I hope it doesn't end up in the basement of the alamo

All summer we've been looking for a bike for me, just something I can ride around town, maybe up to the market on the days when I don't keep the car. I have been using Logan's mountain bike, which is sized perfectly for a 6 foot tall man, for these tasks and that was okay. But I ended up showing Royal Oak my underwear and damaging the delicate area of my womanhood whenever I had to stop or get off the bike.

There were lots of bikes available for purchase but Logan and I are cheap and wanted to spend no more than $50 on this bike. It looked like a bike purchase would be put off for another season and I'd just have to stuff my underwear with bubble wrap to save my lady parts.

Then Friday night we ran a couple errands and found this bike for $30 on the side of the road. I should really let Logan tell this story because he has inherited from his mother a love of finding really great things in the trash or at roadside sales for very little money. He'll talk about his finds for days, weeks, years.

Where I'll tell you, 'We drove down the road and Logan saw a for sale sign on this bike so we turned around, went back, rode it around a little and offered the man $30 for it. He said okay."

Logan's story will go something like this, "It was one of those days, one of those days when you're shopping and you just feel like there's something more, something better, a better deal....you just don't know where it is yet. The weather was beautiful on this particular day, sunny but with the beginnings of a fall chill in the air. It was just about 6:03pm when we drove down Coolidge, sometimes we go another way but that day, we took Coolidge, remember that for later because it's important...."

And so on and so forth.

Additionally you'll sit around for the next day or two and every 2-3 hours he'll say out of the blue, "THIRTY BUCKS! Thirty Dollars! Wow!"

On Saturday he spent a few hours polishing the chrome on my new bike and taking pictures of it and then he made some phone calls, 'Hey, Mike, you gotta come over and see the bike I found for Liss.'

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm excited but my excitement is more like this, 'Hey! Bike! Yay. Let's go ride it'

That afternoon we took the kids for a ride to the ice cream place and then by the aquarium store, a rare day of Burning Daylight during the fall. It was a nice outing until about 1/3rd of the way in when my bike started to make a sound which made the entire city of Royal Oak say, "What The Fuck Is That?"

It was me and my new bike. For reference it sounded a lot like this.

And this marked the first time Max was embarrassed to be seen with me, but God Damn It, my underwear did not show.

(Fifty bucks says it costs $100 to get the squeaking issue taken care of.)

Comments

[p/f]

Very cute bike, I wish that I was thinking like you before I bought my Electra Townie. Not that I don't love it, but like your husband I fall an extra little bit in love with something I found for an outrageous deal.
I'm hoping your sound goes away with just a fender adjustment.

[Mrs. Martin]

I love it when I'm reading something and it actually makes me laugh out loud. It's a very rare occurance, but the line "my bike started to make a sound which made the entire city of Royal Oak say, "What The Fuck Is That?" totally did it for me.

[Rebecca]

I just hope you don't run into Large Marge on any of your errands!

[Deanna]

There's no basement at the Alamo.

[ashley]

Yea! Pee Wee rules. :) Enjoy your bike.

[stacyfromPgh]

love the bike ! Now you need a basket on the front with some pretty silk flowers ! Bike that costs $30 will end up costing much more! (that may be a proverb)

[Janine]

Oh my! You kill me! You are too funny. Your description of your ride in Royal Oak, combined with the video had me laughing so hard. Thanks for brightening a gloomy Monday.

[alexis]

that link was hilarious!(what the hell kind of animal was that anyway?!?) i can totally imagine a bike sounding like that!

[Michelle]

Bwaaah!

My bike has never made a noise like a horny lemur, but I'm guessing something got caught up under the fender.

That's about the simplest bike you can get as an adult. Singlespeed, coaster brake. No fuss, no muss.

But @ $30 and secondhand (and probably 35+ years old) it probably could use a total going over...repack the hubs, the headset, and bottom bracket, make sure all is well in the world of the coaster brake, check to make sure the wheels are in true and none of the spokes are loose. Not a lot to do on an old bike like that, so it won't be too expensive if you take it to a shop, though you or Logan could do it with the right tools and instructions from good old Sheldon Brown! http://www.sheldonbrown.com/

Congrats on the new wheels! It sure is pretty, and pretty counts for quite a bit in my book. Have fun riding.

[Beth]

Better not tell Logan about Craigslist.

[brookeraymond]

Your title reminded me of this t-shirt that my husband's business partner designed for threadless: http://www.threadless.com/product/625/In_The_Basement_Of_The_Alamo. Also: awesome bike.

[paul]

Hilarious story!

Cool bike, but imagine finding out there was no basement in the Alamo!

You are the funniest!

[Tracy]

The stars at night are big and bright...

[die Frau]

Just make sure Francis doesn't steal it--lock it up with a few miles of chain.

Sounds like the wheels are a bit out of alignment; that usually doesn't cost too much to fix. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

[ella]

Ooh cool!

I bet your lady parts are happy!

[sallie]

I rode my bike after years of neglect and it sounded like that. It was totally loud and kind of embarrassing, but not as embarrassing as having to push it home halfway through the ride because both tires went flat.

[Ashley, The Accidental Olympian]

My father is the KING of a good deal. Or really, just getting things out of the trash.

One time on a road trip my father screeched to a halt on the side of i5, which is basically international deadly trucker highway. As he pulls over into the dirt (which of course scared the living crap out of all of us), he starts pointing and yelling, 'LOOK! GET IT!"

My mother jumps out of the car thinking it must be the Hope Diamond, or keys to a new BMW, just lying on the side of the road for the taking to cause this much excitement.

Nope.

It was CABBAGE. That had fallen off the back of a semi traveling at 70+ miles per hour and then landed in the dirt. He wanted us to collect it, and then eat it later.

That's the point where 'getting a good deal' began to lean much to closely next to 'insanity' in my opinion.

[Joe Elliott]

Congratulations!! I have that exact same bike. So much so I had to look over and make sure MY bike is still in the corner. It is. So enjoy yours! And FWIW, my $60 tuneup fixed the squeak.

I feel so New York City Rom Com when I sail around on my errands.

Also, I hope your bike repair people are nice to you. For some reason, they seem to hate fixing the old ones.

Enjoy!!

m