Bike Hunt

I stayed in Christchurch two days mainly hunting for a bike. I had arranged from Sydney renting or buying a bike from one of the many companies in Christchurch specializing in bike-touring New Zealand. Most people who only stay for up to a month rent bikes but because I was planning to cycle for nine weeks it seemed worth considering buying one. The guy offered me to buy an older ex-rental bike for roughly the same price as renting one which sounded like a good deal.

They picked me up early in the morning from in front of the backpackers and took me in a van to their workshop - an old shed full of bikes - on the other end of the town. Their rental bikes looked well used but in good condition but I was interested in buying. They tried to sell me a really old bike - could have been some ten years old. It probably was a good bike once but it has seen better days. I first considered it even though I thought they were asking too much. But when I took it for a short ride I quickly lost interest.

I spent the rest of the morning running around bike shops that are luckily all concentrated around Colombo St near the centre. Around lunch time I decided to take one and it was coincidentally the first bike I saw in Christchurch the afternoon before.