bikelight, streetlight, starlight

[devi]

I just bought a bike. It was 25 quid. I wondered on the way over to see it whether a) it was a piece of shit, b) the owner was clueless, c) the owner just couldn't be arsed to charge more. It turned out a bit more complicated than that. The bike is lovely, but it's been stripped of anything that isn't actually bike. It has no light and no lock and no pump and no rack. I mentioned the lack of light and the owner said "Um, well, I've never cycled it at night." Hmm.

I rode it all the way back from Kidlington, four or five miles. The streets were quiet. Everyone seemed to be staying in out of the cold. Cycling past the cop shop with no light was a bit worrying, but no one noticed. It was perishingly cold, and I've barely moved a muscle this last week, and before long my legs were throbbing and my eyes were streaming and my cheeks were blaring heat, but I knew I was alive. Alive and mobile and not dependent on eccentric buses, and it was good.

Coming through the town centre I found a short cut down past Keble College, between building after building of fabulous prettiness. It felt funny cycling along the stone-flagged streets in my flappy black coat, in the dim yellow light - as if I wasn't there as myself but was acting in some sort of period drama. When I stopped at some lights to peer at my city map a white-haired man on a bike pulled up to ask if I was lost. I said no, I was figuring it out, but thanks. A tweedy young man with glasses who could have been Son Of Giles gave me a grin from where he was waiting to cross the road. The Radcliffe Camera - that round building which I think is part of the Bodleian Library? - was all lit up inside like a temple to books.

As I cycled past the floodlit dog-racing track, just before the house, a trumpet fanfare rang out through the speakers, out across the estate houses and up towards the icy stars.

I might spray-paint the bike a stupid colour. It needs a name too.

I'm playing at being a student, I know. But while it lasts it's a fun game to play.

Comments

[verlaine.livejournal.com]

My workplace offers pool bicycles, bicycle maintenance courses, cycle maps, low-cost bicycle loans and an allowance of up to £9.40 a month to help with costs, so maybe I *should* look into it. I have nothing to lose but my trains!

Where do you start looking if you want to get a bike, then?

[juliet]

Whereabouts are you based? My cycle knowledge is primarily south-of-the-river.

If you want to buy new: On Your Bike, on Tooley St (turn left out of that exit of London Bridge tube) are very nice people (they are running the bike maintenance course I'm doing atm) & generally competent. If you want to buy second-hand (may well be a good bet - next time my bike gets nicked[0] I'll be at least considering second-hand) there's ReCycling on Elephant Road (Elephant & Castle), or there's some more information on buying second-hand in London at http://www.southwarkcyclists.org.uk/bikebuyingadvice.shtml

Hybrid probably better bet than a mountain bike in London; you could also think about getting a road bike. I didn't last time because I was concerned about thin tyres getting more punctures/not handling potholes well, but I'm informed by other folk who ride them that this isn't a problem, & they *are* faster (because lighter). Zoom! (again, next time my bike gets nicked I'll almost certainly go for a road bike)

[0] I have two locks, am fanatical about locking *to* things, & virtually never leave my bike outside overnight, but am pretty pessimistic about the fact that sooner or later someone will have away with it :-/

[verlaine.livejournal.com]

South-of-the-river no object: I'm living in Battersea, working in Brixton.

And a hybrid sounds like it might be best - I'm quite scared of "fast"!

[juliet]

[grin] You only have to go as fast as you care to pedal! I guess more to the point is that road bikes are *easier* to go at whatever speed you want. But a hybrid is the normal choice in London, really. Have a look round ReCycle or one of the other second-hand places, & have a look at OYB or similar as well, & see what you reckon about the prices & what you like (bike shops will have a wide range; obviously second-hand places will at any given point in time only have whatever they've had in that week - so if you decide to go 2nd-hand, prob worth looking in a first-hand shop first). Will your work give you a bike loan? (on the same arrangements as season-ticket loans; more companies are doing this now).

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

I've always had road bikes, on the maybe-overly-semantic basis that I cycle on roads, rather than on mountains. Fast is good though, it means you can get up later and get home sooner!