THE BEIJING BIKE

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We walked around 15 minutes under the stifling sun to the corner bike shop. Guofeng or Jeff, our appointed Tsinghua guide/parent/friend/student managed to bargain with the shopkeeper to get at least 20 of us "bikes". Now you might just ask why the quotes? Well in China "bikes" are not really sold under a brand name like Huffy or something of that nature, but more or less it is just a contraption with rods and two wheels on which you can sit uncomfortably 😊 😞 on. They come in different styles for those fashion sensible people out there. You can get a blue bike, or even a red one. There are bikes with baskets and bikes with various shaped rods. Oh right, and it has handles and breaks for maneuverability purposes. Now the bikes may look new, but don’t be fooled by the makeshift “look like it’s just from the factory” wrapping around it because most of them were probably just made from scraps from other bikes and slightly brushed up. However, we didn’t dare to buy new ones, though they may be cheap in America standards, because there is a 99.9% chance of getting the bike getting stolen from us. Yet, for 20 US dollars how can you go wrong? With such a LOW price, there are certain consequences one has to deal with. First, any single part of your bike may just break at ANY moment. So if you are in Beijing traffic, stuck in the middle of the road, with cars honking at you and people shouting left at right, well let’s just say that person is screwed. Second, your bike has a 99.8% chance of failing( please notice the .1% difference; it explains a lot) . Luckily, there are many bike shopkeepers that are willing to fix your bike for free. Hopefully, you guys are catching on to this, since third, the bike is prone to rusting and everyday wear and tear and will collapse if no care is taken. In this case, one could buy a tool kit from the central market or some other place just in case something terribly wrong occurs. Nevertheless, a bikes a bike, it has wheels, it moves and it beats walking everyday. That is why I would like to thank those people who entrusted the bike into the Beijing lifestyle, for without it we would have endless hours of wasted time walking and not as much adventure and danger with the risk involved in owning one…ONCE AGAIN…THANK YOU!

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Photos

MY BIKE
This specific bike is my bike...

Comments

[sapan]

TEAM
TEAM should be active in China also. Ok bye

[Ankur]

TEAM
I agree with Sapan

[Dacheng]

Bike
How many times has your bike gone to the bike shop? I see a lot of people in your picture there I know. Hope you're having a lot of fun! Looking at that picture, I kind of wish I went this year rather than last year.