The Page of Thoughts

On September 17, I bought the Scattante R330 road bike for $700. This was an expensive bike, considering I previously rode a multitude of shoddy Costco bikes, all of which retailed for appropriately cheap prices. Naturally, I had high expectations for this shiny new toy.

Problem #1 happened on day zero. Apparently, what you see is not what you get. The bike technician took the bike on the shelf, performed various “adjustments,” and swapped out the perfectly fine pedals for weird shaped ergonomic ones that had straps. Granted, real bikers probably want these strange pedals, but you’d think that switching them out would be an easy matter. Nope! I paid an extra $15 for a pedal swap.

Because this road bike was 300% times more expensive than a Costco bike, I expected the gear shifters to be 300% more awesome. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Within days, the front derailleur wouldn’t switch from gear 3 to gear 2. The workaround was to switch from gear 3, to 1, and then to 2. I had to lug the bike to the shop for them to fix it.

As you may be aware, bike pedals and the associated crank shafts are quite important if you want to actually use the bike. So of course, the technician should make sure to put in all the screws and such. One day, I had just finished my daily ride when the crank arm decided to fall off. The technician had conveniently omitted one of the screws. Luckily the bike shop fixed this problem for free.

Those issues all happened last month. I thought I was done with them. But today, in the middle of my ride, I almost lost control when the front tire went flat for absolutely no reason whatsoever. I examined the tire and did not find any punctures or worn areas. Yet somehow the tire was flat. Since I had already raced down a fairly large hill and did not want to push the bike back up, I enlisted in some roadside assistance. I ran all the way back home since the bike barely fit in the car. That was fun for a while, as I was actually ahead of the car for half the distance. Even so, I’ve got a bike with a flat tire. Tomorrow I’ll have to lug it to the bike shop, rinse, and repeat.

Contrast this with cheap Costco bikes, which are of poor build quality but never fail as spectacularly as pretentious road bikes, and especially not in the first month. Road bikes are still great, but they break way too often, as if their thin frame conveys a supreme fragility. Perhaps next time I should consider that extortion extended service plan.

Update 10/21: Another flat tire.

Update 11/13: The back brake pad is now emitting strange squeaky noises.

Update 11/17: The crank shaft fell off. Again.