Beijing Bicycle
Everyone knows the stereotype of bicyles and Chinese people. After living here for a month I've found that having a bike is pretty useful. It makes going to the bank, the supermarket, or dinner near campus pretty easy and very efficient. Bike lanes are just about everywhere, and while traffic is absolutely horrible, drivers are extremely attentive to bikers and always give bikers the right of way.
There are some less than pleasant aspects to bikiing in Beijing traffic. For instance, cars whizzing past you on an 8-lane highway is a little scary. And inhaling the exhaust of 3 or 4 stopped busses as one passes them is murder one the lungs and throat. Overall though, I've found biking in Beijing to be an enjoyable, affordable, stress relieving means of transportation.
My bikes on the other hand, have had to endure a much stress. I'm not sure why, but I can't seem to keep bicyles in good shape (I assume this is because they are incredibly cheaply made). The first bike I purchased was brand new. It was the cheapest new bike I could find at the bike shop, and as my new Russian/Bellarusan friend Sergi told me yesterday, "cheap is cheap."
This bike clearly wasn't meant for a person of my weight. Let's face it, I am just a little bit bigger than most of these Chinese men (and by a little I mean 60-80 lbs.). Couple that with the fact that this was just about two inches bigger then the bike I learned to ride on in the 3rd grade, and you've got a serious recipe for disaster.
After only riding this first bike once, the seat buckled under my weight, collapsed, then locked itself in the full upright position inspiring me to nickname this bike the raper. However, I (like I assume all of you) try to avoid any type of pain or injury to the region of the body that is directly supported by bicycle seats, so sitting on the raper quickly became a non-option. To avoid sitting on this broken seat, I adapted my American childhood biking style of standing on the bike petals while I rode.
I think this picture paints a fair representation of what happened next. You may wish to note that the screw is broken in half. Luckily, after only 2 days the raper was still under warranty. So I had it repaired and then sold it wo de peng you xiao (my little friend) Guy.
Later I went to used bike shop and bought my second bike. I named her after the bicyle brand name: The Flying Pigeon.
Pictured here in front of my favorite neighborhood restraunt, the Flying Pigeon done a much better of a job supporting my body mass, and she's very comfortable to ride around. But, as the picture shows she's seen better days. Recently, the front brakes popped out of place, and last Friday the kickstand fell off.
I'm also quite positive that the Flying Pigeon will be stolen before I make it home to the states. I hope I'm wrong, but apparently stealing bikes in China is about as common as breaking the speed limit in the states. Everybody does.
Hopefully I'll be able to hold on to the Pigeon for a while, if not it's no big deal. Buying two bikes has only cost me a little more than 23 dollars U.S. Beat that price Tangy!