True Cost of a Supermarket Bike

In article ,
Elisa Francesca Roselli
wrote:

Tom Keats wrote:

I'll go a half-step further, and suggest all the good bikes,
as well as dogs & cats, are the ones that naturally and
seamlessly enmesh themselves into our lives without any
effort on our parts to seek them out. They, instead, find us.
Kind of a "destiny" thing.

You may be right, but I reached the age of 46 without ever being chosen or
pursued by a bike. Perhaps I was cruel to one in a previous life, and am
deemed fundamentally unworthy.

Don't listen to Tom. I chase bikes like dogs do. The difference is I am
much smarter than dogs, and so I frequently catch them.

I drove to 40km after a hot tip in order to pick up the ridiculous
Bianchi, then recently put a different fork and front brake on it (the
brake was the goal, the fork was a means). I saw two bikes behind a
dumpster while on a ride, confirmed they were up for grabs, then drove
back with my car to nab them.

My first good bike, a Mikado tourer, was another garage-sale recovery.
It attempted to hide between a fairly bad Peugot and a very bad Apollo,
but its protective camouflage and lack of decals could not hide its
qualities. I nipped it up, put ugly bar tape and an orange seat on it,
and gave it to my dad.

The Pinarello, admittedly, hunted me down, and then seduced me with its
pretty chrome and sexy Italian blue. As punishment, I gave it a purple
fork, an orange seat, and yellow tri-bars. It will probably have green
tires sometime this season.

I found the mountain bike (a Kona Kilauea) at my favourite consignment
bike shop.

Ah well, if my new bike, as I recently surmised, is a Lutheran, then perhaps
it's a matter of Redemption by Faith Alone.

This is clearly your problem. Lutheran bikes are terrible. Why are all
the good bikes from Catholic countries? Because, as they, St. Paul, and
the entire professional peloton aside from Jan Ullrich know, Faith
Without Works is Nothing.

And Jan seems to be learning,

--
Ryan Cousineau, http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine
President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club

In article ,
DiabloScott wrote:

Just Zis Guy wrote:
how many of you give your bikes (and/or cars) names?




Mike Eddy Jed
J.J.Maria-Angelica (RIP)


I'm bad about this:

Pinarello Pastiche
Kilauea Beckle
Bianchi ******* (still looking for a better name)
Apollo XIII (the Apollo Prestige converted to a fixie)

The Mikado, at the suggestion of a friend, was named Katisha, because in
the G&S production, she was on the old side, not too pretty, but had "an
interesting left shoulder", much like the threads on the left side of
the rear hub. This easily trumped my suggestion of "Yum-yum."

The car already had a name: Tercel.

The cat, Vuvuc, is named after a disputed Scrabble play,

--
Ryan Cousineau, http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine
President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club

I never gave my bikes names. One of the nice things about the English
language is that inanimate objects don't have genders. If my bike had a
name, then I would have to refer to it as "he" or "she". But since it's just
a machine, an "it", then I don't have to name it. I may refer to it as "the
Trek" or "the Raleigh", but that's it.

mark wrote:

"David Kerber" wrote
This thread got my mind wandering in a completely different direction:
how many of you give your bikes (and/or cars) names? I've never done
that, but a friend of mine back in college called her car "Wendell",
and Elisa calls her bike Myrtille.

Anybody else give their bike a name?


--
Dave Kerber

I've always thought that "Rocinante" would be a good name for a touring
bike, but I've never actually called my tourer by that name.
--
mark

"David Kerber" wrote in message
...
In article ,
says...

...

I bought Myrtille, my first ever bike, in September 2002 at my local

....


This thread got my mind wandering in a completely different direction:
how many of you give your bikes (and/or cars) names? I've never done
that, but a friend of mine back in college called her car "Wendell",
and Elisa calls her bike Myrtille.

Anybody else give their bike a name?


