Hero Bike meets tragic end!
In 2007, the blue Centurion LeMans bike that I rode in the Hannover-Prague caravan met a sad and untimely fate.
The bike was manufactured in the late 1970's or possibly early 1980's; I purchased it in early 2000 from New York City's Recycle-a-Bicycle. For eight years it was my primary means of getting around the city, providing reliable, cheap, fun, carbon-free transportation. I had every hope that with occasional basic maintenance my bike would continue to provide many years of faithful service.
On December 17, 2007, it all came to an end. I had chained the Centurion to a curbside bike rack while I went into a local supermarket to buy groceries. When I came out 30 minutes later, I couldn't see my bike; my first thought was that it had been stolen. As I got closer, I realized the bike was still there but that a truck must have backed into it, flattening the front of the frame and converting it into what looked a bit like a tricked-out recumbent cycle!
All seemed lost. What was most infuriating was that some truck driver had apparently destroyed my beloved bike with complete impunity, without either noticing or caring. I sadly took my groceries home on the bus.
This story, however, has a happy ending. When I went back to retrieve my bike the next day, I noticed that a passerby had left a note in my basket.
It turned out that the truck which crushed my bike was owned by a messenger company which also had a large bicycle division. In fact, they even sponsored a bicycle racing team and were a member of Transportation Alternatives! I spoke to the head of the company, who was a very decent guy. and explained what had happened and how much the bike meant to me. He said the truck which hit my bicycle was 35 feet long, and the driver probably had no idea that he had hit my bike. After he confirmed that the truck had in fact been at the accident location at the time that the accident occurred, he agreed to reimburse me for the cost of the bicycle, on the condition that I send him a DVD of Caravan/Prague.
I salvaged the wheels, brake handles, cranks, chain, stem, and rack from the Centurion and put them on an old Fuji frame that I found at a local bike shop. Bringing things full-circle, I brought the Centurion frame back to Recycle-a-Bicycle, which, true to their name, salvaged the remaining usable parts and sent the frame to a local scrap dealer who recycled the metal.
The bike was manufactured in the late 1970's or possibly early 1980's; I purchased it in early 2000 from New York City's Recycle-a-Bicycle. For eight years it was my primary means of getting around the city, providing reliable, cheap, fun, carbon-free transportation. I had every hope that with occasional basic maintenance my bike would continue to provide many years of faithful service.
On December 17, 2007, it all came to an end. I had chained the Centurion to a curbside bike rack while I went into a local supermarket to buy groceries. When I came out 30 minutes later, I couldn't see my bike; my first thought was that it had been stolen. As I got closer, I realized the bike was still there but that a truck must have backed into it, flattening the front of the frame and converting it into what looked a bit like a tricked-out recumbent cycle!
All seemed lost. What was most infuriating was that some truck driver had apparently destroyed my beloved bike with complete impunity, without either noticing or caring. I sadly took my groceries home on the bus.
This story, however, has a happy ending. When I went back to retrieve my bike the next day, I noticed that a passerby had left a note in my basket.
It turned out that the truck which crushed my bike was owned by a messenger company which also had a large bicycle division. In fact, they even sponsored a bicycle racing team and were a member of Transportation Alternatives! I spoke to the head of the company, who was a very decent guy. and explained what had happened and how much the bike meant to me. He said the truck which hit my bicycle was 35 feet long, and the driver probably had no idea that he had hit my bike. After he confirmed that the truck had in fact been at the accident location at the time that the accident occurred, he agreed to reimburse me for the cost of the bicycle, on the condition that I send him a DVD of Caravan/Prague.
I salvaged the wheels, brake handles, cranks, chain, stem, and rack from the Centurion and put them on an old Fuji frame that I found at a local bike shop. Bringing things full-circle, I brought the Centurion frame back to Recycle-a-Bicycle, which, true to their name, salvaged the remaining usable parts and sent the frame to a local scrap dealer who recycled the metal.
return to Caravan/Prague Home