What are friends for?

[Irulan]

the bad news is that my front shock is toast... the rebound is totally messed up-non fucntional, "stacking" and just toast. a new fork (Fox or Marzocchi $600) is totally out of the question right now but I can get a factory rebuild for a decent price and the lbs guys swear it will be like new.

So, that means the Svelte Hawaiin is at the shop for however long it takes for the fork to go back to Rock Shock and come back.

The good news is that my good riding pal, I will call here kamikaze #2 just bought a new FS bike and her very nice titanium HT is a spare at the moment. And it fits me! And she's going to let me use it! I will hug her.

irulan

[snapdragen]

A most excellent friend - hug her twice!

[pedalfaster]

I had two out of state friends coming to visit. They only had room for their mtbs. We have been having a lot of rain lately and I was worried the trails wouldn't be rideable. When I mentioned their visit several local cycling friends offered their road bikes to two cyclists they didn't even know! We had two high-end ti road bikes lined up "just in case". Isn't that cool? Gotta love your cycling buddies.

Luckily the weather cooperated and we were able to ride dirt.

It's the thought that counts, right?

So what did you enjoy the ti ht Irulan? Pretty plush loaner bike!

[Irulan]

Originally posted by pedalfaster

So what did you enjoy the ti ht Irulan? Pretty plush loaner bike!

plush ? I'll say!!!!! It fits like a glove and it's light and nimble. Turns on a dime. Whee!!! I had a very fun ride today.

Irulan

[ausgirl]

It's interesting that your cycling buddies are willing to loan strangers bikes for a while. In our club your bike is your baby (or as some guys put it "wife") and no one else is touching or riding it and i feel the same way!!! No one else is allowed to ride my bike and only two people are allowed to do mechanical work on it. Some people will loan their old bikes to people who've had theirs die in a crash, but only to people they know & like. Doesn't sound as friendly hey? But, they're just very possessive.

[Irulan]

among my group of friends, certain gear will get shared. With caveats- as in, totally the gear owners perogative to share or not.

We are white water boaters too, and we have several close firend that we have a cash/crash policy with... we all borrow big expensive gear back and forth, with the total understanding that if it gets damaged, it gets replaced. Mark wasn't too happy when he snapped the tongue off our trailer, but he took care of it.

I never understand when people borrow stuff and don't take responsibility for it.

As for bikes, it's nice to know who has spares for when buddies come into town. ;-)

penny

[bounceswoosh]

Borrowing is one of those tricky things. Whereas you'll happily extract blood from a stranger via insurance, finances between friends can get a lot nastier because you try to be nice about it.

I borrowed a friend's bike to test ride the sugar frame, but I only rode it on some extremely tame stuff, even though I know he rides the crap out of it. Even so, I was really nervous about damaging it or, more likely, having someone steal it off my car. If it hadn't been the only obvious way to get a test ride of the geometry, I wouldn't have done it.

Before I got Roxie (my WRX), a friend of mine offered to let me drive her Audi A6 into the mountains to ski. Eric and I decided the liability was just too great. And when that ... woman ran over my bike, there might have been a small chance of getting a $5K loaner bike. Eric and I decided not to pursue it; again, too much responsibility.

I try to be generous where I can, but when it comes to big-ticket items, I try to follow that old adage: "Neither a borrower nor a lender be."

Still sweet that she lent you that bike, though =)

[Irulan]

i've been out for about 20 miles of single track on the loaner Ti hardtail... love the bike, hate the saddle. I've never really gotten saddle sort mountain biking before!!

Oh, well at least I have something to ride besides the old ...tank...

Irulan

[bounceswoosh]

um ... why don't you just use your own saddle on her bike?

[Irulan]

d'oh!!! Except my bike is dissambled and locked into the basement of LBS at the moment.

oh, well.


I.

[bounceswoosh]

*frown*

Well, maybe just try lots of Butt'r, then.