Bicycle Repair Man!?

 

Clink! Screw! Bend!

Some of you will probably get the reference to the Monty Python sketch. My bicycle was making an odd noise from the rear tire but I couldn't figure out what was causing it. What's worse, the wheel had developed a wobble. I didn't want vital things to come apart while going down a hill someday, so I went to a bicycle shop not too far from my apartment.

I couldn't see anyone in the shop until I went inside and called out. A man came out of the back room where he had been watching television. I told him the problem and he spun the tires around a bit and pushed and pulled the spokes.

"You have a few broken spokes," said he.
"Oh," said I.
"I don't have any spokes," he said, and started walking back into his shop. I thought he was going to continue by saying he would order some, but he just returned to the back room to watch television. How odd.

I went farther down the road to another bicycle repair place I know. The owner came out as soon as I pulled up and dismounted. I told him I had some broken spokes. He had a look at the tires and went into his shop. And came back with spokes, tools, and some special equipment for straightening out wheels. He set to work right away.

I didn't want to stand and stare at him as he did his work, so I sat in a plastic chair on the sidewalk and took out a book to read. Leonard Cohen's Let Us Compare Mythologies, I think. After reading a few poems, I took out my notebook and wrote about my two repair experiences. I should have titled the entry, "Let us compare bike shops".

Not long after, the repair was done and the bike was ready to ride again. On the way home, I passed the no-spokes shop. I don't understand why the owner was not interested in helping me. Or why he had no spokes. It seems a basic item to have at a  bicycle shop. I thought maybe he was going out of business and just didn't care anymore. But I passed the place a couple of weeks later and he was doing something with a customer's bicycle. Again, very odd. Anyway, he won't be getting any business from me. I'll be going back to the shop where the owner is diligent, skilled, ready to explain what he's doing, and not unfriendly.