Names

This bike's name is Michael Jordan.

He's tall, and wearing black & red.

I'm not one for naming my bikes. I tend to refer to my bikes by their color or their function (the commuter, the mountain bike, the other mountain bike).

There's a good number of folks who come by the shop who have great (and much more creative) names for their bikes. My favorites include: Gary, Blueberry, The Magistrate, Frank the Tank, Big Orange, Little Green, Frenchy Blue, and Sparkleboogie 2 Electric Boogaloo.

This is a Real Thing

I started working in bike shops in 1995. That year my boss had a retro-style cruiser with a 7 speed internal hub. Oh man, did I covet that bike. Every once in a while I got to use it for shop errands. The one thing I could never figure out was what the hell was going on with the bell on it. It had a floating eyeball in the center- Ok. That's badass, I guess. But around the side were dinosaurs. What???

I always assumed there were a pile of leftover eyeballs and also a pile of leftover dino bells lying around a factory someplace. And maybe someone thought "Hey. let's get rid of these things by just combining them. Maybe nobody will notice how weird it is..."

It turns out my hypothesis was not true. Seventeen years later these weird bells are still available (unless those piles of leftovers were huge). We've got 'em here at Hub, in fact, for $7. I mean, how could I not bring them into the shop. If the dino/eyeball bell doesn't do it for you there's always the 'demon pumpkin' horn...

That's a First

Unfortunately, I've heard plenty of stories of bikes and their parts being stolen. Whole bikes lifted up and off of the sign posts they were locked to. Cable locks quickly snipped. More than a handful "Well... I actually forgot to lock it..." Hundreds of wheels, and seats/seat posts taken by (best case) hungry orphans who needed the bike parts more than you.

Yesterday, a woman dragged her bike in because a hungry orphan stole the front tube from her bike. Just the front tube. The thief went to the trouble to remove the wheel from the bike, remove the tire from the rim (with the tire levers he/she just happened to have in his/her pocket), remove the tube from the tire, and then leave the wheel and tire in a nice pile beside the bike.

That's the first time I've ever heard of someone stealing exactly and only the part that he/she needed.

If you're ever in desperate need of a tube and you're thinking about stealing one- don't. Just stop by the shop- I'll give you one and we can work out a payment plan.