Thursday, July 2, 2009

Hello Kitty

A friend of mine who uses a bicycle as her primary transportation, but cannot manage anything mechanical, came to me on Sunday with a flat tire. I fixed the tube for her, but the tire itself was beyond salvation. Her bike's a street cruiser, and heavier than I'd like to lift, and it has huge fat tires with wide whitewalls. And she wanted a whitewall tire to replace the dead one.

She found a whitewall tire the next day. It has a Hello Kitty tread on it. It was made under liscence (sic) from Sanrio. The friend is mortified, and extremely grateful to the cycling gods that the tires mostly hidden by the huge fat fender. I don't think it's all that bad; it's kind of cute. I can't wait to see her tracks after a rain, or after she's ridden through a patch of mud.

I think it's not so bad, mostly because the friend is so embarrassed by it. For a six yer old girl (who'd NEVER be tall enough to use it), such a tire would be appropriate. For an adult? Well, I'm not sure I want to meet the woman, or even the teen, who would actually WANT a Hello Kitty bicycle tire.

I have photographic evidence, but I can't find the darned card reader. When I do find it, I'll post a photo or two.