At the age of 17, I saved my money from my summer job and bought myself a very fine Peugeot PXN-10LE. I brought it to college, and within a few months, my pride and joy was stolen. My roommate had one of those "world's finest" bikes, and he was barely using it, so he said I could use it. It turned my snobbery around. I thought the bike was ugly, and I wouldn't have agreed to be seen on it. But it I really preferred to commute on bike, and it made me see the wisdom of having a beater bike. And it didn't ride badly! It took another couple of years before I owned both a fine bike and a beater which is really a sensible plan.

47 years later, I'm still friends with that roommate.