also probably meant he is riding alone because she doesn't ride.
Another coworker went nuts riding, went from being a blob to really really quite fit, but his wife "can't" ride, and after a couple years, he quit riding and is getting blobbier everyday. sad sad.

[KeepingUp]

Ohhh I've been to that website before - its a cool website. And that was a funny story lol

[cylegoddess]

Im must be too new too appreciate this humor, as I love talking to lonely bike guys!I ride alone and always need tips but then Ive been riding only about a year, so I havent had time to get sick of these guys.

Maybe, Im a lonely bike woman?! I hope not cos my image of myself is like some priestess of Artemis, kicking butt on a bike!