Well - i decided that it was time to start biking to work. However, I needed a bike. Not my Serotta. Not a mountain bike. I needed a real chinese bike - heavy, tough, and cheap.
I thought about getting a used Pigeon or other communist era bike but decided to go with a basic new Giant. Giant and Trek are the big brands here but Giant seems to be a bit more utilitarian.
Super proud of myself, I downloaded the name and phone of the store in Chinese to my ipad (my drive does not speak english). I had never been there but friends told me it was only 5 min away. Lucas and I hopped into the Minivan with our driver - Mr Duan.
To my surprise -we drove for like 45 minutes. Guess I got the wrong store. Mr Duan had to hop out and ask directions 3 or 4 times as well. We were in a VERY Chinese city outside of Shunyi where we live. Not another westerner in sight.
Finally - we got to the Giant store. Luckily, next door there were a bunch of cannons parked including shells. Lucas was certainly excited.
I found a nice cheap bike for $120 inside. However, when I asked them to come down in price (everything must be negotiated in China) they wouldn't drop a dime. I think this offended Mr Duan. He got on the phone and told me "better price - my friend --go". I figured what the hell and we got back in the car.
Very cool - I wonder if of a lot of the Chinese bikes end up in The Netherlands. Perhaps part of the worlds macro economic cycle? You should get yourself a really cool and LOUD horn. I am working very hard to find the relevance of having a cannon in front of a Giant Bike Shop. Love the blog postings. Keep em coming!
ReplyDeleteHow is it having a driver, Brad? At first I thought it sounded cool, but now I'm wondering if autonomy and spontaneity are completely lost.
ReplyDeleteCool cannons. Yikes!
OH god you are brave - how come they found you a driver with no english?
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