I am happy to end my Bad Luck Bike saga with a positive conclusion. If any of you recall in my previous blog, after falling into the vintage craze of Williamsburg, I was swayed into purchasing a brown vintage cruiser, advertised online as a “1960s cruiser in great shape, no need for a fix up”. The girl selling the bike stated that the only reason why she was parting with it was because after six months of owning it, she only rode it once. After a short test ride and swapping the cash with a Park Slope artist about my age for the ancient (but cute!) thing, I returned the bike to my neighborhood only to find, after only a ten-minute ride, that I had been duped into buying a lemon! After sending a disappointed email to the conniving merchant asking for my money back, I got an instant reply from the demon bike dealer saying she did not feel morally obliged to take the bike back since I took it for a test ride and it was fine. She insisted that the damage must have happened in the car while the bike was being transported to my neighborhood. Besides, she had already spent the money I gave her. It took about two weeks of staring at my idle bike sadly stored in my living room before I decided to take action and walk the bike over to a local bike shop three blocks from my house. For $10, yes $10, Peter (the owner) told me with honesty that, although he didn’t cure the bike completely, he replaced a cable, which made it ride much better. Now, to prevent this from happening in the future, I will share what I have learned through the perils of purchasing a bike:

• Not to knock Craigslist, it is a very useful way to search for apartments without brokers and find items being sold in your neighborhood, but be wary when purchasing on that site. Anyone can advertise there, and while it’s supposed to be an honest space to sell your stuff, anyone is still anyone.
• If you’re buying a bike, don’t trust that it’s in good shape if the person who is selling it claims they only rode it ONCE.
• I know you might be excited when you see it, but TEST RIDE FOR LONGER THAN 30 SECONDS.
• Trust local bike shops. They are honest people, especially if you notice that everyone in the neighborhood is on very friendly terms with the owner – that is a good sign.

And, I have to say, after about a month and a half of riding it, I have encountered zero problems. Now, if I could only get myself to stop biking past my ex-boyfriend’s subway stop every week . . . -Courtney Centeno, account executive