Leah I think I share most of the attitudes of the people shouting "Don't do it!" But, I think there's some nuance behind it.
That nuance is this: If you send your child to college with a bicycle, PLAN on that bicycle being stolen. Since you are planning on that bike being stolen, what will you do next? Will you buy another Clem for him? Or will you say "well, that sucked, let's get a craigslist beater!" If you want to plan on buying a replacement Clem every time his Clem gets stolen, then absolutely send him to college with a Clem! He'll always be on a nice bike. If the number of bikes he goes through is 5, or 3, or 7, who cares? He's always on a bike he likes! If, on the other hand, you'd rather those stolen bikes hurt less (emotionally and financially) THEN preserve the Clem and set up a beater. You've got a great eye for bikes now, even though you need to pay mechanics for some services. I bet you could do a great job of curating a beater for your son, but if you do, plan on that also getting stolen someday. If you had a crystal ball and knew that your son is going to go through 3 bikes in college, what would you do? Whatever that something is, that's what I'd recommend. I had a blast curating my son's college beater, and it's still in our possession. My daughter has a tiny hand-me-down mountain bike from an aunt, and she's using that as a college beater, but she's more of a public transportation person. Still, I count on that bike being stolen someday. Bill Lindsay El Cerrito, CA On Saturday, August 5, 2023 at 7:54:39 PM UTC-7 Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! wrote: > It nearly kills me to say it, but my older son will be heading to college > in a year. Freshman aren’t to bring cars to campus, so that leaves buses, > bikes, and your own two feet for transportation. My boys have grown up > riding Clem Hs; this son rides a 52 cm cast-off from my husband (who > doesn’t ride, sigh). > > My 6’3” Dad had a blue 59 cm Clem on order when he died suddenly in 2020, > and his blue Clem has sat, boxed, waiting for my boy to grow into it. I > lugged the gargantuan box up from the basement last week to see how if the > bike would fit. “Now that I’ve obtained optimal height,” my son is fond of > saying… > > Anyway, he’s 6’1” now (likely still growing) and I need him to decide if > he wants to stick with his old Clem H (that he was fond of) or settle into > this Clem L. Because whichever bike he chooses is getting new wheels, dyno > and fenders and going to college with him. At first he was opposed to the > idea of a new Clem; he liked his old Clem, thought it looked cool. But > after the - as he calls it - Big Bike was assembled, he really began to > like it. “It looks elegant,” he said. It really does, all long and lithe, > in blue and silver. He put his saddle and bags on the bike and we test rode > it tonight. He said, “I am really liking the Big Bike. I like that my knees > don’t have anything to hit (geez, were his knees hitting his bars?!) and it > looks elegant. It feels more at home now that I have my old saddle on it.” > > I have mixed feelings about sending him to college with this bike, because > it’s so nice. I also doubt he’ll be able to get it on a bus bike rack - and > I have no idea how often he will want to do that. His bike life is totally > unknown at this point. All I know is that I’m getting him dyno because the > kid has never remembered to charge a light in his LIFE and I will not sleep > at night without it.The 52 takes 650b wheels and the 59 takes 700c, so I > don’t want to buy the wheels until I know which bike he really wants. But > as of now, he wants his new bike. > > I know people will say we should just get a beater. I know why that would > be advisable, but I also hate to think of a Clem languishing when it could > be serving a noble purpose. I’d love for him and his Clem to journey > through undergrad together. > > I am wondering…has anyone gone to college or sent their kid to college > with a Clem? What do you have to say about it? Photos in the next post… > Leah > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/674b24c9-40be-492a-a22f-c70fc8697123n%40googlegroups.com.
