The Bicycle Mystery:
There are bicycles everywhere you look. Young and old ride them, rain or shine, and the strange thing is that the majority are pieces of crap. I can't understand why so many of them ride the 1-speed, bad brakes, heavy things they do, but they do. What I call the "grandma" bike is the standard for the whole country and even Steve and Ali ride them. Steve's has 2 speeds, so his is probably the second most advanced (behind mine) on the south side of the river.
I figure if I'm not going to have a car or motorcycle (at least for a while), and I'll rely on a bike for all my local travel, then at least I'll have the nicest thing I can afford (see below). So, I went to Kitakyushu (the big city up the road), went to Sports Authority and here's what I got: A mountain bike with hybrid tires that are smooth right down the center for roads, but treaded on the sides for off road. They actually work very well. I also have front and rear shock absorbers, a gel seat to comfort my behind, strong brakes, 18 speeds, a flashlight mounted on the handlebars, and a metal basket (mandatory here) on the back. And it still weighs less than a grandma bike. So, you'd think this must have cost a fortune here - but it was less than $350 with everything and they delivered it to my office already assembled, by flatbed truck for less than $10. It had to cost more than that for the gas to get it here, so I can't figure out why it was so cheap, but it was...
So, if you can have "top of the line" for just $350, why doesn't everyone get one, or at least something better than what they have? I don't know.
