Bike Hunting

I've been on the lookout for a bike for a little bit. In keeping with my laziness this summer, it's taken awhile for this effort to gain any momentum. I've recently overcome said inertia and have been heading out to different bike shops and test riding different bikes.

I've actually got a pretty narrow range of bikes that I'm looking for: used, reasonable quality, cheap price, road bike, and certain riding characteristics. It's a narrow and reasonable list, but makes it a bit harder to find the right bike. Between all that, reading up on bikes, shops' weird hours, using only the CTA, and checking out neighborhoods, this hasn't been the fastest process ever. Having said that, I've got it narrowed down to a few shops and bikes. If I have time tomorrow and/or it's not storming, I might actually make a purchase.

One of the biggest surprises to me is how helpful bike shops have been. Most haven't tried to push any bikes on me whatsoever. I'll give my price range for a used road bike and they'll legitimately try to accommodate me. There's no hassle, judgment, or anything of the sort. Beyond that, they're more than happy to answer my questions: seems most are excited to have new people in the cycling world and are not annoyed by newbie questions. There's no condescension or holier than thou whatsoever. Those two things have made this experience kinda fun so far, even entering it knowing pretty much nothing.

Another surprise to me has been the differences between bike types and individual bikes. Between mountains, hybrids, cruisers, and roads, things are noticeably different: handling, speed, and ride...especially between mountain and road bikes. And even within the same bike class, things such as handling, shifting, braking, and ride are different enough that even I notice them.

I mentioned earlier that only taking the CTA has slowed me down in getting a bike. True, but I'm in no mad rush to get this bike, or in general for that matter. It's been a great way to check out different neighborhoods. Between rumbling through on the L and buses and wandering on foot, it's been a nice, cheap way to see parts of the city...and I'm hoping a bike let's me do even more of that. Outside of downtown, Chicago is a city of neighborhoods. I've been to most of the higher profile ones, but bike hunting has let me see places I usually wouldn't be in.

So yeah, that's the majority of what I've been up to the past two weeks, outside of the usual weekenderies, chilling, Cubbies, and whatnot. Yes, I said Cubbies - it's amazing what fantasy baseball and a few games at Wrigley will do to a minor Cubs interest. The next week and a half I'll be out on the west coast though, so that's a nice change of pace. Planning/hoping to hang out in LA, San Diego, Seattle, and Vancouver - and am pretty pumped for the trip!