Now that I've transplanted to Ferndale I need a back-up bike for my commuter bike. There is no bus service here on Sundays, the rest of the week buses run about an hour apart, and the last run in the evening leaves Bellingham before 6:30pm. Besides, there's no bike shop in town - there are at least six shops in the big city, but nothing outside of Bellingham city limits. If my bike needs work that I can't do myself, or if the shop needs to order a part, I could be semi-stranded for several days.
A couple of times I've almost felt my bike was being held hostage in a repair shop. A tech once insisted on keeping it for three days while a part was on order even though it was safe to ride, and once he told me "I know it's your only way to get to work" in a sort of ominous tone, as if he'd take it away from me if I gave him any trouble. At one shop I arrived just in time to find my bike, still with the call-tag on the handlebars, in a line-up of old bikes being loaded on a beater pickup truck that appeared to be heading for a scrap-metal dealer.
So I've been looking for my ideal touring bike, and checking Craigslist and second-hand stores for a decent used bike, and if I keep shopping much longer I'll be ready for the recumbent I've been thinking about.
Today, after doing some quick study online, I went to look at a Free Spirit mixte offered for $125 on Craigslist and sold from a thrift shop. I think mixte frames are kind of classic and elegant looking, sporty without being too racy, sturdy enough to hold up for commuting, grocery shopping and light touring. My online sources said that in the '70's Peugot made very good mixtes, and Sears sold a piece-of-junk mixte called a Free Spirit, but that Nishiki also made a good quality one of the same name.
Unfortunately, this one turned out to be a Sears, and besides, rather than quick-release wheels it had bolt-ons that didn't quite fit in the dropouts. Which reminded me of a very important lesson I learned with my second bike.
After my Univega got run over by the Ford, I bought a pink Schwinn World from a sports consignment store that went out of business soon after. It was heavy, but it seemed about the right size and felt OK when I rode it around the block, and I figured it would be safe from theft or vandalism, since no self-respecting street thug would be seen messing with a coral pink ladies' bike. But the first time I had to take a wheel off to fix a flat I discovered that the fork was too wide, or the spindle in the hub was too short, for it to fit all the way back into the dropouts. There was a little gap between the spindle and the end of the slot, and I had an awful fight getting the wheel on straight, then clamped down hard enough to stay straight.
Actually, neither wheel would stay on straight for long after that. I lost the front wheel one morning on my way to school - it had seemed to be weaving a bit so I was watching it as I coasted down the driveway. As I picked up speed on the street it began wobbling quite a bit. My block was on a short but steep hill, and I could easily coast to more than 25mph at the bottom. Being a nervous type I slowed and pulled over, just as the quick-release lever broke off, while the nut and spindle shot off to the right, about thirty feet into the blackberry bushes. The back wheel didn't go that dramatically. I had a lot of trouble with the wheel rubbing the brakes, making for laborious riding and daily adjustments of both wheel and brakes. Finally one night on the way to an evening class, I made an up-hill right turn into a parking lot, and the wheel sort of creakily leaned to the left, bending the dropouts and rear derailleur both.
So when the guy at the second-hand shop told me that bolt-on wheels are supposed to fit that way, I said "no, that bike isn't safe to ride," and walked out of the store. I don't know who puts bikes out for sale like that, but they should be stopped.
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