Is there a unique story how you acquired your bike?
 

I am just curious how many people have a unique story or way they acquired or bought theIr bike.

Was it found in the trash? A gift from a friend or relative? Possibley passed down from a deceased relative who also loved cycling? Did you customize your bike that your parents bough for you as a teen from Walmart? Please share and include what your bike is.

My Long Story (nothing to special--more how I payed it off):

I am currently 18 years old in high school. In spring 2011 I bought my first nice bike, nice for me at least. I have a hybrid, Marin Kentfield FS 21 Speed for around $550-600. I overpayed a little but my intention was to buy a road bike buty parents who said they would contribute $150 but they pushed me to buy a hybrid because I would have my license soon and they thought I would stick with the sport for long. I proved them wrong. So October 2011 comes around and I am a huge Cardinals fan. It is the playoffs and you put your name in for a raffle for the opportunity to purchase tickets. It is the NLCS (next round is World Series) and we find out we could buy two standing room tickets for $50 each for Game 7 of the World Series! We are thinking what are the odds the Cardinals make it to the World Series let alone Game 7! We still had to beat the Phillies in the NLCS (which we did ultimately). World Series comes around and we play the Texas Rangers. One of the games gets rained out causing all the games to be pushed back by a day, Game 7 was now planned to be played on the same day my dad had his Vegas Trip... So I couldn't go to Game 7! We were left to sell the tickets for around $300 each or keep and I go with my mom...Hardest decison of my life, i decided to sell and I got to keep the money to pay off the loan I owed my dad for my bike...

So how ever you view it, I basically sacraficed the chance of a lifetime where the Cardinals won the World Series for the sake of my bike...

My main ride is a late 80's Specialized Hard Rock that I've streetified with slicks, fenders, lights and a rack.

I first met the bike when it and a Sears Free Spirit were given to my then wife. I did a few rides on it to make sure that all was working. But other than that, I assumed my wife would ride it and I some times used the Free Spirit as a beater bike to commute with when my Nishiki/American Eagle had a flat or other ailment. The Hard Rock sat in the garage.

Well, times got hard. And after 10 months of unemployment, I got a job in another city. One that appeared to be hilly. I commandeered the Hard Rock because it had the low gears that I needed. When I got to the new city, I bought lights, fenders and a cheap Pletscher rack knock-off. I rode the cracked rubber knobbies until they wore out and switched to street slicks.

The Nishiki/American Eagle also has a story. I first borrowed it from a friend one time when my Peugeot U08 needed some work. After my Peugeot was fixed, I cleaned and lubed it and returned it to him. Just as well, I needed to borrow it again a few months later. I took a bicycling trip to Europe and the Peugeot got stolen by the French national train service. Coming home, I once more rode the Nishiki/American Eagle.

My girlfriend was in Hawaii at that time, and I was making plans to move there to be with her. I got the materials for a shipping container ready, but then a few days after I had given notice at work, she broke up with me. Happily, I turned it into a promotion at work. It was time to buy that bike because I had ridden it so much. So I traded it for all the lumber I had gotten to make the shipping container.

http://www.pointhappy.com/gcf/LittleHardRock.jpg

http://www.pointhappy.com/gcf/AmEagleNishikism.jpg

I was on vacation for a few days in Puerto Rico last year. Found out online that there is a single
Brompton bike dealer on the island and it wasn't too far from our hotel. Walked in the shop with
no real intention of buying anything, never even rode a B'ton before. Asked to test drive one.
Came back after 5-10 minutes; asked if there were any deals on a left over model(2012 S6L).
Discounts were agreed upon and next day I picked up my 1st Brompton. Checked in the bike in
it's original box on our return trip to New York.

