Bought a new bike!

Hi all. I just thought I would share my experiences this weekend. My in-laws
came to visit (they live about six hours away) and I took my father-in-law
for a short ride. I rode my trailer-hauler (with kid in tow) and he rode my
rain bike (ten year old mtb with slicks and fenders). I could hardly believe
it, but he fell in love with my beater bike. But when he told me about his
bike, I understood. He's been riding an old Huffy mtb he rescued from
somewhere. The rear derailler finally gave up on him and has been stuck in
the same gear for several months. He's a diesel mechanic by trade, but bikes
mystify him.

Whenever he comes, we always end up running around to look at stuff.
Sometimes it's cars, sometimes it's hunting gear, but this time it was
bikes. I couldn't even get him to go into a LBS, so we had to settle for
places like Oshman's so we could kill two birds with one stone (forgive the
pun). He really fell for a GT Timberline. It's not top-of-the-line stuff by
any means, but it does have basic Shimano gear, v-brakes, aluminum rims,
plenty of adjustability to get a good fit, enough padding to make his arse
happy, and best of all, it made him happy. It really is a step up from my
old beater bike. But then he didn't buy it.

He had all the good reasons - outside of his budget, didn't have time to
ride, couldn't justify it, etc. I even told my mother-in-law about it, but
she said that he didn't ride the bike he has and it would be a waste of
money. Well, no wonder! The old clunker didn't fit well and was broken to
boot!

So, I did the only thing I could do - I bought it myself. His birthday is
coming up next month anyway and the silly thing was almost half price on
clearance. I can't wait to give it to him.

I just had to share. I love it when other people find a passion for cycling.
I've been slowly introducing him to it over the past few years. I think
seeing his grand-daughter asking for a "bisickum ride" and the big grin when
she gets in the trailer was the final blow. He's ready to ride!

-Buck

"Buck" j u n k m a i l @ g a l a x y c o r p . c o m wrote in
:

Hi all. I just thought I would share my experiences this weekend. My
in-laws came to visit (they live about six hours away) and I took my
father-in-law for a short ride. I rode my trailer-hauler (with kid in
tow) and he rode my rain bike (ten year old mtb with slicks and
fenders). I could hardly believe it, but he fell in love with my beater
bike. But when he told me about his bike, I understood. He's been riding
an old Huffy mtb he rescued from somewhere. The rear derailler finally
gave up on him and has been stuck in the same gear for several months.
He's a diesel mechanic by trade, but bikes mystify him.

Whenever he comes, we always end up running around to look at stuff.
Sometimes it's cars, sometimes it's hunting gear, but this time it was
bikes. I couldn't even get him to go into a LBS, so we had to settle for
places like Oshman's so we could kill two birds with one stone (forgive
the pun). He really fell for a GT Timberline. It's not top-of-the-line
stuff by any means, but it does have basic Shimano gear, v-brakes,
aluminum rims, plenty of adjustability to get a good fit, enough padding
to make his arse happy, and best of all, it made him happy. It really is
a step up from my old beater bike. But then he didn't buy it.

He had all the good reasons - outside of his budget, didn't have time to
ride, couldn't justify it, etc. I even told my mother-in-law about it,
but she said that he didn't ride the bike he has and it would be a waste
of money. Well, no wonder! The old clunker didn't fit well and was
broken to boot!

So, I did the only thing I could do - I bought it myself. His birthday
is coming up next month anyway and the silly thing was almost half price
on clearance. I can't wait to give it to him.

I just had to share. I love it when other people find a passion for
cycling. I've been slowly introducing him to it over the past few years.
I think seeing his grand-daughter asking for a "bisickum ride" and the
big grin when she gets in the trailer was the final blow. He's ready to
ride!

-Buck

Buck,
That's awesome... nice job.
Just remember to teach him about bicycle maintainence.
Get him a good book or CD-ROM with the bike.
Better yet (if he is halfway computer literate), tell him about
rec.bicycles.tech.

- Boyd S.