Why You Want a Bike

By Lev Novak

When it comes to apartments, housing can depend on a lot of things. Location, for one, is a famous determination of rent and value.

But what if you could beat the system?

Enter: the bicycle. The bike is more useful the better the weather of the area is. In Austin, where the weather is always bike-supportive, you can plan around with them more year-round reliability than in, for example, Boston.

1. You Know How To Use Them

This is the biggest, most serious sell of a bike.

Most life-hacks take a little effort, and that effort can be a serious distraction. That meal looks great, but cooking it? Finding the ingredients? Trial and error to get it right? All those steps take effort, but the bike suggestion is a simple, easy answer.

“It’s like riding a bike” is a phrase for a reason. You can do it, no matter how rusty you are. No obstacles.

2. You Change The Rules

If you live ten minutes from the the liquor store, that’s a trip.

But what if it was three minutes?

Enter your bicycle! You can warp certain long walks into short bikes, and bypass public transportation but you know that already. You know you should bike, but bikes cost money, and it’s work, and blah blah blah.

But what about for $100 a month?

If you have a bike, location becomes less important. You can swoop in to town from a few blocks further in even less time, and if the apartment charges for location, a bike will be saving money even before we talk about gas, health, or exercise.

3. Bonuses

There are perks of biking.

Traffic? Not a problem. You can weave and duck through rush hours, laughing and cackling in your magic and pure biking lines.

Need a place to park? The world is your parking! Bring a lock and take your destiny. This tree, that pole- whatever, it doesn’t matter. A parking permit? Who needs it.

You also get to loudly talk about biking, how you bike, and how it’s good for the world. Since this is generally insufferable, this might be considered a drawback until you remember that it can be used as a trump card. If you’re having a bad day or did a bad thing, you can add a little self-righteousness into your day as needed.

4. Why Not?

If having a bike is as easy as I say it is, and the investment so minimal (start with a used bike or one at home, or an old one- everyone has a friend with a bike they don’t use) it’s worth trying out. I mean, remember the early Poke’mon games? Bikes were the best. And, as we know, everything in Poke’mon is true in the real world.

Have a bike. Try it out, give it a shot, and thank me later.

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