Back in primary and secondary school, I had two main ways of getting to school: either walking or by bicycle. This was a pretty common way we got around and I think just about all my friends also had bikes of their own. At least in the autumn and spring, there would be loads of bikes parked in the bicycle parking outside of the school.
However, after secondary school I started using my bike less, preferring to instead walk to school. Thinking back, I don't really even know why exactly. Although I think what ultimately stopped me for good was when my bike headset decided to do a complete flip and threw me over the handlebars. It's worth noting that I don't think any of my bikes went through any regular maintenance, besides getting some air pumped into the tires when they were basically fully flat.
That particular bike ended up sitting in storage in my parents' house basically all through me going to the army and graduating from university. I never really considered the bike anything more than a mundane tool and when I started needing to go places further out, I didn't even really think about bringing the bike out. Instead I relied more on trains and buses to get around. At one point my parents nearly managed to sell my old bike and it was basically just pure chance they didn't get rid of it.
Return of the bicycle
However, as I got into the work life I started noticing that I probably should start getting some more exercise, as I live a pretty sedentary life as an IT worker. I dislike the idea of going to a gym and with my work hours being kinda weird, if I wanted to exercise or practice sports, that would either need to happen really early in the morning or quite late in the evening. And I just don't really feel motivated enough to drag myself out after work to get sweaty.
So, I figured I would start combining the commute and some exercise by skipping the train every so often and instead walking to the office. It was decent exercise, but the commute time grew enough that sometimes it was hard to justify to myself that I shouldn't just take the easy way out, even though I had fun being outside and listening to podcasts or music along the way.
At this point I still wasn't really thinking about taking out the bike, but that changed early summer this year when a massive rail upgrade started that would basically add two extra tracks to the rail line nearby. During the some of the early phases of that project, rail traffic was halted completely around where I live, which meant that going to work and to the shop by train wouldn't even be an option. Buses would work, but they'd take longer and I personally just prefer a train to a bus when possible.
So, that's when I mentioned to the parents that taking the bike out might be a good solution to the problem. My dad got the bike out of storage, did some basic maintenance to get it back into a somewhat rideable state. It was definitely not perfect, but it took care of my commutes over the summer easily enough until I eventually busted the chain for good.
Repairs and making the bike my own
I'd gotten used to biking around though and I figured that I might as well keep the bike around, so I took it to a bike shop for a thorough maintenance. It took me a couple of weeks of waiting (in the autumn the queues get long) and a bit over 200€, which realistically is probably more than the resale value of the bike, but I figured that since the bike is still basically usable I might as well try to keep it roadworthy instead of buying a new one.
And honestly that turned out to be a decent decision, because ultimately the bike shop came to the conclusion that most things on the bike were still in adequate condition. The headset bearings had been turned to dust, probably by the fall I had with the bike, and the chain was indeed ridden to ground both by its sheer age and also likely somewhat poor gear control (oops). But other stuff on the bike was still fine, with a few scratches and minor visual damage notwithstanding. With a new chain, new bearings, a thorough lubrication and cleaning, it basically rode like a whole new bike and I was very pleased with the result. I could have probably gotten that experience by buying a cheap new bike or something used with that money, but I think even then the price would have probably been close enough and a used bike would likely have needed to go through some maintenance of its own.
And overall the bike is not really all that shabby by itself. It's a Helkama S2700 hybrid bike suited for the mix of asphalt and dirt roads around here with a 7-speed internal gear hub, requiring fairly little maintenance, which works well for me as a commuter bike. Nothing fancy, but very practical and decently durable.
I did also end up spending some extra money to accessorize the bike a little. For one thing, I made it properly road-legal in darker conditions by equipping it with front and back lights, but I also slapped a frame bag on it for small miscellaneous things. And predicting possible roadside maintenance, I also bought a little kit of tools that I also attached to the frame, in case I need to patch an inner tube or tighten some parts. That little kit turned out to be useful not long after, when the chain jumped off my gears and I had to get it back on and tightened. That was probably the second time in my life that I've had to do roadside maintenance on any bike I've ridden.
Riding for fun and profit
I've found that bike commuting has felt quite good over the past months. The fact that I can get to work and back in just about the same time as it would take me by train means that I don't feel like I am wasting time, which translates to me being more likely to ride the bike regularly and thus I get more exercise. Walking would probably be more intensive, but that only works if you are motivated to keep doing it. And I think the bike commute is also good mentally, because I feel a decent bit less stressed when going home by bike than I did when using the train for example. I probably felt the same when I walked to work and back, but that was probably at least somewhat masked by the trip being more tiring.
I've also noticed that biking has been enough fun that I've also started incorporating it to my daily life more than just for the weekly commutes to work and back. Even though the trains are mostly back to running, if I need to make a quick grocery trip and I am not expecting to buy a lot of stuff, I prefer to grab the bike and a backpack and go to a shop within a biking distance instead. And on Sundays the trains do still often not run anyway, so during those days it's a much quicker option than waiting for the bus.
I've also taken the bike on a couple of purely recreational rides to some of the nearby park paths. There's a couple of nasty inclines in there but the ride down afterwards is also a thrill enough to be worth it. I am not going to try to take the bike into any tricky tracks for sure, but a few laps on a cool and sunny day on the basic fitness paths here are a fun enough experience for me.
So, for the foreseeable future I think I will keep riding the bike some more and maybe see about adding just a few more accessories to it next spring. I don't think I am quite hardcore enough to ride it during the winter, so I will probably need to store it when the weather gets cold. But I will probably get a few good rides out of it this autumn.