I've been biking now for almost one full year. As a matter of fact, it will be one year on May 8th! I like to think I've come a long way in that almost year. Loss of 40 pounds, mad bike skillz...(still bad temper, but hey, two outta three, right?). Well in this "almost year" we have bought 5 bikes. TWO of which were for me! The first bike I bought for me was a GREAT Apple red Beach Cruiser with a wicker basket (see picture below), three speeds and coaster brakes! GREAT bike at first but after three months I was addicted to biking and required far more than "Apple" (what I named my red bike) could provide me. So we bought my second bike, her name is "Maisie". Well, like I said, we bought five bikes, four of which we bought from "Penn Cycle" and ONE we bought from "Erik the bike man!" (Maisie). Well the ONLY ride We've (I) have had ANY issues with is MY bike that I bought from "Erik the bike Man!"...and SO far I have had:
1. One stuck tube stem resulting in an exploding tube which required cutting to remove.
2. One broke spoke that happened OUT in the middle of no where 11 miles from home requiring $30.00 cab ride, leaving my bike locked to the back of an abandoned building then coming back with the car to retrieve it and bring it to the shop.
3. One tire removing itself FROM the rim at 4:15 in the morning as I am riding to work. That was fun AND stressful...
4. One flat today (4.18.09) 8 miles into our journey...only to be TOPPED later by...
5. ONE MORE BROKEN SPOKE! 14 miles into the trip locking up the back wheel to the point of not turning requiring me to life it across the 4 lane street to the picnic table while David and Aaron rode the remaining 6 or 7 miles home to get the car to retrieve me and the bike. Oh...SOOO not happy.
Long story short, we complained... A LOT. Brought up the fact that 4 out of 5 bikes bought from Penn have never ONCE had an issue and ONE bike bought from Eriks has been in the shop 5 times in less than a year. Now they say I need new rims, double layer or some such nonsense, grand total is over $200.00. We are going to speak to headquarters on Monday to see if they will take up some of the slack since a LOT of information was neglectfully passed on to us, as consumers, back in August when I purchased this particular model that would have SWAYED my choice a LOT. We'll see what decision they come to.
So I only got 14 miles today but on the bright side I did finish my book "Sundays at Tiffany's" by James Patterson...ate a whole bag of "Good and Plentys" (this was a bad choice)...soaked up some sun while letting my temper simmer down just a little. All in all not a TOTAL loss. I hope Eriks does right by us and at least pays for one of the two rims.
For your viewing pleasure (if you haven't already seen them) here are pics from my glorious flat from earlier in the ride.
Click for biggerness!
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