Originally Posted by
PugRider
Yeah I was thinking about some paint, but I probably should have done that with everything off the bike. I'm not sure why it was left to be scrapped on the side of the road; a few weeks later I brought some items to my city's residential drop-off center and gasped in horror to see a beautiful black Univega mixte at the bottom of the dumpster (strict rules there about diving, or I would have went in!); it was in much better shape than this Trek is. I think people who aren't into bikes just don't have any use for them, and don't know what to do with them. Oh well.
Have you considered the possibility that there may be a stigma to owning and riding a bicycle? Most of the general population considers them to be the transportation of last resort; an "inferior product", if you will. The prevailing attitude is that "bicycles are for kids" or "I had a bike when I was in grade school". The lowly bicycle is usually what a person who has either lost a driver's license or had a vehicle impounded uses to get around with. Unfortunately, a step-through bike, even if it is a mixte, is even less desirable than a "boy's bike", because it's a "girl's bike". Around these parts, bums use bikes to collect cans and bottles out of garbage cans and dumpsters. It's sad, but bikes don't have much of a reputation. We are in the minority.