another day, another bicycle

Avid readers may recall that my bicycle was stolen last month. Since then I've been riding our spare bicycle. I know what you're thinking: who has a spare bicycle? What kind of opulent decadence is maikaojai living in?

Here's the bicycle story from the beginning.

When I arrived in Thailand I soon realized that I was going to have to buy a bicycle. The walk from my apartment to work was so tiring in the heat that I had to spend the first ten or fifteen minutes at work just recovering...and letting the sweat dry. At the time I was too fearful to take advantage of the usual alternative to walking: the motorcycle taxi. (I've since gotten over that fear, and occasionally hop on the back of one of these motorcycle taxis to get across campus.)

So, a bicycle it was to be. I found the one bicycle shop in town (I later learned that it's not actually the only one in town; however, not having a bicycle, I didn't have any way of getting to the others). Having already learned my lesson about being penny wise and pound foolish in Thailand, I chose the more expensive of the two styles of bicycle they had for sale. I proudly pedaled it home...and then immediately back to the shop. Why? I couldn't work the kickstand. Yeah. I have ten years of higher education. Three degrees. I can rightfully insist on being called "Doctor" if I want to, and I couldn't work the kickstand. Turns out there's an extra lever that acts to prevent the kickstand from being accidentally kicked over. I learned this in a very amusing (for him) demonstration from the shop owner.

Four weeks later Husband arrived. He too needed a bicycle; I hadn't bought him one in his absence because he wanted to choose for himself. We returned to the bicycle shop, and found only one bicycle for sale. Yes, one bicycle. It was the cheaper model. Having no choice, we decided to take it (and paid more than we did for mine). Now, we must pause to note that Thai bicycles are made for Thai people. That is, the frames are smaller, the seats are lower, and the wheels are smaller than typical adult-sized bicycles in the U.S. This is well and good for me--I'm about as tall (if considerably heavier) as your average Thai man. Husband, on the other hand, is six feet two inches of red-blooded American male. The bicycle shop owner shrewdly noted this (no dullard he!), and raised the seat on Husband's new bicycle as high as it would go. This almost achieved the goal of allowing Husband to ride his bicycle without his knees jutting out crazily.

Husband rode his new bicycle for only a few weeks before the unthinkable happened: the seat post began to bend backward. Yes, it seems that in his zeal for customer service the bicycle shop owner pulled it out farther than the metal could bear. The seat situation continued to deteriorate, and eventually Husband decided to buy a new bicycle. We bought this one at Tesco Lotus (avid readers will recognize that name) and had it delivered to our apartment. It's shiny. It's got six speeds (which is five more than my bicycle). Best of all, it's big enough. Husband continues to ride this bicycle.

We attempted to sell his original bicycle to a new colleague. He, understandably, had some reservations about becoming the owner of an already crippled bicycle. So the bicycle sat in our apartment.

Then, in February, my bicycle was stolen. Instead of buying a new one, I started riding Husband's damaged bicycle. The seat post had bent so far that it was low enough for me, but very much farther back than it should be. This was an acceptable solution, until today.

Today on my way home from work, I felt myself sliding down and backwards. I hopped off the bicycle and looked at the seat post. The bottom of the post had broken through the metal of the bicycle frame and was poking out like a grotesquely broken bone. The seat was almost scraping the rear wheel. I walked the bicycle home and decided to buy a new one.

This evening I went to the new bicycle shop behind the market. I bought a shiny new bicycle, and while the shop owner was getting it ready for me (among other things, he had to put pedals on it) I chatted with the two gentlemen who were sitting in the shade of the store. They are graduate students from Nepal, and since my pasty complexion sticks out like a sore thumb, they recognized me from around campus. One of them is in medical school and the other is an engineer. They urged me to visit Nepal on my next vacation.

The bicycle shop owner didn't recognize me, but I recognized him. His bicycle shop may be new, but before it opened he ran a different shop in the same location. During my first weeks in Thailand I visited his shop several times, buying things like waste baskets and collapsible shelves. I really enjoy this guy--he does his best to snow me into thinking he's giving me a great price, all the while fleecing me with farang tax, but he does it with such a twinkle in his eye that I think he has to know I can see it's all a charade. Today when I paid his inflated (but much better than a year ago, and for a better bike!) price for the bicycle, he made a big show of returning 50 baht to me at the end of the transaction, like he just couldn't bear to overcharge me. Right. But he's just so cheerful and friendly, how can I not like him?

Anyway, I hope that this is the happy conclusion of the bicycle story. I've got a bicycle that's slightly better than the one that got stolen and quite a lot better than the sadly broken one that's now sitting in our apartment; Husband has a nice big bicycle that's better than any of the others; and we'd like to continue riding them in peace.