go cheap on your first bike

often to i meet people who get excited about cycling as a thought, pick up a bicycle ride it for a couple of weeks on a daily basis, then over the weekend for a month or two. and then next couple of months once in a fortnight and slowly it becomes a furniture in some corner of the balcony or if lucky inside a room.
my first suggestion to everyone is to buy a cheap bike to begin with. first test the waters for atleast a year or so. make sure you keep loving the idea of cycling through the grilling indian summer, the wet wet monsoon and the bitter winter. or it's just a flavour of the season that you bought rode for a few days, shed some sweat and got over with it.
the best thing people do is to start looking for excuses.
few of the most common excuses to not bike.

• it's gets too hot in delhi, out here it's not like europe where the weather is favourable for bikes
• winters are so cold how can you even think of cycling in the fog it's so risky
• in india people driving cars have no respect for cyclists (and what do you do while you are driving) none the less a genuine issue it is. but still an excuse
• how can you go to office on a cycle you feel so sweaty after a ride

well the ideal thing is to buy a cheap bike or rent a bike for a few days and try it out. there is no harm in not riding but looking for excuses is the easiest thing to do. so avoid it, i'm sure there is a solution to most of the problems (just look up on google). if you love cycling you won't look for the problems instead you will enjoy the ride and do something to come over the problem. interestingly enough most of these are real problems but riders tend to enjoy it all.

i remember one my ex-boss thought it's very cool to be a biker, the guy is one of the most physically fit people i have come across. but i realised cycling regularly has nothing to do with your physical fitness but your love for cycling. so this boss of mine ended up buying a really really expensive Trek. did one long ride almost a 40km, around 5-6 rides to the office (he managed to get enough eyeball in office) and after that the bike got the privilege of adorning his living room for a few months then moved to the balcony. and then given away to another aspiring cyclist friend.

honestly there's no point for everyone to take up to cycling. the more important thing is to find your reason to ride. some may enjoy a long solo ride over the weekend, for some cycle is a great way to go to the grocery store, others may love a group ride on a sunday morning while others love going to office.
for me it also turns out to be a great way to bond with my tiny 6 year old son, whereas for him it brings in the sense of freedom, the cycle becomes the mean to go few kilometres all by himself. cafefree.

find out your reason and then find out you bicycle.

Anay's DinoBike

the time has come for anay to flaunt his new bike.
a month back or so he decided that he wants a red and yellow bike. he was bored of his Blue Firefox bike with Popeye graphics

Blue Firefox bike with Popeye graphics

What he wanted was a Red & Yellow Bike. First things first we strip off the whole bike take off the wheels, the chain covers, the pedals etc.

Take some sandpaper scrape off the old blue paint and put a coat of primer with a 2" Brush. Once done with the scrapping off we start masking parts which doesn't need a paint job.

Now Anay moves his studio to the balcony with a few layers of old newspaper spread around and geared up with cans of yellow and red paint.

 

first coat of bright red spray paint

once done with the Red he sprays around yellow on top.

So far i was under the impression that's all he was looking for. but no i was ready for some surprise, he wants graphics on the bike.
Now it's time for his Mom to come into the scene with some black markers and references of Dinosaurs on her MacBook. and Anay wants ugly Dino's not the cute ones.

Anay and Momma making Dinos

Anay is like a painful client and very picky about the dinos to be drawn and he wants them in Black.

What are you doing momma? Do it right.

now we are almost done with the paint job and detailing. time to go back to the neighbourhood mechanic to get the bike fixed.

and here we are presenting Anay's Brand new DINO BIKE