A Cannondale for Christmas

My family and I were out riding about a month ago - just a leisurely four mile ride to the park and back.  Our middle child (age nine) was doing her best to keep up on her single speed.  Her knees were just about hitting her elbows as the pedals whirled around in a blur.  I was afraid she was going to lose her chain.  My wife readily agreed that a bigger bike was in order.

The problem, however, is deciding whether to buy something new or used, a 24 or 26 inch wheel size, color, brand, etc... .  It can be maddening.  I suggested we look on Craiglist first.  Surely there is someone in Los Angeles or Orange county ready to get rid of their gently used, high quality, and affordably priced bike.  (good luck!)

There are lots of beginner bikes, department store bikes, junky old bikes, but not much else.  Our local bike shop had a number of great new bikes, but I was hoping to avoid spending $350 for a bike that she might grow out of in 3-4 years.  Hmmm....  what to do.  I decided to wait and keep looking around.  Actually, to be honest, my wonderful wife did most of the looking.

A few of the bikes listed on Craigslist were getting close.  One looked great but turned out to be too small.  Another looked promising, but was quite a distance away from us.  Finally we spotted one that looked like a winner.  It was priced at $200, but it was a Cannondale and it looked like it was nearly brand new.  We decided to check it out.

One of my buddies and I went to look things over to see if it was the real deal.  The gentleman who showed us the bike explained that he'd bought it for his wife a number of years ago, but she managed to ride it about five times before it started collecting dust in the garage.  The tires were flat and the chain was a bit rusted, but the brakes, cables, headset, frame, and seat looked great.  The size of the bike was on the money as well - 26 inch tires and a medium sized frame.  We ran through all the gears and were amazed to see and hear each gear click into place flawlessly.

I tried to act unimpressed, of course, and asked if he would consider taking anything less than $200.  He shook his head.  I smiled and counted out ten twenty dollar bills.  Mission accomplished.

After bringing it home I considered changing the tubes out for new ones and changing the presta valves for schraders to save the hassle of using an adapter on my bike pump.  I soon realized, however, that the rim was designed for the presta valves and the hole was too narrow for the thicker valve stems.  Rather than drill a larger hole for the schrader valve stem I opted to go with tubes with the presta valves.

Once the chain was lubed and the bike was dusted off it was ready to... wrap and put under the tree?  Hmm... maybe not.  We decided to try a different approach.  My wife picked out a nice bike bell, wrapped it, and placed it under the tree.

Our daughter was delighted when she opened the present and asked if we could put it on her (old) bike right then and there.  We told her we thought it was an excellent idea.  We all followed her out to the garage to take in her reaction when she saw the "new" bike in the place where her older one should have been.

"Wow, a new bike!" she squealed.

It was pretty awesome.  The other cool part is that she has already ridden it more than the previous owner!