The Barter Project

Choosing a Bike is more than just Choosing a Bike

The last real decision I have to make is which bike I want to keep. I don’t own a car, so cycling around the city (I live in Boston) is my main form of transportation. Cycling is also third and last on my “passionate hobbies” list, and my excuse to not join a gym. Because of this, I have two bikes: a geared bike for long and hilly weekend rides, and a fixed gear bike for getting around the city every day and shorter training rides. I’ve owned many more than two at many points in my life, but I’m down to two, and I think it’s time to get down to one. Having two bikes provided me with a backup, but that money is much better off in my savings now that I mostly work from home. 

My decision wasn’t easy. I knew that my road bike seemed best suited for all around use: it had sealed bearings, rack and fender mounts, gears, everything that would make life easier when it needed to be. However my fixed gear bike just felt right. The more I thought about it, the more the fixed gear made sense. (A bit of a side note: This next bit may be very mushy and overly metaphoric, which I tried prevent…I guess these things just happen sometimes.)

I think most people live like they’re riding a road bike: they coast down hill quickly without effort, and shift down to climb steep grades slowly. The problem is that when you do that, you spend the most time on the parts that suck. Just as things get enjoyable and the road slopes down, you let the bike do the work and tune out. 

I want my life to be more like riding a fixed gear bike. No, I’m not talking about the “zen feeling between you and the road”, as it’s so popularly referred to. When you ride  a fixed gear bike, you don’t stop pedaling, because you can’t coast. You only have one gear, so there is no shifting. You keep a constant pace.

The thing about fixed gear bikes is that hills are so different than on a road bike: you ride up hill quickly to keep momentum, and you descend slowly to stay in control. There is no hard or easy part anymore, they both take up almost equal time and energy. Like so many other things, it takes time and training to be able to ride a fixed gear bike a long distance. However, when you work your way up to those 40 and 50 mile rides, you notice that you experience way less physical stress on specific events in a ride, and you learn to pace yourself and save energy for important things, like being strong enough to enjoy a decent. 

In this same sense, I think living a more simple life can give us the same sort of feeling. By spending a bit more time on the mundane and the seemingly unimportant, like making a multifunctional wardrobe or using our feet to zoom instead of expensive camera lenses, the benefits snowball greatly. These little changes affect the big decisions, and make them into much smaller decisions. For example: if I don’t have a lot of stuff, I don’t need to spend extra money on a big apartment. If I save that money, I’ll have a cushion for months where I may be tight on rent. I’ll also depend on credit cards less, because I can dip into this savings for unexpected expenses, too. Because I’m not worrying about “big” and “important” things like rent and loan payments, I’m able to focus more on hobbies and relationships that I’m passionate about, and really get the most out of my free time. 

The thing about simplifying to this point is that it’s scary. There’s always that “what if?” that goes along with only having one gear, both on a bike and in life. I can tell you from experience that sometimes you meet a hill that makes you afraid your chain is going to snap, and just before you start rolling backwards you have to get off and walk. I can also tell you that getting rid of your printer sucks sometimes, because that one or two times a year you use it (after college), you really need to make time to go to a printing center. But when that happens, you can alway outsource for your solution: you can use your feet to climb up the hill, and you can print at Kinkos. The rest of the time you’ll get to enjoy improving your endurance on the bike, and all that free desk space. 

Everyone’s different, and in the end I guess it’s up to you to decide how many “gears” you need. I’m starting to think that one sounds perfect, and I’m excited to get rid of the road bike. Now all that’s left is to find a buyer, and donate my book about derailleurs.