When I got my first XC racing bike it juist wanted to fly up hills and I
thought to myself "This thing runs up hills like an Elk". That made me think
of the Monty Python "Miss Anne Elk" skit, so after that I just called it
Anne. Nobody got it though and every time I explained it I got realy strange
looks, but at least it gave me a chuckle. thats the only bike I've ever
named.



--
Dave Kerber
Fight spam: remove the ns_ from the return address before replying!

REAL programmers write self-modifying code.

I'm still trying to find a name for my new Dutch bike, or rather,
waiting for her to name herself. At the moment, she still answers to
Behemoth, but I'm hoping that might change.

Thursday could answer. Or on the other hand Sarah or Jane, my Peugeot
is named Colette and my Schwinn commuter is The RK.

But I would call a Dutch bike Gertrude, and I mean it.

--

_______________________ALL AMIGA IN MY MIND_______________________
------------------"Buddy Holly, the Texas Elvis"------------------
in.edu__________

Ryan Cousineau wrote:

This is clearly your problem. Lutheran bikes are terrible. Why are all
the good bikes from Catholic countries? Because, as they, St. Paul, and
the entire professional peloton aside from Jan Ullrich know, Faith
Without Works is Nothing.

Thanks for that. I'm still giggling. %°

For what it's worth, I think Myrtille has no religion, but is républicaine and
laïque in the particular French sense of those words. She's also a Virgo,
serviceable and demure. She plans to vote Socialist when bikes are included in the
ballot, and supports the bike-friendly policies of the current Mayor of Paris,
Bertrand Delanoë.

EFR
Ile de France

"For what it's worth, I think Myrtille has no religion, but i
républicaine and laïque in the particular French sense of those words
She's also a Virgo, serviceable and demure. She plans to vote Socialis
when bikes are included in the ballot, and supports the bike-friendl
policies of the current Mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë

EFR Ile de Franc

I like Myrtille. Socialist virgo, just like me. And how 'bout bike
friendly Paris, getting better all the time, no

Myrtille could be friends with my baby. Except that in Paris cyclist
never even acknowledge eachothers presence, so there's little chance o
that happening

Sar


-

In article ,
Elisa Francesca Roselli
wrote:

Ryan Cousineau wrote:

This is clearly your problem. Lutheran bikes are terrible. Why are all
the good bikes from Catholic countries? Because, as they, St. Paul, and
the entire professional peloton aside from Jan Ullrich know, Faith
Without Works is Nothing.

Thanks for that. I'm still giggling. %°

For what it's worth, I think Myrtille has no religion, but is républicaine
and
laïque in the particular French sense of those words. She's also a Virgo,
serviceable and demure. She plans to vote Socialist when bikes are included
in the
ballot, and supports the bike-friendly policies of the current Mayor of
Paris,
Bertrand Delanoë.

Heh. You've missed out on my longer theory (which I'm sure the presently
absent Luigi de Guzman would appreciate) about how Catholics have a
natural advantage as serious cyclists owing to their innate appreciation
of suffering and mortification.

I'm not sure it would ever work out between our bikes, though I think
the Apollo may be a Presbyterian. I have a horrible feeling the Kona
Kilauea is some kind of pagan. Certainly it has attempted to turn me
into a human sacrifice in several natural settings. I will desist in
further digression into this concept, as I already sound too much like
an obsessed cat-owner writing a newsletter in the name of their cat.

You say hairshirt, I say hill intervals,
--
Ryan Cousineau, http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine
President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club

Elisa's "Myrtille" reminds me of a friend who inherited his aunt
Myrtle's '39 Chev and named it after her. He impregnated his girlfriend
in the back seat and she was thereafter known as "Fertile Myrtle" (the
car, not the girlfriend).

Steve McDonald

EFR
Ile de France
who'll only hate you if you drive a SUV into me %°

Well, I do *ride* a Sports Utility Vehicle (3x8 Sora, dropped bars, strong
rack & panniers, fenders, dynamo...) but hopefully I won't ride it into
you !

Jacques