I recently got a new bike. The purpose is to reach my office and the market quickly.
My workplace, is barely any distance from my current flat. Its the building adjacent and an 8 minute walk. So I don't really need a bike for this tiny commute.
For buying groceries though, its a totally different story. Getting my evening groceries on foot can take 30-45 minutes. Going to the supermarket can take nearly an hour for my round trip.
And on other days, I just want to be able to go out biking because I like the activity Back during university days, I've spent a lot of time biking around Lutyen's Delhi and the diplomatic enclave.
So, I went out to the nearby Decathlon store and checked out my options. I wanted to keep everything under 20k. Considering the value I'd get out of my bike, this seemed a reasonable limit for me.
There were Rockrider bikes in the range. However, they were MTB form factor. I'll be riding on normal noads. All choices boiled down to 2 options: Riverside 120 and Riverside 500.
The RS500 was a good machine by itself. 1x9 gearing, disc brakes, front suspension and hybrid form factor. But the price step up from RS120 was too much for the value I'd be getting out of it. So, considering my use cases, I got the RS120. Delivery took 2 days. With the basic accessories and home delivery, it costed just under 14.5k. Pretty decent for my needs.
It reached me on Sunday. On Monday morning, I decided to reach my office on these two wheels. Lady luck was not on my side that day, because the bike skid right under my residential block and I totally scratched away my elbow.
Instead of reaching my office on two wheels, I reached the hospital casualty in an auto rickshaw. Got dressing done and took another auto to my office.
Crazy start to a new commuter.
What had happened was that the pavement from my parking to road has a fair bit of incline. It had lot of moss growing on it due to monsoon. My cycle skid on that and hit one of the unaligned sewer lids, that sent me off flying.
The brake handles were broken and something in the mechanics got jammed. I still don't know why the brake would get locked on such a fall, but they did. I took the bike back to Decathlon that evening and dropped for repair.
They took three days to deliver the cycle back to me. While the service didn't cost me, transporting the cycle took another 1k out of my wallet. In hindsight, it need not have costed that much just for replacing a brake handle. Regardless, I believed it to be reasonable to get it fixed from the official store since the bike was basically brand new.
Initial hiccups aside, I finally could ride my new bike. I made sure I don't fall over. Pretty sure my muscle memory was junked up, because my last bike was an entry level MTB with wider tyres. RS120 has much thinner tyres and it doesn't hesitate while gaining speed. It could take you few days to adjust to different tyres as a newbie.
Shifting gears isn't perfect. Its realiable and smooth. But there's a very noticeable lag and you'll feel inertia when moving into a different gear. In rare cases, the gears did not shift. But thats so rare, I'd blame myself for not pressing the shifter hard enough.
The bike stands just over 14kg, so its technically not a light machine. Going up inclines isn't as easy as I would like. The blame stands partly with my chicken legs; I got some self improvement pending. Thighs don't hurt while biking on plain roads, assuming you're in the right gear.
I used the bike for my evening market sessions. Its pretty reliable for the purpose. I carry an old backpack to keep items. Attaching a pannier bag wasn't economical for me, considering I won't be lugging any heavy weights. Usually some fruits and a pack of milk.
And then rain gods woke up and I could no longer take out my bike. It currently is missing in action, waiting for the weather to improve. Hopefully, I'll be able to get back on wheels by mid September. Might post an update later.