Brakeless Bikes – whatever next?

It’s no secret to anyone who has been following this blog, that I’ve had some nasty surprises in the US. Right from cell phone contracts to the lack of roadside shops, I have often been nonplussed by the way things are done here. The last incident however, took the cake and the icing on it as well.

Anupa and I had decided to go to Walmart and buy a pair of bicycles. This would allow us to bypass taking the bus for most expeditions within our district which required hours of planning ahead since we need to call the bus 1.5 hrs before it actually arrives. With winter going, now seemed the right time to make this critical choice (we had long given up the idea of buying a car – too much expense and maintenance).

The puzzle of brakeless bikes

So off we went to Walmart on a Friday evening to purchase a nice pair of sturdy bikes. We soon picked out two of them and requested the assistant to take them down from the hooks for us. As I was giving them the once over, I noticed that neither of them had the brakes set up yet. So I asked the saleswoman to set the bikes up for riding as we intended to cycle out of the shop with them.

Instead, she merely told me to wheel the cycles directly to the checkout, upon which I sardonically brought to her attention the fact that the brakes were missing. To my complete surprise, she expressed no astonishment at this but merely informed me with a straight face that these cycles were not meant to have brakes!

Image Credit: iammeltron

Brakeless bikes

Understandably I assumed that the poor woman was mentally unwell, or had never ridden a bike in her life. So I merely told her that this was not possible, and that there must be brakes lying around somewhere that I could attach to the bike. I asked her to get the persons in charge of the section – they would know.

So off she goes and returns a few minutes later with two other employees. They survey the cycles sadly and inform me that because they were “old” models, they come without brakes. Apparently, the newer cycles have more “features” – including brakes.

By this time, I was feeling like Alice in Wonderland. The dominant feeling going through my head at this point can be neatly summarized by the expression “???????”.

Still feeling that there’s a catch somewhere, I innocently asked her what I should do if I needed to stop in an emergency. Her equally innocent answer: “Put your legs down and drag them on the ground till you stop”. Becoming more and more hopeless, I requested this clueless lady to imagine in her mind, that I am whizzing down a slope, and I suddenly come across a red light as well as a car charging at me from the side. Would she expect me to “put my legs down and drag them across” till I stopped here as well?

That’s different she says – in such a situation, you need to start pedaling backwards.

At this point, I burst out laughing. It was either that, or have my head explode. Nature has a way of releasing tension in an efficient, if slightly rude manner, and it worked admirably in this situation. In my mirth, I finally realized that these people were serious. Here was a full sized bicycle for men priced at almost a hundred dollars, and it came without brakes!

A brakeless bike. I felt as if I should take a picture of it – no one in India would believe me if I told them. Americans drive bikes on roads without brakes. Insane! Finally, I had to purchase an “advanced” cycle with the “features” of brakes.

Now I know this can’t be acceptable. First of all, which state or country would allow bikes on roads without brakes? Secondly, how many accidents would be caused by this? But most significantly, the saleswoman showed no surprise which means they were normal and accepted! How am I to reconcile this?

Coming home to do a bit of googling revealed that brakeless bikes are all the craze, especially in the Chicago district. Riders of these bikes, employ a complex maneuver to skid the rear wheels of the bike in an attempt to stop it. Apparently, riders feel more at ease with a “stripped down” version of the cycle.

Why don’t they take the wheels off while they’re at it? Then the rest of us would feel more at ease too! If Obelix were here, he would no doubt proclaim- These Americans are crazy.