I gotts me a new toy

Message

rayxtwo · #1 Post by **rayxtwo** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 8:52 am

Well, really I got it about a month ago. I was looking for a new Missouri hat to wear the day before the big game vs Oklahoma and went to Value City (sorry lb). When we walked into the store, they had this display of mountain bikes, price tag $199.00. Upon further inspection, this was a sale price, 50% off the original $399.00. I told my friend that there's no way I'd pay that much for a stupid bike. The store manager was near by and said that this was not just a bicycle, it was motorized and ran on electricity. Ooooookkkk. I walked away.

They didn't have any hats I liked so we started to leave. The manager was still by the display, so I asked if they had sold any of them. He said they sold two already today. Now my brain starts thinking. The bus line I usually ride to work doesn't run on Sunday's, so I have to walk about a mile and a half to catch one to get to the Metrolink. They don't allow gas powered items on the trains, but they do allow electric ones. Hummmm.

I tell him that if I got it, I would be the one riding it, and since it looks like a kids bike, if he knows about any weight limits on the thing. We look on the box, and don't see any specs about it. Then askes me if I know about the special deal the have running right now. I say no, and he tell me that for every $50 I spend I get a $20 gift card. So I get four if I buy this thing??? Right.

Wrap it up.

I take it over to my friends house because his brother has the tools to put this thing together. He says I was nuts for buying this but puts it together for me. It's set to go, so I decide to flip the switch and see if it has any power. The lights filck on. Time to go for a ride. I turn the throttle, and off I go. I go buzzing down the street. I'm having a blast. I ride around the block a few times and call it quits. We thorw it the back of Gary's car and he takes me home. They were doing construction on the main drag by my house and traffic was down to one lane and backed up for about a mile. I tell him to pull into the parking lot and I'll ride home. I'm home in five minutes.

Specs on the thing are 140 pound rider can go 15 mph and go 15 miles. I figure I can get about 10 miles on a full charge, so it's safe to ride to the station.

Now it's Sunday and I have to go to work. It's a nice day (about 45 degrees) so I ride it up to the Metrolink station. I get to work and I have to ask security were I can lock it up at. They tell me just to lock it up on the railing on the stairway. More people get to work, and I hear them talking about some moron that rode a bike to work. I keep quiet. We get off work, I unchain the bike. Now they know it's me. They all start laughing, and while they're waiting for the bus to take them to parking lot to get their cars, I ride off into the sunset.

So far I've taken it to work five times, and since my foot has been bothering me, I figure I would have had to take a cab to the Metorlink at least three of those times so I it's already saved me about $35-$40. I ride it up to the store, to the post office, and the bank as well. To top it all off I sold the gift cards to someone at work for $70, so the total cost of the bike was $130.

Ray

MarleysGh0st · #2 Post by **MarleysGh0st** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 9:15 am

That's cool, Ray!

Something like that might be nice for my commute (on those rare days when the weather cooperates around here) but we don't have good bike lanes on some of the roads I have to drive and I'm not sure if I want to share the road with the cars.

Bob Juch · #3 Post by **Bob Juch** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 9:25 am

How is it that your officemates have to take a bus to their parking lot?

#4 Post by **littlebeast13** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 9:29 am

Bob Juch wrote:How is it that your officemates have to take a bus to their parking lot?

Ray's "officemates" work at a casino...

lb13

rayxtwo · #5 Post by **rayxtwo** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 9:47 am

The employee parking lot is on one side of the building, and the entrence we have to go into the building in on the other side.

Ray

Bob Juch · #6 Post by **Bob Juch** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 10:21 am

rayxtwo wrote:The employee parking lot is on one side of the building, and the entrence we have to go into the building in on the other side.

Ray

Great planning!

SportsFan68 · #7 Post by **SportsFan68** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 11:25 am

It's probably the thin air, but around here you can see a bike on the road almost every day of the year, even when it's snowing. The only days I don't see one are with the most horrifyingly dangerous conditions possible -- freezing slush, cars in the ditch all over town, that flat light making it impossible to judge distances.

Anyway, congratulations on the purchase and be safe!