I own 3 bicycles, and I love them all for different reasons. For the next 3 days I think I’ll post about each of them in turn, starting with Jean-Luc. Jean-Luc (and yes I name my bicycles) is an old steel Peugeot, probably made in the 70s and imported from France. He’s named Jean-Luc after Jean-Luc Picard, mostly because he’s a) old, b) French, and c) I like Patrick Stewart. It’s a single-speed bike; not a fixie, because that would mean no flywheel; this bike doesn’t have to be pedaled constantly when it’s moving, you can “free spin” the pedals. I liked the idea of owning a single-speed bike because they’re easier to maintain, and so far that’s held true, with one big exception. It turns out that French bikes of that era were made with unusual seat posts, and when I bought it, it had this cool yellow saddle on it that turned out to be a theft magnet and got stolen, thus prompting a frantic search for a new post which I - no lie - ended up having to order from the Netherlands. So now I have a special cable lock just for the seat. But other than that, the bike has been exactly what I wanted - a great way to bump around town. I’ve ridden it as far as into work, 42 miles - but I regretted that decision. It’s not a great bike for that kind of thing. Actually, apart from the fact that it’s sturdy and reliable, it isn’t honestly all that great of a bike. But something about the yellow-and-blue color scheme and it’s general cranky Frenchiness just sort of appeals to me! Of all my bikes, this one gets ridden the most these days; I take it to Subway, to the Bart station, to Best Buy, etc., etc. It’s also the only one I will ride in the rain because I don’t care if it rusts and it has nice wide tires to grip the road.