After 2 months of riding I realized I wanted the titanium model with lowered gearing. Put the
bike for sale on Ebay; got about 95% of what I paid. I used that money to buy my 2nd and
current B'ton.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AopS...6zPoymgKaIoDLA

How was did that cost around? With "discounts". And just curious what's the cost of shipping bikes, I always found it intriguing many tourists bring their bikes with them

Rowan and I have about 15 bicycles between us. A few were purchased from a shop, one was custom made, a few came from a tip, and the rest were build up by Rowan.

Nothing particularly unique.

And my parents, who were also cyclists, ensured that I had a decent bicycle to ride ever since I was 6 years old.


And incidentally, we have travelled around the world with our bicycles. Why ... because we're comfortable with our bicycles. However, we're now looking at Bike Fridays.

I think I paid around US$1,500 in total; cash discount(using a credit card would have been more).
This was a S6L standard gearing in raw finish(US$150 I think) with Kojak slicks(extra $$) and I
convinced the shop to throw in a used cover for free. I check in the Brompton in it's original box
as my 1st luggage(it's within size and weight regulations); no extra charge unless your airline charges
for check in bag(s). Before I had the B'ton and on an international trip that Jetblue wouldn't let me
check in a cardboard box; I placed different folding bikes in a standard suitcase. Again no extra
charge as my bike was just treated as 1st check in bag; free on most international flights.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUQN...6zPoymgKaIoDLA

when I bought my new bike, I was trying to find a way to justify the purchases. I remember that I had several jugs of pocket change that I have saved over the last number of years. I took the pocket change to the bank and after the second trip of taking change to the bank, I had enough money for a new bike.

Back when Surly Long Haul Truckers first came out, and were only available as a frame, I had decided to build a bicycle up. I only had $200, and was living in the back of a 1992 Nissan Sentra. I went to the bicycle shop (Cycle Path in Tuscaloosa, AL) to source whatever parts I couldn't scrounge from junk shops, recycling centers, and dumps. While there, I browsed through a QBP catalog, and among the Salsas, Somas, and Jamis's, was a new frame; the Long Haul Trucker. No way I could afford it, though. I talked about it with the bike mechanic, who's name was Jason, but didn't think too much more about it. About a month, maybe two went by, and I was back at the shop again. Jason called me aside, and told me he found a slightly dinged up Long Haul Trucker frame that someone had started building up, but apparently gave up on, and dumped off behind their store.
Long story short, it took me about a year, but finally the LHT was built up into an amazing bicycle that carried me practically daily. I traveled from Alabama, to New Mexico, to Brooklyn, to Oregon, to California, to Alaska, back to Oregon, riding that bicycle almost every day. It went through many transformations, and very sadly met its end (at least for me) less than a year ago, when it was stolen from the back of our Volvo. It had carried me as a single, homeless guy, me and my (now ex-) wife, both of my daughters on the handlebars, racks, and trailer. It had hauled the dirt and stones for our garden pulling a 400-lb flatbed trailer. It had made it from the literal top of Requa Road to the bottom 5 days a week for a year (anyone who has lived in Klamath, CA will understand how significant this is). It survived (and me too) a collision with a black bear. It was spraypainted 3 times, and had gone from 27-speeds, to 5-speeds, to 3-speeds, to a Sturmey-Archer Duomatic at the end. It will be missed!

(Funny thing about that bike was it's dichotomy. It had a $12 Rust-O-Leum paint job, yet sported a $200 Brooks Swift saddle. $5 Wal-Mart Flashlights for headlights, yet had a full 6-Bag Gilles Berthoud Pannier Set!)

That's a great story. Thanks for telling us.

woah.. wouldn't mind hearing more about that...

Not as adventurous as it sounds. I was riding my usual route to work (from the top of Requa Road to the Trees of Mystery in Klamath, CA) down Highway 101, when a medium sized black bear burst out of the bushes right in front of me. No time to stop or turn, so we collided. I don't think either of us knew what had hit us at the moment. But we ended up both sprawled out looking at each other at about 10 feet apart. Bear looked at me, I looked at bear, and both of us jumped up and ran in opposite directions for about 10 more feet. Then the bear gave me its "What the f**k are you looking at" look, and sauntered off, and I returned to grab my bike, so I could shakily ride on to work. It was mid summer, so I smelled like bear stink (decayed salmon) all day.

cool. I think thats precisely as adventurous as it sounded. Glad you and the bear came out of that ok :)

Plural .. bikes .. ie Which one?

