Adios to the DiamondBack Kalos

My beloved DiamondBack Kalos 2007 bicycle got stolen today from right outside my office building. One second it was there, and then it was gone.

I had the bicycle with me since January 2008, since before I could fly or ever hope to get a license to drive. The petite Diamondback and I went through some rough times — several accidents, quite a number of flats, and an immeasurable number of miles — including the first annual Tour de Dreams from Los Angeles to Berkeley. It came with me from California to Washington D.C. and it went through several upgrades, including new tires, a new seat after someone stole the original, new pedals, and a pinwheel locking system.

I locked it wrongly for an hour, with just the wheel locked to a metal. My luck of essentially locking it outside for hours without having it stolen ran out. It was easy to cut through the wires but whoever stole it was an amateur because it has a pinwheel locking system so getting the wheels and seat off will be quite the task. Even if he could get the wheels and seat off the bike, he would need to fit in new ones since he would have already killed the wheels. If someone stole it for himself, he’d realize that he cannot even fix a flat since he doesn’t have a key for the wheel locks. It also needs new brakes, new chains and new lights, as I had not gotten around to do a servicing in quite some time. Overall, it was not worth stealing.

Now I need to figure out how to get from point A to point B in the quickest amount of time, all over again. But it is Diwali in November and my birthday in December, so it’s pretty obvious what I need now: funds to get a new bike!

Adios Diamondbike. I hope your new owner at least treats you right.