My Beautiful Bicycle

Check this out! I know you are thinking it is a thing of beauty. It is a treasure to be treasured, a prize to be prized (?). This is my $5 dump bike. I know right? What a classic.

I picked up this gem probably two years ago now at the local recycle shop at our dump. $5 bucks baby. What a bargain. It cost me another $60 to have it fitted with new tyres and have it working again but it is worth it. A Malvern Star (childhood memories of my repainted lime green number) that has like FOUR gears man! All it needs is a wicker basket on the front and I am ecstatic. Sure, it has surface rust, a broken peddle and the bike shop bloke said that once the gears die they will not be replaceable because the technology is quite old. Who cares? I don't use them anyway. The bike shop bloke was a little shocked when we presented my treasure for servicing and asked quite simply "Why?". Fool has no vision obviously.

I took my classic along to a free bike workshop late last year. What an education. There were bikes there worth $1400, rims on bikes there worth over a $1000 and then there was my $5 dump bike. I wasn't sure I was in the right group. They were obviously all ripped off and their bikes all looked the same, shiny, a lot more than FOUR gears and not a speck of rust anywhere.

When the talk began with clothing such as padded bike pants, gloves and helmets less than 15 years old I was again wondering about my presence there. I had on a loose t-shirt (apparently a no-no), loose 3/4 pants (another no-no) and my Dunlop Volleys with flowers painted all over them. I was beginning to think these people took bicycling a little too seriously. But it was all good in the end. Someone put the chain back on my bike, there are a lot of cogs on bikes with FOUR gears isn't there? My helmet was deemed unsuitable and ill-fitting so I borrowed another for our ride around the kiddies' parkland. What a thrill!

I have since purchased a new helmet and new bike peddles. The peddles don't happen to be fitted yet but it is on the to-do list. Apparently my bike chain desperately needs cleaning but I like the clogged up, black look it projects and so am sticking with the neglected, dump bike look.