Bike Me

If you believe that Oil Prices will stay at the level they have been, think again!
OPEC WILL raise oil prices as soon as they can and as high as the market can stand. That is a simple rule of economics. Since it is Saudi Arabia’s(and others) major, if not sole source of income, when the price drops on the world market due to various economic variables it is like you or I getting a salary cut every time it snows here this winter.
So for OPEC to attempt to control the production rates of oil, which directly controls the demand i.e. price, because the demand now out weighs the supply is a no brainer.

So what can we do about it? I mean besides lip service to some broad stroke policy statement made in DC. Hmmmmmm what?

I starting to think about how I could reduce my costs associated with oil. I need it when I need it, heat my house, drive my car, lights etc. but I can reduce it. Turn lights out, change light bulbs out to low energy LED or fluorescent (yes I know there is an environmental impact with all this, but practically speaking) turn the heat down few degrees, and I drive slower when I do drive. Conserve more stuff and make that your life style. And since this about bicycles, use one more often than I have!

Yep, if we all demanded of ourselves the behaviors that we might be asking Government to do there would be fewer problems to solve. Behaviors that would directly put a huge dent into our need for OIL and might make it a far less of an issue in the overall picture. Too bad a few US auto makers didn’t get the message earlier, things might be brighter in Detroit this winter for all those associated with that industry. But alas it is human nature to take the path of least resistance. Won’t make you richer, stronger, or smarter, but it is easier.

This past week’s ice storm in the Northeast has forced the example of what is like to live without electricity, from a few hours to days and looks like weeks in some places. Imagine for just a minute, what it would be like to have that even more wide spread and for longer periods of time. Use your imagination because in this new world we all live in, with current events, economic and other wise, it’s not all that much of a stretch as it might had been say when gasoline was .50 cents a gallon.

So that visceral reaction to $4+ a gallon of gas will be back, maybe not at $4+ but $3.50 is not bargain either.

Ride more, save more!

We were kids who grew up in a time and place that there were very few “rich” kids. And of those that were really rich, very few acted like they were. The fact is we are products of parents that grew up and lived through the Great Depression and came of age during WWII had cast us in a likeness of them as best they could. We were told to “make do with what you have” and “make your own fun” and “go outside and play.” Yeah, Yeah, you heard it all and that we walked to school up hill, in the snow, both ways. We are “Boomers”. OH my, we have a label…

So what does this have to do with us and bicycles? First, we did make do with what we had, or if we wanted something we got a job, paper route, mowed lawns etc. and bought it ourselves. Because, as a matter of fact, most parents in those days thought it wise to teach their children about money through the use of practical lessons. You earn it, save it, and then you will understand the value of it when you spend it. When something broke, you fixed or it sat there and maybe it got thrown out if you didn’t. And when you worked the better part of a whole summer, at minimum wage, to save say $100, you just didn’t go buy the next best version of a something because v. 2.1 was newer and had cool new colors. So we have had our hands on bicycles for many years, learning something new almost every time.

Ok, so now we leap forward a few years to 2008. With all the headlines today, 2 wars, the economy, huge wild swings of oil prices, etc. reviving the old ways of making due with what you have, etc. just might be a great “new” way to live. Now mind you we have seen Nouveaux Rich spend like a CEO of a Big Three Auto Maker on a Junket to Washington DC during those Dot Com days. I am not advocating any life style over another, but the great throw away society we have evolved into, has got to slow down or else there will be nothing left to throw away and no where to throw it. Just because it’s not in your back yard doesn’t mean it’s not in a back yard someplace else.

With all that could happen in our immediate future, not even to mention Global Warming, it has now become a very good thing to use a bicycle. And it is all the better if you can find one that has been around the block a few times before. We think it is very cool to find and rehab something that has a history, a story of moving people around perhaps over the very same streets some 20, 30, 40, even 50 years ago. To be perfectly clear, we like and deal with not so old bicycles, too. Newer bicycles have the advantage of newer technology and are great rides also! They have a place, and we carry some old school road bikes up though some fairly new rides. With us it just preferences, like one might have with food, drink, the opposite sex or say… bicycles. It is all good, just some are better than others, according to preference.

But to preserve something as if we were caretakers or guardians of a lifestyle, or place, or thing, in my opinion, is more than the right thing to do. It’s noble, in a way like helping an elder across the street, a lost child find mom, picking up a piece of trash off the street. If you think about the use of bicycles, especially in an urban setting, it is just so right. Bicycles are all that and more. Even if the parts are all used up there still is a frame, a skeleton to base a new ride on. Not just to produce a cool single, fixed, or whatever. But just how about just paying it forward?

