My Rickety Ride Pt. 2

I planned to go to Trustmart (the Chinese Walmart) yesterday to look for bike lube since they sell everything there, but instead I had a good talk with the bike repairman who my neighbor Mr. Zhang, kind provider of my rickety ride, took me on a search for a couple weeks ago. He (one Mr. Shan) was lounging on a legless sofa under the footbridge over our busy road when I finally found him, his tools sprawled around him on the pavement. My dad comments that my bike looks pretty nice – but if you could only hear me screeching and wobbling my way around campus. Mr. Shan and his buddy Mr. Li, the owner (“I guess we could say,” as he said) of a nearby Japanese restaurant, laughed at me incredulously when I said I paid 63 kuai for my bike (kuai and yuan are interchangeable). “You shouldn’t have paid more than 30!” said one. “I could buy 3 bikes of that quality with that money!” said the other. “It needs so much work, I don’t even know where to start,” said Mr. Shan. “You’ll pay more to fix it than to buy another bike,” added the old man who rolled up to get his inner tube patched. (Mr. Shan, by the way, patches a tube in 3 minutes, without even taking the wheel off, for 2 kuai or 30 cents!). Mr. Shan took me over to “The Garage,” a cavernous and dimly lit storage and fix-it space presided over by a lady who makes keys at its entrance. He offered me a little yellow bike that fits my 5’ a lot more comfortably for 100 kuai. It still squeaks but a lot less. “What if I trade in my current bike?” “I won’t give you more than 20 for it.” So, 80 kuai for another used bike when I already have one that at least gets me to class. I told him I’d think about it. I really will. After all, both he and Mr. Li pointed out a rusted weak point in my bike fork where it had surely been welded and fixed who knows how many years ago, saying that it was dangerous and could give out. And all the screeching, squeaking, and wobbling is quickly losing its charm. Until then, during these last humid days of summer, I delight in feeling the wind blow past me as I pedal.