Ethan and his bike look great together. LOVE the honey colored saddle and matching cork grips. It must have been pretty satisfying to him to do the final shellac. Classy bike for a classy kid!
Awesome story about the boy biking to school with a broken, and now, fixed bike. The Benefactor effect ripples on. I wonder what your encounter will be when you see each other next time. Do tell. I'm sure he'll never forget your help. On Tuesday, November 6, 2018 at 6:52:30 PM UTC-5, Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! wrote: > > I’m back to tell you about something good resulting from the Bike > Benefactor’s legacy; may it long continue! > > Yesterday I was cycling to school with my two boys, when another rider met > us while waiting at the crosswalk. This kid is an 8th grader; he’s bigger > and heavier than me and he rides a bike that is utterly small for his size. > But he must have some affection for it; his knees are up to his chin but > he’s still riding it every single day. I was studying his cartoonishly low > saddle height (why won’t he raise it?!?) when I noticed his front tire - > the front brake looked to have exploded. It was an ugly v-shape, a maw, > wide open and ugly, and the cable didn’t seem to be connected to the brake > lever. Shocked, because I knew he had just ridden down part of Killer Hill > and arrived at this intersection alive, I brought it up. > > “Hey, no front brake, huh?” > > “Someone ran into me and it broke. I’ve been meaning to get it repaired.” > > I looked it over and it was in bad shape; not a simple fix, and I’m barely > capable of simple fixes the way it is. > > I cringed when the path went downhill to the last busy crossing, but he > made it fine. We went to the bike racks and I unloaded bags and racks and > kissed my sons goodbye. > > It bothered me. I have a lot of time to think on that uphill climb home; > and it irked me that this kid was so ill-equipped to do such a simple, > responsible thing. He’s taking himself to school, not effortlessly riding > through the valet car loop like 80% of the students. And to do this he will > be weighted by a heavy backpack, pedaling an ill-fitting bike, and now he > doesn’t even have front brakes? > > The next morning we had just made it to campus when I noticed him coming > some way off, and it came to me what had to be done. Heavy on my mind was > the Bike Benefactor, and how the cycle of kindness and generosity should > not end with me. I waited for the kid and called him over to tell him I > wanted to fix his bike and would he mind if I took it to a bike shop? I > promised to have it back in time for him to ride home. He agreed to let me, > though he looked a bit skeptical and maybe a bit sheepish (I know the > feeling!). I came back to school with my Odyssey and set off to beg the > bike shop to work us in? > > “You’re like a bike vigilante,” said the kid who wrote up my ticket. The > bike got: a new brake cable, a new brake pad to replace the missing one, > the chain lubed (first time for everything!), the back brake adjusted (it > was rubbing the tire), the seat raised, a bolt replaced that was missing on > his rack (maybe that’s why he never uses it?) and a “safety check.” I got > it back in the rack an hour before school was out. Whew. > > I hope we see him tomorrow, and I hope his knees are not hitting his chin > and that he has two functioning brakes and maybe has decided to use his > rack. I do believe the best policy is to act kindly and then keep it to > oneself, but this happy story is a direct result of the Benefactor’s > kindness, and I hope the Benefactor reads this and takes a little > satisfaction. He is, even now, having a ripple effect, and it is so fun to > celebrate it. > > My best, > Leah > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
