My first bicycle was a simple, one-geared �beach bike; with thick plastic spokes. My dad gave me a horn that belonged to my grandfather. It sounded like a dead duck! That bike lasted me quite a while, and eventually, the training wheels came off. Once I accidentally broke a water main with it. My dad was pissed! Eventually, the day came where I left it in my front yard for too long and it got stolen. My next bike was a 21-gear Schwinn mountain bike with shocks in the front. I did a lot of biking with that one, but eventually sold it. It was cool because the shifting was like a little lever that clicked. My next bike was an automatic shift �Land Rider� bike. I found it outside of Caf� Cole. Recently one of my friends had informed me that legally, if you wait two hours in front of an unattended item, you can claim it. So, I did. It only had five gears but the auto shift mechanism was really cool. Eventually I found a van to leave my stuff in, and when I got kicked out, I had to ditch the bike. My next bike was a ten-gear auto shift Land Rider. It was sweet, because it had the kind of handlebars that are raised so you can sit up straight. That thing got stolen too. I left it chained to a pole with a weak cable, so someone cut it. Then I got a hold of a Raleigh glacier with flat tires and a bent back rim. I took it to the bike kitchen, and worked on it for a while, replacing the brake pads, readjusting the brakes, replacing the rear derailleur and wheel, and truing the wheel. That bike lasted me for a while. I really enjoyed taking it all the way up Market street. Once I took that ride in the rain! That was intense. Eventually I sold that one, too. The problem with bikes is that for one, the seat almost always like chaps your ass. On top of that, there�s the fact that when you�re going uphill, they�re really just extra weight, and end up being pretty worthless. Going down huge hills is fun though, since I can go so much faster on a bike than I can on a skateboard. The other thing about them is that you can�t take them on the train, and with so many parts there�s a whole lot more that can go wrong than with a skateboard. Once I found one that was stuck on one gear but had really really tight tires, like really full of air. That one I sold though, because it hurt my back and wrist to ride it, and, like I said, uphill they�re kind of bunk. I�ve seen ones at the store that I would really want to buy, like this Trek roadbike with 28 gears. I like really lightweight bikes. I wish I could find one with a bamboo frame! That would be cool. But even aluminum is a lot lighter than chrome-moly alloy. I can go really fast on a bike, though. Especially if it has toe clips. I�ve never owned one with toe clips. Just a couple years ago they came out with those special shoes that clip into the bike. It seems weird, though, since the clip is in the arch of the foot instead of the ball, which is the part of your foot that�s actually supposed to go on the pedal. The key is getting the seat really high so you can get the most leverage. I don�t know how those kids with the BMX bikes can stand sitting so low. They make folding bikes, too. Those are good for the train, I guess. Anyways, soon I�ll probably come up on another bike. Or I could go back to the bike kitchen and try to earn another one. You only have to volunteer about 20 hours and they give you a frame to work on.