Sunday, August 9, 2020

The High Cost of Cycling in the Time of COVID


The night before my big ride on the lakefront, I thought to fill the tires on my trusty Schwinn.  That’s when I found a broken spoke on the rear wheel.  What to do?

 

I decided to risk it and tied the spoke in question to another as a stopgap.  The next day, I passed by two bike repair kiosks on the trail—you can fix your bike but not relieve yourself—only they were busy.  That meant a trip to a bike shop the next day.

 

But which one?  I usually use Mullet Brothers, a twenty-minute drive each way while the place on Roosevelt Road is only five minutes from home.  I don’t like going there, though, from the time they sold me Kevlar tires that were in fact ordinary, flat-prone works of rubber.  Oh, but just five minutes…    

 

Convenience won out over principle, and that cost me, literally.  I paid $32 to get one spoke changed—$2 for parts and $30 for labor.  Mullet Brothers, here I come.

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