My Huffy
A few months ago I was broke and wanted a bicycle. This presented a problem because 1) I don’t know anything about bicycles and 2) I live in Portland OR. This town is full of bicycle people. I’ve noticed these are similar to rich people in certain regards: they are very exclusive, share a certain disdain of non-[bike] people and yet in spite of this, really do not want new members in their ranks. Being a motorcycle idiot is MUCH easier than being a bicycle idiot in this town; all the mechanics are nice and motorcyclists always wave at each other. It’s awesome. BUT ANYWAYS.
I went to a swapmeet at a used bicycle center on a hot weekend a while back with $150 or so to work with (several bike shops had already laughed at me about this). Most bikes there were way more than what I had until eventually I spotted a road bike for $100. Awesome. The owner was rather anxious to get rid of it. Lucky!
This is him:
I offered $80 and was the temporarily proud owner of an early 1980s HUFFY AEROWIND. It seemed like a solid ride, albeit a bit heavy.
THE HUFFY:
Now the internet can be a cruel mistress. After pedaling home, several minutes of research yielded these choice quotations from various forums:
- the AeroWind is a good example of some of the stupid things that were done in the ’70s/early ’80s
-…my wife picked one up at a garage sale for $5
- But what the AeroWind laughable is the fact that it was made by Huffy.
HEARTBREAK! I spent $80 on the world’s worst bike! The thrill of my “find” had been deflated and my eyes were opened to the rotting tires, the non-existant brakes, the brick-like 30+lb. mass, the myriad problems that NOBODY IN TOWN WOULD EVEN BE WILLING TO LOOK AT, and worst of all MY OWN FOOLISHNESS.
Time went on and eventually the government sent me a check as an apology for screwing up the economy (OR SOMETHING) and I could finally afford a functional piece of chain-driven, non-petrol based transportation. However, the ghost of my mistakes ever haunted me, perched by the door in a Champagne-hue, the HUFFY YET LAUGHED. So I put it on Craigslist. Yesterday, this guy came over:
…and he bought it! He owns a bike shop in Portland and bought my Huffy so he could hang it from his ceiling and make fun of it. Also he gave me $60.
THIS IS THE END OF MY STORY ABOUT MY HUFFY.
