Wheels, Phase II

Before we moved to Taiwan, we sold or handed down our much-loved cars. For almost two years now, we've used only public transportation unless someone offered a ride. We love to "go take a look," but buses may not go or stop when or where we want to go or stop. We missed that freedom, so we've had many conversations about it.

"Can we just rent/borrow/hire one? What kind of vehicle do we need? How will we actually use it? Isn't it just one more thing to maintain? Can we even drive in this wacko traffic? Heck, where will we park it?" We kept concluding that "we haven't been everywhere public transportation can go and we still don't know what format will work best." So we put off replacing our car. Again. But we missed the freedom, so it kept coming up.

Rather than basic transportation, we needed an exploration vehicle, something to get a bit further out, and further in. A car seemed like a bit much, especially since it would not be used every day. The obvious choice in Taiwan is a scooter which, according to the locals, can transport a family of four plus the dog! Unfortunately, scooters here are built for shorter families and I [Mark] wasn't that comfortable sitting on my tailbone with my knees bumping the plastic. That was the most reasonable reason; frankly, I just couldn't get excited about a scooter. Now, a motorcycle, on the other hand...

I knew which one I'd like, if it would make sense. I had the Ideal and the Cheaper/Practical options figured out--at least to my satisfaction. Ping was willing to work with that. We checked online for pricing, brands, configurations, used vs. new, etc. (Local joke: "How do you know if a used vehicle is a piece of junk? It's for sale!") We found a few ways to pick up something functional online at a reasonable price, but the universe had another option.

On Monday, after another one of these conversations over lunch in Shilin (士林), we decided it was time to find helmets. There was a whole row of helmet stores on the way home, so we walked a couple of kilometers to the first store. I had a hard time fitting a helmet in the U.S., so I was concerned about finding one at all in Taiwan. Within 15 minutes, we'd found one that not only fit but cost 1/3 of what I paid for one of the same quality 20 years ago in the U.S. Maybe we should check the other stores, too?

About 50 meters further down the sidewalk, I looked in a bike shop and said: "Hey, there's the one I wanted to try," pointing at a red Kymco Quannon 150 (my Ideal Option, right down to the color!). "If we can't sit on it comfortably, I won't think about it anymore."

Ping asked them to pull it out for us. I got on. It fit my frame perfectly. Ping got on behind me. She fit. The bike was a year old, in mint condition with only 3200 km on it, and it cost 2/3 of what we expected to pay new--in fact, less than my Cheaper/Practical Option.

But what about the local joke? It's still a used bike, right? Yeah, but there was only a minor scratch on the tank. It still had a year left on the warranty. The shop owner said the guy needed the money; they had two of his motorcycles for sale. We had them start it up for us. Nice! I took it for a spin--unbelievably nimble, obvious even within a few blocks. We hadn't seen such a good machine for that kind of price, so we put some money down and walked home (the last 7 km of our 11 km "stroll" that day). They transferred the title the next morning and we rode the bike home that afternoon.

We parked it behind a locked garage door, under a covered patio in Ping's parents' other house, two blocks away from our place. Perfect. We finally replaced our eight wheels...with two!

So this is how things worked: after months of discussion, we literally walked right to it. What are the chances?

Today, we went back for a minor clutch adjustment and came home the fun way, up into the hills and back down again. Next trip, the coast? Let's go take a look!! Now, if I can just learn to reduce the number of emergency maneuvers in traffic...