A hard question. 50 years ago, I left for college and rode a Gitane Tour de France (Reynolds 531 frame, silk sew-up tires, mostly Campagnolo components) to class. I locked it up in the bushes (bike racks were not a thing at that point in time) and carried my books in my Boy Scout Yucca backpack. Two years later I was hit by an on-duty police officer. The frame was bent, but I was unhurt. I used the money that I got from the officer and selling the parts to buy a Schwinn Paramount P-15 (Reynold 531 frame, all Campagnolo except for the brakes). I continued to ride the Paramount to class until I graduated in 1978. When I went back to college from 1982 until 1987, I rode the Paramount, but now I had racks and bags and fenders and a bottom bracket mounted Sanyo generator. By this time there were bike racks to lock it to. I never locked the bike at night, I kept it inside at night. I still have the Paramount.
I might not do the same today for one basic reason - battery powered cutters with carbide blades, available cheap from your local Harbor Freight store. They can cut through anything. The basic strategy today seems to be to make your bike look worse that the other bikes in the rack and better locked. Rustoleum makes peel-off paint that you could camouflage the bike with (make it ugly and look rusty, add a few stickers), paint the stem, handlebars, hubs, some of the spokes and seatpost (I would avoid Barbie pink for the time being). Peel it off after college to find the pristine Rivendell paint and aluminum below. You could even peel off the paint and change paint schemes occasionally. Riding a Rivendell *is* better than riding an ordinary bike. Laing Delray Beach FL On Saturday, August 5, 2023 at 10:54:39 PM UTC-4 Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! wrote: > It nearly kills me to say it, but my older son will be heading to college > in a year. Freshman aren’t to bring cars to campus, so that leaves buses, > bikes, and your own two feet for transportation. My boys have grown up > riding Clem Hs; this son rides a 52 cm cast-off from my husband (who > doesn’t ride, sigh). > > My 6’3” Dad had a blue 59 cm Clem on order when he died suddenly in 2020, > and his blue Clem has sat, boxed, waiting for my boy to grow into it. I > lugged the gargantuan box up from the basement last week to see how if the > bike would fit. “Now that I’ve obtained optimal height,” my son is fond of > saying… > > Anyway, he’s 6’1” now (likely still growing) and I need him to decide if > he wants to stick with his old Clem H (that he was fond of) or settle into > this Clem L. Because whichever bike he chooses is getting new wheels, dyno > and fenders and going to college with him. At first he was opposed to the > idea of a new Clem; he liked his old Clem, thought it looked cool. But > after the - as he calls it - Big Bike was assembled, he really began to > like it. “It looks elegant,” he said. It really does, all long and lithe, > in blue and silver. He put his saddle and bags on the bike and we test rode > it tonight. He said, “I am really liking the Big Bike. I like that my knees > don’t have anything to hit (geez, were his knees hitting his bars?!) and it > looks elegant. It feels more at home now that I have my old saddle on it.” > > I have mixed feelings about sending him to college with this bike, because > it’s so nice. I also doubt he’ll be able to get it on a bus bike rack - and > I have no idea how often he will want to do that. His bike life is totally > unknown at this point. All I know is that I’m getting him dyno because the > kid has never remembered to charge a light in his LIFE and I will not sleep > at night without it.The 52 takes 650b wheels and the 59 takes 700c, so I > don’t want to buy the wheels until I know which bike he really wants. But > as of now, he wants his new bike. > > I know people will say we should just get a beater. I know why that would > be advisable, but I also hate to think of a Clem languishing when it could > be serving a noble purpose. I’d love for him and his Clem to journey > through undergrad together. > > I am wondering…has anyone gone to college or sent their kid to college > with a Clem? What do you have to say about it? Photos in the next post… > 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 view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/614242ac-852a-4562-9f4b-d25d4776cf74n%40googlegroups.com.
