make your kids buy thier own bikes.

[Lebowski]

i ride my bike every day to my high school (i graduate in 4 weeks thank god!) and i got tired of stripping my mountain bike naked before i head to school. people like to vandalize and steal stuff for no reason. every morning i took off my speedometer, lights, bottles, bags etc. i thought about getting a beater bike to ride. i forgot about my old 1998 GT bmx bike. my commute is only a few miles round trip so i decided to go for it. it was in pretty much perfect riding condition all i had to do was replace a tube and raise the seat 10 inches.

when i rode it again i got all kinds of crazy nostalgic thoughts. i bought the bike when i was 11 or 12. my parents made me save up for it. they had the money but they wanted to work for it. it took me a summer and a winter to save the money. i did all kinds of odd jobs i got creative. once spring came around my dad got tired of driving me to the bike shop every week to put 10 dollars down on my bike that was on lay away so he dropped the last 40 bucks on it. i was so incredibly happy with it. i had such a sense of pride, i kept it cleaned, i buffed the chrome all the time. i never left it outside. 8 years after i bought it it's still in great condition. i thought that was pretty amazing for a kid that age to take that kind of responsibility.

my advice to you is make your children buy a bike when they get to 10 or 12 or something. they will take better care of it and learn a some life lessons.

[JMT114]

i ride my bike every day to my high school (i graduate in 4 weeks thank god!) and i got tired of stripping my mountain bike naked before i head to school. people like to vandalize and steal stuff for no reason. every morning i took off my speedometer, lights, bottles, bags etc. i thought about getting a beater bike to ride. i forgot about my old 1998 GT bmx bike. my commute is only a few miles round trip so i decided to go for it. it was in pretty much perfect riding condition all i had to do was replace a tube and raise the seat 10 inches.

when i rode it again i got all kinds of crazy nostalgic thoughts. i bought the bike when i was 11 or 12. my parents made me save up for it. they had the money but they wanted to work for it. it took me a summer and a winter to save the money. i did all kinds of odd jobs i got creative. once spring came around my dad got tired of driving me to the bike shop every week to put 10 dollars down on my bike that was on lay away so he dropped the last 40 bucks on it. i was so incredibly happy with it. i had such a sense of pride, i kept it cleaned, i buffed the chrome all the time. i never left it outside. 8 years after i bought it it's still in great condition. i thought that was pretty amazing for a kid that age to take that kind of responsibility.

my advice to you is make your children buy a bike when they get to 10 or 12 or something. they will take better care of it and learn a some life lessons.


Humility is also amazing.;)

Just kidding, I like your story I know that I have shown more pride in all things I have bought for myself than things that were given to me.

[Lebowski]

i didnt think it was amazing then. but now looking back i expected my self to be more of a punk than i was.

[masiman]

My experience was somewhat the same, but many more years ago than you are old :).

In any case, that is a great motivator for anyone. I would only modify your sentiment to be make your kid save to buy "something" they really want. Not all my kids will want to ride the way you do or I did.

My guess is that maybe your dad was tired of the weekly trip, but he was probably rooting for you to get the bike and couldn't stand waiting to see you realize your dream.

Congrats on your bike. I still have mine and it has a place of honor with my bikes. I even mention it in my will :).