New wheels in the house!

Saturday morning I was driving home from riding my Nimble 9 at Alum Creek. My plan was to clean up, then take Henry and a twin out to lunch at Chipotle and finish up with some bike shopping for Henry--he's really outgrown his 16" Specialized Hotrock. I'd finally decided, bike geek or not, to start getting department store level bikes for the kids--especially at this early stage, when the bikes are simple and the kids are growing so fast. We'd probably end up with some $120 Mongoose, Schwinn, etc--whatever they sell at a sporting goods store or Target.

A few blocks from home, I spotted a garage sale with a kid's bike parked in front. Like the Millenium Falcon caught in a Death Star tractor beam, my car was pulled to the curb. It looked small, but I checked and sure enough: a 20" Specialized Hotrock, in excellent shape, marked at $70. The seller was a biker, and I was clearly a biker (in my bike jersey, spandex shorts, clipess bike shoes, and mud spattered legs). We both knew this was a good bike at a good price. Still, it was day two of his sale, and they were about to close up in 20 minutes. I offered $50, he took it, and the deal was done.

Henry loves his new bike (though he takes riding on the road very seriously):

And we still had lunch at Chipotle.

Later that day, the boys and I stopped at Bike Source to check out their hybrids. They had a very sharp 2011 Sirrus Expert on clearance, size XL, for $400 off... Hmm... might have to come back and test ride. But the key point is I also checked out the price of the current 20" Hotrock: $235! Score!