uncle uncle

Just some vintage bicycle love coming from the most earnest soul of vintage bicycle love... need. That need for transportation. That need for connection.

Piff 

Badass! Everything she talks about is true, there's nothing quite like going around a city on a bike and allowing yourself to adventure around. Great inspirational video.

Jeff Neese

Very good. Many of us would echo her experience. I love "urban riding" and sometimes take my road bikes into the city to ride, rather than the MUP. It's fun to get out and see what's going on at street level.

That's not really a "cheap" bike though - it's a very decent quality Yohota road bike, that she was lucky enough to buy on the cheap. Big difference. I think her experience would be less satisfying on a cheap BSO. It stops being fun when your cheap bicycle constantly needs adjustment or things go wrong, and it becomes more trouble than its worth. She either had a good eye for quality, or just got lucky.

seedsbelize2

Agreed. I cut my teeth riding in Sacramento in the 70s. It was a city made for cycling. I now live outside of Merida, Yucatán, where I used to cycle, but don’t expect to again anytime soon.

VintageRide

Where i live in the Lower Mainland ( Burnaby ) there is always somewhere to ride, from the North Shore to Richmond and in between and all of my riding is a combination of urban and suburban. Always looking for an area or streets I have not yet explored. During the early 1970's bike boom when I was just in my teens there was barely a day I was not out on a bike taking in as much of Winnipeg, where I grew up.

John E

Bicycling completely redirected my life. I have had dyspraxia ("clumsy child syndrome" is the politically incorrect term) since infancy. I didn't walk until I was past age 2, and I wasn't able to figure out how to balance a bicycle until age 12, after which I was instantly hooked on the freedom of mobility afforded by two wheels. Suddenly there was a sport I actually enjoyed, first on a $15 two-speed Schwinn American "middleweight" (to be charitable), then on a bottom-of-the-line Bianchi road bike. During my high school years I started exploring other neighborhoods, visiting friends, shopping for electronics parts and hardware for my projects. Cycling become more intense during my undergrad years at UCLA, culminating in a 12-hour double century (my one big athletic achievement in life) a week after I graduated. I owe my current high level of cardio fitness to 120,000 cumulative miles of bicycling, always on relatively inexpensive machinery, usually purchased used.

uncle uncle

I agree with everything you wrote Jeff... I think the chewy nugget center of the story wasn't necessarily a "cheap bike", but a competent bicycle gotten for a respectable price that accomplishes all that the rider asks of it. The expense of buying even a entry level new bicycle might be outside the budget of many a potential bicycle rider, and I'd hate for money to be the reason someone skipped trying bicycling. I enjoy vintage bicycles, but I love riding bicycles more... I try to be an advocate for both.

squirtdad

I work with (when I can) and donate to a bike charity that this is focus focus for

they have given away 10,000 bikes in 13 years https://goodkarmabikes.org/donor-impact-stories/

clubman 

Nicely done, a familiar story for many of us. I met my wife in a bike shop where she dropped off an 88 Yokota MTN bike for repairs.

I rode a variety of 'middling' vintage road bikes over time, Norco's Miele's, Supercourse's Bianchi's C-dales etc for commuting. The late 80's were great. Decent bikes everywhere, cheap.

SurferRosa

A girl that uses down tube shifters and expresses gratitude for her bike (of all things) at Thanksgiving dinner? What's not to like?

Jeff Neese

She's a "keeper" for some lucky fellow, for sure. I bet based on that one video, she's getting marriage proposals from all over.

RB1-luvr

thanks to the OP for posting this. I enjoyed it.

79pmooney

+1! That may have been a fairly high end bike but many very decent bikes came out of Japan in the late '70s and '80s that her experience could have happened on. Three of my ongoing line of winter/rain/city fix gears. Her bike also came from what I call the "glory years" where there was as close to one standard for tubing, threads, fits, etc as cycling has or will ever see. If she crashed that bike, she could have gone back to the seller and bought another frame. He could have swapped the parts over in hours. No-brainer.

I didn't pay much attention to the bike. What I saw was the fit. Sometimes I think bikes talk to us or look after us. I think that one called out to her. "You want me!" And first ride - it felt right. She certainly looked very comfortable on it.

It wouldn't occur to me to thank my bike(s) at Thanksgiving but I do all the time quietly to myself. I have several where I feel that same joy.

Jeff Neese

I agree about Japanese bikes of that era. Even "budget" models were still well made, reliable, and serviceable.

I think the unsung hero of this story is the guy who sold her the bike, operating out of a storage container and putting together usable bicycles for people on a budget. I'd like to see more stories of people he's sold bikes to, and how the bicycles enhanced their life too.

I wouldn't thank my bikes at Thanksgiving either, but am certainly thankful for the physical ability to ride them. Many people can't. Be thankful for your legs.