Frame I built myself , in 75

bought after a few months of writing across the country, or a bit shorter dialog - .. 3.

new, someone else's custom refused due to their not liking the color

framesets bought in bike shops, then built up..

I technically have 2 bikes. One is a hybrid bike at my parents place. I bought it for $40 from a former coworker who was headed to the peace corps and sold all her stuff.

My 2nd bike ,the one that is actually getting used, is a lot more exciting. I have spent a few years thinking about brining my bike from my parents. But I didn't have a place to park and it wasn't (as I now know) properly accessorized for my use case (city riding in regular clothing).

This was on the back burner, but one day I was at my doctors office, waiting for my appointment. There was a bike book on the table, so I decided to flip through. It was Cycle Chic. I was marveling at all of the people in normal clothing, carrying umbrellas and all sorts of other cool stuff. I started pondering the bike thing again.

I went to a fundraiser for a non-profit I just started volunteering for. It happens to support biking and transit. There was a silent auction for 2 bikes, but the going price was more than I had in budget. They were also riffling a bike for anyone who donated over $80. I wrote my check, already feeling like I scored because I had won a silent auction item.

I was was joking with another partygoer about how we were going to have to duke it out over the bikes, because he also thought about the silent auction ones as well.

I left the event, and the raffle results were due out the next day. Well it tunes out I won the auction for a public c7 bike. When I called to arrange collecting my prize, they said I could also use the amount as store credit and pick a different model, so I upgraded to the c7i with an internal hub. As I was getting the scoop on my bike, I learned about all of the cool features that made it more friendly to dress normally. Suddenly I felt like I could just ride around for errands and not for exercise.

So here I am 6 months later, and I bike for groceries, brunch and other "basic life" stuff.

Mine was a build-up, nothing particularly exciting for a back story besides the fact that I wanted it when I saw it. I wrote about it here.

:thumb:

Great story. What a shame to loose it to a thief!

Well let's see...

The bike I loved and rode the most as a kid was a Takara BMX bike that I shamelessly rescued from the town dump. I loved that it had plastic "mag" wheels that didn't go out of true like the spoke wheels I kept ruining (because I learned to fix wheels later in life).

My Specialized M4 had a bit of an interesting story also. I was riding a used Centurion that had gotten me into road cycling and looking for a decent new bike but couldn't really afford much. While on travel for work, I found a new Specialized S-Works M4 with a cosmetic dent in the top tube. Having to never face the shop owner again, I offered them what I figured the gruppo was worth and they accepted. I loved that bike and put about 300-miles a week on it for a long time.

That M4 is the bike I rode from NH to AZ in the act of proposal to my wife.

I later broke the frame at the chainstay which was, I gather, pretty common for that bike. It was replaced with the then-current S-Works E5 frame which is a good bike that I do not love. A while back I was at a group ride with it and there was a Specialized fan raving about what a great bike my E5 was. Half the bike it replaced, I said, and he didn't seem to like me much after that. Ha ha.

After high school, I wanted a new racing bike, good for criteriums, quick handling.
I bought a set of Ishiwata frame tubes, silver brazing rod, Oxy-acetylene tanks & torches & some nice Henry James lugs & fork crown, and Campagnolo dropouts. I then bought a 2 foot square slab of aluminum plate and a variety of other bits to build a frame brazing jig. I worked on it in my parents basement. After completing the jig, I designed the frame, cut the tubing to the right size, and brazed it all together. I decided to paint it 2-tone to match my team colors at the time and had it painted at Peter Weigle's shop.

Still riding it 30+ years later

Very cool.