My road bike recently arrived from the US and I have been very excited to get it out on the French roads. Since it came packed up in a box, I needed some professional help putting it back together so I took it to a local bike shop. Of course, the shop owner spoke no English so I tried my very best to ask him (in my broken French) if he could just put my bike together and give it a quick tune-up. He seemed to understand and told me that it would cost about 30 Euros in labor. Perfect! We agreed that I would return in two days to pick up the bike.
Two days later I returned to the shop to get my bike. In the front of the store I noticed a bike that looked a lot like mine, but was obviously newer: new tires, new handlebar tape, new chain, new brake pads and cables, shiny new-looking frame. I had two thoughts in rapid succession: 1) wow, there's a nicer version of my bike, and 2) holy crap, that is my bike.
Yes, my inability to speak French had screwed me again. Somehow, the very nice guy at the bike shop thought I wanted a complete overhaul of the bike -- in order to make it 'worthy' of the French mountains. So he replaced both tires, the handlebar tape, the chain, the brake pads and cables, and gave the frame a shiny new look. All for only 135 Euros...and 35 cents.
[Editor's note: If my calculations are correct, the language barrier that I am facing in France is going to cost me about 1000 Euros in the first six month that we live here (remember how many Euro's we left in the shopping carts?) The French lessons better start kicking in by then.]
Note #2: to be fair I must say that I just returned from my first ride since I've been in France and the bike rides like a dream -- better than the day I bought it. It doesn't make a sound and the gears shift like clockwork. And, as my wife reminded me, for what I had done to the bike, 135 Euros is actually a pretty good deal, even if it's 100 Euros more than I was hoping to spend. By the way...here's the bike: an old Bianchi Campionne that is now in pretty good shape.
CJS
8 comments :
Hi, just stumbled across your blog. Cool looking bike and it must be beautiful to ride around France. I've been there a few times, but only for a few days each time, and my wife and I also had trouble with the language barrier. Maybe the guy new what you wanted, but used the language barrier to "misunderstand", and get 135 euros of work done? (sorry, i am cynical and should look for the good in people, not the bad, and admittedly the French in the country are generally pretty nice, despite the language barrier)
I check your blog from time to time just to keep up with the faux pas's. Can't take oneself too seriously.
OMG, that would totally happen to me.
You better start asking your family and friends for moolah come x-mas.
Speaking of x-mas: where are you spending it? Home?? Cuz that's where we're headed this year.
now you are going to have to ride 135 miles...for the next 135 days to make it worth it...at least you're one ride up on me since Myrtle!
Just sent my dad a brouchure for Hincapie's Bike Village in the Carolina Mts. $400K-2.5 million a lot. But already has all the routes marked out...cas to mts. Dad's just worried there didn't seem to be a lake!
This reminds me of when an american friend of mine went through the McQuick drive-through not far from you...she just wanted a BigMac, but as she didn't speak french and the guy on the other side didn't speak english, well when she got to the pay window she thought , wow, that's expensive and then she drove on to the pick-up window and they handed her a huge sack. She drove off and then looked in the sack to see she actually had seven BigMacs, so she came over to my place and we ate as many as we could well laughing or problems language barriers can pose.
seeing your newly upgraded road bike makes me want to start cycling again.
but, then again, i don't want to die trying to climb new hampshire avenue north at rush hour.
Great story! Thanks for sharing! :)
(I found you thru France Profonde)
Hah! This is funny. Once, I was trying to buy Halloween candy and I thought that the sign said it was on sale for really cheap, so I bought it. i tried to explain to the lady at the register, but she said no, I was wrong. So, I spent about $14 on 3 bags of carambar and snickers. Needless to say, I was pretty mad. But I ate it all.
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