06-20-2024, 05:40 AM
We were stationed in Japan in 2008 when I got the bike of my dreams. The base recreation center sold things like bicycles and skiis and a lot of nice stuff. They had a sale offering a very nice $720 bicycle for $320, so I bought it. I knew nothing about bicycles, having grown up long before the fancy multi-gear and speed bikes were available. This bike was very light and fast and had lots of gears, but it wasn't long before the riding position was making my 70year old body ache. I was in good shape, running six miles a day most days. But riding bent over with my head pulled up to see, was painful. The bike started gathering dust. On our return to the US, I sold the bike. The man who bought it knew a lot about bikes and was buying it for his wife. He explained that this bike was way too small for me and told me how to get one the right size and also said I would be better off on a different style of bike. After doing some reading about bicycles, I went on Craiglist and found the Trek 7.2, which had been highly recommended in one of the articles. It was on sale for $150. It looked new, so I was immediately suspicious that a $400 bicycle was priced so low. The guy selling it worked for a place that cleaned out residences after evictions. They stored things like that bike for 90 days, and if no one claimed it, they could sell it. I have put many comfortable and enjoyable miles on that bicycle. I sold the first bicycle for what I paid for it, so the $400 bicycle for $150 was still a great bargain.