When innocent people deal in used bikes...

On Wednesday evening, from exactly 6:27 p.m. to 9:52 p.m. I parked my bicycle at Rockridge BART station. It was at this location and during this time interval that my bicycle was looted of its rather decrepid seat piece. It all seems so strange to me; my bike is an absolute piece of crap. I've left it overnight at the same station two nights in a row and never has it been disturbed.

This exact location is regarded by most people to be quite safe, sanitary, and probably one of the nicest BART stations around. It's sandwiched between the 24, which runs parallel along with the tracks and by College Avenue. Here, College Avenue is characterized by a succession of upscale boutiques, expensive restaurants, second hand clothing stores, and many specialty shops devoted to the legions of infants, babies, and toddlers that seem to have overtaken North Oakland and South Berkeley (or Oakley).

The absent seat has meant an inability to commute by bike to my office building in downtown Oakland since Thursday. So today, Saturday, I made it a priority to find a reputable used bike and parts store to procure an adequate and deserving replacement seat. The idea of a "reputable used bike and parts store", however, is kind of an anomoly in Berkeley. Basically, these shops deal in stolen bikes and accessories. They prefer to charge prices for used stuff that nearly approaches retail, too. It's quite an operation they have going! In fact, I wouldn't be at all surprised if I found my seat at one of the several shops like this in town.

I decided on Re-cycles bike shop, down on Sacramento and Prince, in Southwest Berkeley. The two guys at the shop were nice, but to be quite honest, they were a little slow. While I was there looking for seats I decided to get some other work done on my bike that was way overdue. It took the guy about 4 minutes to use a calculator to add up a quote for the following itemized parts and services from his scribbled receipt:

1. used tire, $8
2. used seat, $10
3. adjust brakes and put on tire, $15

I kept looking at the same piece of paper, and thinking, "$33. $33. $10 plus $15 is $25, plus $8 is $33!" But still, he kept keying the numbers it into the calculator...ever so deliberately. He did it twice, just to make sure of his totals. Then he had to figure out the tax. This went on for another minute or two.

I left the shop for about 45 minutes and went to Walgreen's while he worked on the bike. I returned to find that he had put a mountain bike tire on my front wheel. The other tire, which I didn't replace, is a medium sized road tire. It all looked very disheveled and I immediately protested. Of course, they found a better tire hanging up overhead.

Lesson 1: don't be afraid to argue if a second-rate greasemonkey puts a completely inappropriate tire on the front of your bike. It's a game, and you have to play with them. If you don't play, you'll end up riding around on a bike that people make fun of.

While they replaced the second tire, some novice came in the shop to buy a bike. He said his budget was $20-$80. Of course, they showed him a bike that is marked $130. This guy really had no idea about bikes; he even admitted that in the shop: apparently some East Coast private school transplant or something. He did know something - he would stick to his budget. He got the guy down to $75, which I admired. I really think he should have kept to himself the comment about not knowing a thing about bikes. In Berkeley, people will write you off for that in about two seconds.