Pimp my Fahrrad!
When I bought my first bike, I thought it fit in well with my philosophy of simplification. As it turns out, the more I get into cycling, the more I want to acquire different bicycles and biking paraphernalia. I never cared enough about my car--or cars in general--to obsess about buying a new vehicle or even consider attempting to "pimp it out," as the kids say. But my bicycle is a different story.
I guess I just didn't count on falling in love with bikes. Now I'm hooked, and I'm trying not to go overboard, but it's so easy to justify these little purchases (to myself, I mean--my wife is another story). After all, this bike is my vehicle. I use it to get to work every day, so I want it to be nice. And think of the money I'm saving on gas!
I'd like to call it quits and be content with what I have. But that's so hard to do when each new purchase affirms itself by improving the safety, comfort, or functionality of my bike! The real issue is that my bike is changing to meet my needs as I learn what those needs are through on-the-road experience. I imagine that I'll eventually reach a point where I know enough to buy a bike that meshes perfectly with my lifestyle. In the meantime, I'm working with what I've got. Tomorrow, I'll talk about the changes I've made to my commuter bike during this learning interval.
Categories: bicycles
1 comment:
And then I come along and pull a bike out of the dumpster, take off the malfunctioning derailer and make it a single speed and commute on it for two weeks and love it. Sometimes the changes we wish to make are not necessity but luxury. When we talk about the difference between 'need' and 'want' we often confuse them saying we need things when it's really desire. Then sometimes we deny ourselves the things we need because we think they are desires outside of our needs. But in our society I think consumerism is much more rampant, and the distinction between need and want have been so blurred that we forget. Anyway, about the bike stuff, it's like all other stuff, they are possessions, we can't take them with us and as soon as they are created they begin the process of decay, requiring time and energy to maintain it. Eventually our true needs filter through and we use what is useful and purge the rest. It does help make our journey lighter though if we realize what our true needs are before we carry too much around for half our lifetime. There's nothing wrong with a few bikes unless it becomes an obsession and you can't let go of any of it. Even my three-speed is a special circumstance that I only need for a special event. Eventually I will not need it so I will get rid of it. I really don't need it right now either, but I plan on doing the ABCE in September, so I'll hold on to it for at least that long so I don't have to track down another one to fix and ride. Probably my wife and I will do the Lake Pepin 3-speed tour in the Spring also. So I wouldn't worry so much about your bicycle habit unless you think you need to hold on to everything. Eventually you'll get just the stuff you want on your bike and know what not to waste your time on. And a lot of that is probably driven by the purpose it serves, like Jim's Xtra-Cycle or grocery getter. Other than that, it's main purpose is to get you around, as transportation. And that may change over time.
John
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