There were these two things I have been wanting for a long time. A new watch and a new bike. I could never justify the expense before now. Funny, having a job is kind of cool.
First of all the watch. The first year I lived in Austin, I got a Swiss Army watch for being a heavy smoker. Actually what the deal was, I had saved up a whole lot of Marlboro miles and traded them in for the watch. This was an awesome watch. But after almost a decade of use and about 3 different bands, I decided it needed to be retired. Over the years, I had tried other watches but most had always sucked for some reason or another. I knew my next watch needed to be another Swiss Army but they were never really affordable and I didn’t smoke Marlboro anymore. But after I got this job, the hunt was on for a new watch. The old watch still works, but the face is heavily scratched and apparently the water resistance isn’t that resistant anymore. I took the watch swimming this summer and since then every time my watch is exposed to warm air (every time I go outside), the face gets a bunch of condensation on the inside making it hard to read. So I did some research online, picking out the watch I want, and started looking for it every where I went. I had debated buying it online, and even tried once, but they were out of stock. So one day while we were at the Great Mall in Milpitas, I saw my watch in a Saks Fifth Avenue outlet store. It was over 30% off so I had to snag it. It’s cool, see below.
Old and busted: my old Swiss Army (left).
New hotness: my new Swiss Army (right).

One down, one to go. I’ve had a bike before. I never liked riding it that much because the shifter broke (it was a Wal-Mart bike) and it’s really hot in Texas. Here the weather is a lot nicer and, if you can believe it, there are even more bike lanes and other bike friendly stuff than there is in Austin. One thing I didn’t like about my old my bike is that it was heavy to carry and I was never that comfortable leaving outside to be stolen by some piece of crap with some bolt cutters and a desire to pawn my bike at the nearest pawn shop. So here’s a picture of my new bike. I found this cute girl wandering around in my apartment so I had her stand next to the bike for scale.

This picture raises a few questions. These questions are summed up best by the response Rob (my younger brother) gave when I showed him a picture of my bike:

WTF? It looks like those circus bikes that monkeys and bears ride. Why does it look that way? Does it have more than one gear?

Yes, now that you mention it, it does look like a bike that monkeys and bears ride. Why does it look like that? Because it is a folding bike. This solves the problem of me not wanting to leave my bike locked up outside. It folds small enough to easily be stored indoors without taking up the space of a normal bike. And because it’s so small and light, getting it in and out of the apartment is not an ordeal. It also means that I can take it inside places with me and not have to leave it locked up outside. It also fits easily in a car trunk so if there is somewhere I want to ride at but not ride to, I can just throw it in the car and drive there. Does it have more than one gear? Yes, it has 3. The cool thing is that it has internal gear hub. I have no idea how this works buts it’s cool because it means that there will not be any chain derailments and it won’t have all that ugly derailleur garbage hanging off the back wheel.
Here’s a picture of what the bike looks like after it’s folded up:

Rob’s comment:

That pic looks funny. Like what a bike looks like after you run it over.

I like talking to my younger brother because he makes me feel like I make very wise investments.
Anyway, my bike rocks. Sarah and I went for a bike ride today on the Stanford campus. It was a lot of fun. On top of not dealing with the Texas heat, riding my bike is really no different than riding a conventional bike. It looks small but the seat and the handle bars are high enough off the ground and spread apart enough to wear it feels like a normal bike. It rides smooth and it’s a lot of fun. Sarah rode it too and she agrees, so I’m not just crazy.
This bike was a pain in the ass to buy though. Well not as much to buy, but to get a test ride. I was never able to find a store that carried it in Austin. When I got here, I thought I would call around to some of the local bike shops and see if they carried the folding bikes. Nope, but all of them were more than willing to order it for me. One shop I called, which listed the bike as “in stock” on their website, told me, “No we don’t keep them in stock at the store, they’re in stock at the factory. We can order one for you.” Thanks chump, I really appreciate it. This frustrated me. Especially because the Dahon website says in one of their FAQs, “blah blah, our bikes rule, blah blah… but don’t take our word for it, take a test ride today and see for yourself!” So I e-mailed them and asked them how I was supposed to take one of these test rides when nobody keeps their bikes in stock. I’m pretty clever right? I stuck it to ‘em good, made them choke on their own FAQ. Their response was:

The Dahon dealer in your area is:
Avenue Cyclery
756 Stanyan St.
San Francisco, CA

Thank you for your inquiry,
Dahon

Yea right. I’m going to drive into the city, find a place to park, go to this bike shop just to find out they only have these bikes “in stock in the factory.” So I find the number and call them up. They say, “Sure we have them in stock, come own down and try them out.”
Oh. I guess I’m not as clever as I thought. I guess I’m the one choking on the FAQ now.
Anyway, Sarah and I head into the city on Saturday after we left the DMV. It was a real pain finding a place to park as this bike shop was only a few blocks away from the Haight & Ashbury intersection. Lots of bums. Reminded me of the drag in Austin. So we find a place to park a few blocks away and head to the shop. We get there and they already have two of the bikes out showing them to a girl. She was there for the exact same reason; To compare the difference between the bikes with the 16 inch wheels and the 20 inch wheels. I would prefer the 16 inch wheel bike because it would fold smaller and be lighter. But I imagined the 20 inch wheel bike would be more stable. Once the girl was done, I took both for a test ride. Before I left, I asked the guy if I needed to leave my wallet or anything while I took it for a spin. He pointed at Sarah and said, “I’ll keep her.” Not exactly a fair trade since Sarah is way cooler than a bike but I decided it would be ok for a few minutes. The two different sized bikes seemed equally stable. I was trying to find a good reason not to get the 16 inch because I imagined myself ignoring flaws because I liked it better. But I couldn’t find any flaws. Sarah and I left the store to think about it for a minute and after wandering around for a bit we went back to the store and I took the 16 inch for one more test ride. I told Sarah that if I didn’t crash and hurt myself then I would get the 16 inch. I didn’t crash.
So anyway, I now have two toys I’ve been eyeing for quite a long time. I’ve wanted a new Swiss Army for probably the last five years. And I’ve wanted the folding bike for the last 3 or so years. Yay!

7 Responses to “Toys”

1. chris, on August 23rd, 2004 at 07:14:52, said:
   

   Nice watch and bike, typeasaurus. :-)

2. breen, on August 23rd, 2004 at 20:24:47, said:
   

   Thanks… commentasaurus

3. mikeyb1974lolun00b(>:, on August 24th, 2004 at 13:31:46, said:
   

   Those are pretty cool. I bet Sarah liked going from a female to a security deposit. Bobby and I need to chip in and buy you one of those circus hats that the bears wore(That shriner lookin one).

4. breen, on August 24th, 2004 at 20:51:42, said:
   

   Nobody likes you mike. I asked around and a grand total of 0 people said that they liked you. The people who know who you are specifically said that they hate you.

5. chris, on August 25th, 2004 at 20:16:23, said:
   

   hey, i like mike. he’s the only breen left in austin! :-)

6. mom, on August 26th, 2004 at 20:41:55, said:
   

   First, I want to say thank you for updating. You are such a good boy! Next, everybody likes Mike it’s you they don’t like, but I love you and I always try to defend you.

7. breen, on August 26th, 2004 at 22:39:30, said:
   

   That’s a horrible thing to say to your own son… telling mike people like him. You know it’s a lie.

   I didn’t want to mention it earlier mike, but mom was one of the people I asked. She told me you were an accident.

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