pop! pop! waa! haha!


i have a sears catalog bike from 1973-4.  i inherited it from a friend while i was still doing my doctoral degree- so about 4 years, ive been riding it.  it's an old thing- somewhat small steel frame, 10 speed gears it says, but it really does... on speed.  but at least it's dependable- no untold gear shifts in middle of a ride.  the breaks are old and the seat is crumbling. but i do love the bike.  bright orange with faded spots.  though i still 'owns' a decent mountain bicycle (my good friend is taking care of it for awhile now), my first choice was always this little orange bicycle.

recently toronto's been having much rain. and it means i cannot ride my bicycle, as the break cables are loose and stretched out, there is a sure guarantee that my bike wont stop in time when it rains... sounds like an excuse but i dont have any bike tools (and yes it would be hard to find the right ones for it- except... may be make real investment and get adjustable tools...) (but what about space? i live in a small apt! excuses...), so all this time, bike was getting tired and more tired. at least i manage to get some new street lights and fed it some teflon lubricant. heh.

well, today, i noticed that the tires aren't full. i did put some air in recently but i know that they are slowly deflating, ever so slowly and surely.  so today being a beautiful autumnal day, i decided to put some air on- there are some bike shops with air pumps that one can use.  on way to birdy house (am housesitting on/off this month), did exactly that. i even put in some extra air, thinking that the weather is cooling.

almost there. red light. stop and wait.

BANG!

a lady clutched her bag, a  whisp of 'oh my god,' a toy dropped by a toddler, we are all looking around. what had happened?

a rated B-movie scene. no joke.
a man on the corner with a fag says:
'dude, you got a flat.'

wha?

and yes it was. a flat. thanks to my smartphone which rules most of my waking hours, i quickly found that im just 10 min walk away from one of the old and better bicycle shops in town. i get there. explain i have a flat. the dude says the day's been full of flat bikes. i say well... good for business, no?

then i thought, hey, can you replace my break pads? they are almost threadbare.
umm we dont just do breaks because sometimes the mechanics are faulty, not just the pads. to avoid angry people, we require tune-ups, if you tune-up, we will do the break pads.
okay. sounds good. anything else you see wrong?
your chain is very worn and loose...
i will do it next month i guess. this has snowballed already, sigh.
alrighty.

wait, wait, no no,
let's do the chains as well.
alrighty.

so all the sudden, here i am, with 130 bill and a pop that made me laugh.
i wasnt done, apparently.

an hour later, as im talking about the bike fiasco, i get a call from unknown caller.

hello?
*howling laughter
hello?
hey, this is the bikeshop-
yes?
your front tire- blew up!
what?
it went 'bang!' and scared us!
ha...

... i suppose you guys will tend to that?
*snicker
yes we will. tell you what-
*side talk
we feel really sorry for you,
we never seen anything like this either,
so we are going to give you 20% off.
aha great... thanks, mates.

what a classy bike. it's like going to the doctor's then having your appendix popped. what better place to be than a bike shop with a full-order to pop the very last thing that needs attention.  it's probably the extra air. the dya got warmer than anticipated, so it all got a bit too much. in hedonism, the poor tube, with its body full of life, well, popped. HAHA!

and after this incident, i am sure i will love my orange bike even more.  it's weird not seeing it on the hallway. well, in three sleeps, it will come back, all worked and happy. im surprised it still rode so happy and nice all these time, havent made much complaint, till... well, i brought it to the mechanics. and it literally let it go. to loose. pop.

what a funny world.  recently, life's been messy. but here it is, unexpected silly stuff, brilliant. makes me laugh. here's to another day.

bike pic from (mine's identical):
http://www.whitetrashnyc.com/products/day-glo-red-10-speed-bike/1110/

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