Letter from Boston

Buying a Bike

By MASAKO YAMADA

I have a list of things to buy on a bulletin board in my room. I think I'm a bit unusual for a young woman in that I don't like shopping too much. I, therefore, have to force myself to buy the things that I need. I bought a $40 (¥5,400) rice steamer after months of telling myself that it would help me greatly. I used to watch the rice carefully while it cooked in a plain pot.

I have just fulfilled another wish on my list by buying a new bicycle. Although I like walking around town and I'm a fan of public transportation, I have always known that bicycling is often the fastest way to get from place to place in Boston.

My bike-riding roommate, Alex, almost always gets to school faster than I do, regardless of whether I take the T that runs in front of our house or the Boston University shuttle bus that stops nearby. A trip to Harvard Square from our place takes at least 25 minutes by bus or 45 minutes by T. By bike, it takes only 15 to 20 minutes.

Although it takes me a while to decide to go shopping, I'm usually quite decisive once I'm in the store. Perhaps this is because I want to get out of the store fast. Anyway, my boyfriend and I happened to be walking by a bicycle store that we had heard was good and we went inside to take a look.

I had very little trouble selecting a bike. Rather, I should say that the bike had little trouble selecting me. In a shop filled with professional fiberglass racers and multithousand-dollar mountain bikes, it was the only model in my price range. I had no trouble agreeing to buy it, however, since it was a nice bike. Even my frugal boyfriend agreed that it was a good value — so much so that he bought one for himself.

The next step was buying a lock. One of the things that must surprise the casual Japanese observer of American city culture is seeing people walk around with bicycle seats in their hands. Sometimes, there are even people who walk around with entire bicycle wheels.

Even though almost all of them lock their bicycles to a post when they park their bikes, they feel they must take this additional step in order to prevent the theft of parts. Many bicycles, including mine, have seats and wheels that release automatically at the twist of a lever. These removable parts are very tempting to petty thieves and pranksters.

I don't want to carry bike parts around with me, so I need to use three locks for my bike: a solid one to lock the frame and back wheel to the post and two flexible ones to lock the seat to the frame and the front wheel to the frame.

Fortunately, I travel in relatively safe neighborhoods and I keep my bike inside my apartment closet when I'm home, so I didn't have to get the most rugged New York style locks. The commercially marketed New York locks seem virtually indestructible, although I must say that while I was in New York, I saw even tougher-looking impromptu locks that looked like they were made from chains used to anchor ships.

After the mechanic in the bike shop made some adjustments, we drove out of the bicycle shop with our new bikes and rode home. It was a bumpy ride for me, since I hadn't really ridden a bike since I was in middle school.

I didn't realize that I wouldn't be able to touch the ground with my feet while sitting on the seat, so stopping at red lights was hard. I kept on falling over until my slightly exasperated boyfriend said that I had to slide off the seat and straddle the frame, not the seat, when stopping.

We took a trip to the neighboring suburbs the following day. These are areas where I have gone only once or twice during my five years in Boston. We saw many interesting shops along the way and we even rode on a scenic bike trail by a small lake. It was exciting, only I became very tired along the way. I actually fell off my bike once while going up a slight incline, since I was too tired to pedal. It made me realize that I had forgotten an important purchase while I was at the bike shop: a helmet.

Shukan ST: Oct. 16, 1998

(C) All rights reserved