The Lygers » bike

New Bike: Take II

Ryan — Mon, 15 May 2006 14:56:00 +0000

After my “Interbike: Future Generation Bicycle” was stolen I had to go back to my 50 minute commute. Yea, that got old real fast so I went out and got (another) new bike. I downgraded on quality, but upgraded on name.

My new bike is a “Cross: Sport Utility Bicycle” That’s right all you tree hugging dirty hippies – a SPORT UTILITY BICYCLE. No more of that eco-friendly, hybrid, save the earth bicycle crap.

The bike is large and in-charge. It eats Interbikes for lunch. Although physically about the same size as the Interbike, the Cross is heavier and has an aura around it at least 3x bigger. All that added weight means I burn more calories, which means I need to eat more, which means more farmland is harvested, which means more tractors are bought, which means more gas is used. And you know what all you hippie hikers – I don’t care.

My bike’s model name is “Maverick.” I honestly don’t think Top Gun’s Maverick would ride anything else. Only a “Cross: Sport Utility Bike” would be good enough for an ace Navy fighter pilot.

Another great feature of the bike is its ridiculous orange paint job. This thing is so bright you can see it coming from 20 miles past the horizon. Not even the curvature of the earth can stop this orange color from shining through.

If you see me cruising around town, let’s just say; you don’t want to cross the Cross. I’ll be the one taking up two spots at the bike rack (if they had bike racks in Bulgaria, that is). I’ll be the one cruising down the sidewalk expecting everyone to get out of my way while I nonchalantly sip on my Starbucks grande café mocha (if they had Starbucks here, that is).

You may hate how my bike is causing global warming, but deep down inside you wish you had one too. Well, come to Bulgaria and you might be able to pick one up at METRO for about $65.

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Interbike: RIP

Ryan — Fri, 05 May 2006 06:37:00 +0000

I thought it would take 3 months, but it took only 3 weeks for my “Interbike: Future Generation Bicycle” to get stolen.

I rode it to the weekly Hash get-together last night and locked it up to a railing outside the bar. Although I checked on it several times throughout the night, sometime between the last time I checked on it and when I left, the bike was stolen. Not even a broken chain lock remained. Obviously I underestimated the extreme high value of the Interbike brand. The crafty thief knew that bike will probably be worth a millions dollars in the “Future Generation”. I calculate this time to be 312 years from now, assuming an annual 3% rate of inflation over the entire period.

Interbike, I know our love affair was short, but I’ll miss all those little things that made you so special: the bent front wheel that required me to slow down through any turn lest I get thrown from the bike, the chain that would lock up every other day, the seat that would gradually slide down over the course of my trip to work no matter how tight the screw was, the backwards front fork that got heads turning whenever you rolled by …. yes Interbike, it was fun. I hope your new owner loves you as much as I did and doesn’t try to sell you for your higher value as scrap metal.

So keep your eye out for anyone riding an Interbike like the picture above. The thief will probably be using it to take some sweet jumps.

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Biking to Work

Ryan — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 12:21:00 +0000

Well, I rode my bike to work today and managed to survive. The whole security presence around NDK helped my decision making process since all my tram stops were closed and I would have had to walk half the distance to work anyway. I was able to find a route to work that avoided all major roads. In fact, the only road I did travel on was a lightly traveled neighborhood road. I would like to say this is from good planning, but it’s mainly because I got lost after leaving South Park and miraculously popped out where I wanted to be anyway. My trip takes me through South Park, through the above mentioned neighborhood, then along a dirt path to Bulgaria Blvd. where I ride on a wide sidewalk the final 500 meters to my office building.
There are no bike stands to lock my bike outside the building (as is the case with the entire country) to so I just walked inside and locked it to the main stairwell in the lobby. It doesn’t look pretty, but neither do those crappy fake trees they put in a couple months ago. The security guard came over and started saying something to me about it which was either “your bike is safe here” or “why the hell are you locking your bike to my stairwell” – he was talking too fast for me to figure it out. I stuck my head out the 6th floor window after lunch and saw him looking up at me. I gave him a wave and he waved back so I assume everything is ok.

The total trip took me 25 minutes which is 20-25 minutes less than taking the tram so I’m pretty psyched about that. I can sense there might be a sweat problem as the mornings get warmer, but I’ll burn that bridge when I get to it.

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Bike to work and live?

Ryan — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 09:44:00 +0000

This past weekend included some bike riding to see if there is a way I can ride my bike to work without being killed by the crazy Bulgarian drivers. There answer is, “probably”. I found several routes where my likelihood of being killed was quite high. On one route I had to carry my bike up a flight of stairs which I decided I didn’t like. Another route had me going through a trash dump which wasn’t too exciting either. The preferred route only requires me to ride on a crazy road for about 400 meters. The remainder of the journey can be made through parks, on sidewalks or over a dirt road. The idea is to actually try it one of these days … when I’m feeling lucky.

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Interbike 3

Ryan — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 06:53:00 +0000

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Interbike 2

Ryan — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 06:52:00 +0000

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Interbike 1

Ryan — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 06:51:00 +0000

The Interbike Safary in all its glory.

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New bike

Ryan — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 06:29:00 +0000

This weekend I purchased a new bicycle for myself to help transport me around town and also take advantage of some nice days outside. After a bit of perusing through the bikes I decided to go for the cheapest bike – the “Interbike Safary”. Yes, that’s “Safary” with a “y”. I purchased it for the grand sum of 160 leva (~$100), and that included the 20% VAT. Now, I’ll have to say the bike looks pretty cool. It has front fork shocks as well as a shock on the frame for the rear. It has Shimano gears, well, the gears say Shimano, which in Bulgaria doesn’t mean anything. My guess is that they aren’t Shimano since who would put Shimano gears on a $100 bike? It has 18 speeds, but only the top 12 work consistently. I can probably adjust the gear lever, but I don’t really need the bottom 6 gears anyway. I also purchased a front and rear light and a few tools to adjust/repair the bike if necessary.

What helped me decide on the Interbike, aside from the cost, was their logo – “Future Generation Bicycles.” Not “Next Generation”; “Future Generation”. This would imply that this company produces bicycles not only for my kids, but also my grandkids, my great grandkids, my great-great grandkids, etc. This bike is so advanced that other companies won’t even be producing it for centuries. To prove that I looked up “Interbike” on Google. Nothing (except for a large trade show of the same name). This company is so advanced it doesn’t even exist yet. Amazing.

On the front of the bike is a large sticker that says “Made in Europe.” Maybe it was made in Europe, but the more plausible explanation is that there is a town in China called “Europe”.

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