Why do we do it, well I joked that “…you can only surf and drink so much beer…” well ok, maybe not. The truth is this bike stuff is great fun. Fun to help out with all that is above, and turn a wrench, get hands dirty, meet literally hundreds of like minded folks every month from all parts of the human constellation. The learning goes on.

We, Vin of (OldRoads.com ) fame and I (Shawsheen) have had a great first year in our Cambridge retail shop. You have made it what it is. A small funky place, right off the Green Line T Stop, where you can find a good used bicycle, vintage or not, from about $80 to $250. Are the bikes all perfect in terms of paint, decals and finish? Nope, but I can tell you this. The bikes are all realiable commuters, just like the people who come in here to buy them. And that is the absolute truth.

We were kids who grew up in a time and place that there were very few “rich” kids. And of those that were really rich, very few acted like they were. The fact is we are products of parents that grew up and lived through the Great Depression and came of age during WWII had cast us in a likeness of them as best they could. We were told to “make do with what you have” and “make your own fun” and “go outside and play.” Yeah, Yeah, you heard it all and that we walked to school up hill, in the snow, both ways. We are “Boomers”. OH my, we have a label…

So what does this have to do with us and bicycles? First, we did make do with what we had, or if we wanted something we got a job, paper route, mowed lawns etc. and bought it ourselves. Because, as a matter of fact, most parents in those days thought it wise to teach their children about money through the use of practical lessons. You earn it, save it, and then you will understand the value of it when you spend it. When something broke, you fixed or it sat there and maybe it got thrown out if you didn’t. And when you worked the better part of a whole summer, at minimum wage, to save say $100, you just didn’t go buy the next best version of a something because v. 2.1 was newer and had cool new colors. So we have had our hands on bicycles for many years, learning something new almost every time.

Ok, so now we leap forward a few years to 2008. With all the headlines today, 2 wars, the economy, huge wild swings of oil prices, etc. reviving the old ways of making due with what you have, etc. just might be a great “new” way to live. Now mind you we have seen Nouveaux Rich spend like a CEO of a Big Three Auto Maker on a Junket to Washington DC during those Dot Com days. I am not advocating any life style over another, but the great throw away society we have evolved into, has got to slow down or else there will be nothing left to throw away and no where to throw it. Just because it’s not in your back yard doesn’t mean it’s not in a back yard someplace else.

With all that could happen in our immediate future, not even to mention Global Warming, it has now become a very good thing to use a bicycle. And it is all the better if you can find one that has been around the block a few times before. We think it is very cool to find and rehab something that has a history, a story of moving people around perhaps over the very same streets some 20, 30, 40, even 50 years ago. To be perfectly clear, we like and deal with not so old bicycles, too. Newer bicycles have the advantage of newer technology and are great rides also! They have a place, and we carry some old school road bikes up though some fairly new rides. With us it just preferences, like one might have with food, drink, the opposite sex or say… bicycles. It is all good, just some are better than others, according to preference.

But to preserve something as if we were caretakers or guardians of a lifestyle, or place, or thing, in my opinion, is more than the right thing to do. It’s noble, in a way like helping an elder across the street, a lost child find mom, picking up a piece of trash off the street. If you think about the use of bicycles, especially in an urban setting, it is just so right. Bicycles are all that and more. Even if the parts are all used up there still is a frame, a skeleton to base a new ride on. Not just to produce a cool single, fixed, or whatever. But just how about just paying it forward?

Why do we do it, well I joked that “…you can only surf and drink so much beer…” well ok, maybe not. The truth is this bike stuff is great fun. Fun to help out with all that is above, and turn a wrench, get hands dirty, meet literally hundreds of like minded folks every month from all parts of the human constellation. The learning goes on.

We, Vin of (OldRoads.com ) fame and I (Shawsheen) have had a great first year in our Cambridge retail shop. You have made it what it is. A small funky place, right off the Green Line T Stop, where you can find a good used bicycle, vintage or not, from about $80 to $250. Are the bikes all perfect in terms of paint, decals and finish? Nope, but I can tell you this. The bikes are all realiable commuters, just like the people who come in here to buy them. And that is the absolute truth.

OK, so for the first entry here I agonized over just what to write about. I thought about how important it would be to set the tone and draw readers in for their exchange of ideas comments etc. I thought about how it would be important that I write about who we are, Ed (Shawsheen) and Vin (OldRoads.com) the bike guys at the a Cambridge Antique Market. What we are doing with this project etc.

Then it hit me…like “Dawn on Marblehead”.

