Dec 21st, 2009
Old Doesn’t Mean Broken
My current bicycle, the Bianchi I bought off of Craigslist after my Cannondale was stolen, is by no means state of the art. It’s had lots of miles put on it, at least a couple thousand by me and an unknown amount by its previous owner who said he got it new. It was made in 2002, by the terms of the bicycle industry that, while steeped in tradition, also moves along at the pace of technology, it’s ancient and due for replacement.
But why?
It still rides nicely. I’ve gotten used to it over the time I’ve had it and made a hundred small adjustments, fixed a few parts and replaced others to get it to be very close to an ideal partner for me. I rode it 100 miles in September and I’m hoping to do a couple of other 100 mile rides on it.
That said, would it be nice to get a new bike? Sure it would; I would love to have something newer. But just because this bike is a few years old doesn’t mean that it doesn’t work anymore–and even if it was broken, it would be more cost effective to replace some parts than the whole bike (admittedly, this doesn’t work for every case).
But for me, old doesn’t mean broken–it just means that it’s something I’ve grown accustomed to and have a lot of trust in. Me and this old bike are planning to ride Livestrong Philadelphia–and I challenge the rest of you to join me.
This reminds me of something that I read in Thomas Stanley’s book, The Millionaire Mind. He says that the majority of millionaires regularly have their shoes resoled and repaired. Also, nearly half of these millionaires have their furniture reupholstered or refinished instead of buying new. It sounds like you may have the millionaire’s mindset.