There's no such thing as a ...

Its tempting, I know. You're walking down the street and as you approach that tree ahead you realize that yes, indeed, leaning up against it is a bike that appears to not be locked up. "Abandoned," you conclude, and you decide it only needs some air in the tires to be the free bike of your dreams. So, after looking up and then down the street to make sure you couldn't be accused of stealing this gem, you decide to wheel it away. The Hub happens to be on your way home and so you decide to push it on in.

The conversation always starts like this: "So i found this free bike and I think it just needs..." Fair enough. There are two possible ways this can go. Either we think it's a good idea or a bad idea to pursue the repair. Rarely in the free bike scenario is it a good idea to spend the money on having it professionally repaired. This is for the same reason that when you see a computer by the curb, there's usually a reason why someone has left it there. If you know computers, it should be more or less easy to determine whether it is worth bringing home. While bikes are not the new and rapidly changing technology that the computer is, they are also machines and are either well designed or not well designed --well maintained or not well maintained. Occasionally, the computer nerd will strike gold. Most of the time, they just keep walking.

The bike in the picture above was never meant to last beyond some child's 12th birthday, much less provide a full grown adult with 4 years worth of transportation and recreation. If the bike nerd walked by this tree, they would keep on walking and so should you.