I would like to introduce this blog to whom we hope to reach. That would be you! And just who are you? Who is it that comes to the Cambridge Antique Market and purchases used and or vintage bicycles? Who is it that will ride a bicycle 300 out of 365 days per year or every weekend or to the store three times a week? Who is it that sees a used bike as an opportunity to recycle something that already is one of the greenest manmade things, or just someone that likes to save a dollar rather than spend nearly what was $4.00 per gallon of gas. Although, we all like to think that we are very different from one another, you do have a few things in common. How can we say this you ask…? Well we have literally met hundreds upon hundreds of you and these are some of the things we have learned.

You are often an under grad, grad or some other type of student in some shape or form. You are here in the great Metro Area of Boston/Cambridge/Somerville etc. to pursue a world class education. OR, you are a professional working in this wonderful urban area that is host to so many possibilities for incredible work opportunities even when the economy is in free fall. OR, you are a hard working person that is enjoying all that this area has to offer in way of the arts, music, sports and you most likely take part in it all yourself and an artist, ball player or musician. OR you live here because you want to, not because you’re passing through for what ever the reason. You love the drastic contrasts of the region culturally, its weather, its landscapes and all that which make up this place we all call home.

A few more observations are: you like inexpensive transportation and feel good about that when you use it. You appreciate form AND function when they are combined, as they are with bicycles. You appreciate things that are well made. You appreciate being green, not just talking about it and you probably are not one to brag about it either. You appreciate being healthy, as a matter of life style. You appreciate that you can take a 20, 30, 40 year old item that has a lot of use left in it and make something new of it again. You appreciate the fact that for most any given day, you travel faster and more efficiently than all those vehicles you share the road with. You appreciate riding your bicycle because is down right fun and it makes you feel more like the urban dweller that you are. A part of this living breathing urban space we call home.

We would like to say thanks for chatting with us when you come in and letting us know who you are!

We hope that Bike Me Blog, among many things, will be an exchange of practical information that is both entertaining and informative.

Next week. Who are the bike guys in the basement at the Cambridge Antique Market?

I’d like to have you all come up with a saying that includes Bike Me in it that we might use to end this blog each time!

Hit the comment button and give it a try!

OK, so for the first entry here I agonized over just what to write about. I thought about how important it would be to set the tone and draw readers in for their exchange of ideas comments etc. I thought about how it would be important that I write about who we are, Ed (Shawsheen) and Vin (OldRoads.com) the bike guys at the a Cambridge Antique Market. What we are doing with this project etc.

Then it hit me…like “Dawn on Marblehead”.

I would like to introduce this blog to whom we hope to reach. That would be you! And just who are you? Who is it that comes to the Cambridge Antique Market and purchases used and or vintage bicycles? Who is it that will ride a bicycle 300 out of 365 days per year or every weekend or to the store three times a week? Who is it that sees a used bike as an opportunity to recycle something that already is one of the greenest manmade things, or just someone that likes to save a dollar rather than spend nearly what was $4.00 per gallon of gas. Although, we all like to think that we are very different from one another, you do have a few things in common. How can we say this you ask…? Well we have literally met hundreds upon hundreds of you and these are some of the things we have learned.

You are often an under grad, grad or some other type of student in some shape or form. You are here in the great Metro Area of Boston/Cambridge/Somerville etc. to pursue a world class education. OR, you are a professional working in this wonderful urban area that is host to so many possibilities for incredible work opportunities even when the economy is in free fall. OR, you are a hard working person that is enjoying all that this area has to offer in way of the arts, music, sports and you most likely take part in it all yourself and an artist, ball player or musician. OR you live here because you want to, not because you’re passing through for what ever the reason. You love the drastic contrasts of the region culturally, its weather, its landscapes and all that which make up this place we all call home.

A few more observations are: you like inexpensive transportation and feel good about that when you use it. You appreciate form AND function when they are combined, as they are with bicycles. You appreciate things that are well made. You appreciate being green, not just talking about it and you probably are not one to brag about it either. You appreciate being healthy, as a matter of life style. You appreciate that you can take a 20, 30, 40 year old item that has a lot of use left in it and make something new of it again. You appreciate the fact that for most any given day, you travel faster and more efficiently than all those vehicles you share the road with. You appreciate riding your bicycle because is down right fun and it makes you feel more like the urban dweller that you are. A part of this living breathing urban space we call home.

We would like to say thanks for chatting with us when you come in and letting us know who you are!

We hope that Bike Me Blog, among many things, will be an exchange of practical information that is both entertaining and informative.

Next week. Who are the bike guys in the basement at the Cambridge Antique Market?

I’d like to have you all come up with a saying that includes Bike Me in it that we might use to end this blog each time!

Hit the comment button and give it a try!