by Ethan Johnson
November 30, 2007

While I was up north for my High School reunion, my parents gave me a workout shuttling them around for various errands. This was agreed to up front, so I rented an SUV, expecting at some point during the trip to lug home an exercise bike for my Dad.

Unfortunately, the task seemed simpler in theory than in practice. His budget was $100. He thought he could get a exercise bike that folded up and stowed into the closet like an ironing board, because he swears that one of his co-workers did. I checked the sale papers, and breezed through the sporting goods sections of various stored, and no such beast seemed to exist. However, there is something of a market for used exercise equipment, especially in a shopper's paradise like North Texas. It seemed plausible, then, that a store (which will remain nameless) with a name that suggests that they'd be all about the used exercise equipment would be a good place to start.

The instant we entered the store I knew we should have walked right back out. Bait and switch, thy name is [redacted]. There were NO used exercise bikes, let alone much of anything else. Worse, apparently the help worked on commission. Dad got the hard sell and soon found himself test-pedaling a "reasonable" bike for a mere $1200. 1100% more than Dad was expecting to spend. He was proud of himself for tossing off some zingers about the new-fangled health club quality bikes, such as, after being prompted to enter his age and weight, joking that the readout would blare "LIAR!" The salesperson agreed that "they" ought to make a bike that can register your weight and not bother asking.

I managed to get him out of the store relatively unscathed, except he was kicking himself for filling out his personal information on a contact card. He figured he owed them that much for the "free" workout he got on the $1200 bike. I figured it was even, what with the baiting and switching.

Using my nifty internet tablet, I grabbed a wireless connection outside of a Caribou Coffee place and searched Craigslist. Nobody was selling exercise bikes in his area. Treadmills for $100, no photo.

Dad decided that he would force himself to go to the gym in the winter, despite not liking going it alone in the cold and dark.

And that's how things stood, until I was racing back from Indiana for group dinner and saw a fitness equipment "clearance" place out of the corner of my eye. The next day, I circled back with Mom to check out their wares. The cheapest bike on the floor was $400. 300% more than Dad wanted to spend, but far less than $1200. Mom was all for it, but we agreed that I'd bring Dad back there later that night to see for himself. On the up side, nearly everything was used (or on sale) and pretty much priced to move.

Dad hemmed and hawed, and on the one hand, agreed that the bike was cheaper and about the same quality as the other one he test-rode, but really wanted to get the mythical $100 stowaway bike, or scrap the idea and go to the gym. He was already barely going while it was lighter outside, so I didn't have great expectations for winter workouts.

I wandered around the store while Dad talked to the guy behind the counter. Just when hope seemed lost, I noticed a pile of boxes against the wall. One of them depicted a recumbent bike. I looked through the other boxes, and found 2 upright bikes. I asked the clerk about the boxed bikes, and he explained that the bikes were new, not used, just "assembly required" and not the latest and greatest. Dad read the spec sheet, asked about any warrantees, talked himself through the pros and cons, and made the sale. He got a brand new, assembly required exercise bike for under $350.

And here it is:

It took some finagling (it didn't help that my parents really don't have much in the way of tools on hand), but the bike came together in short order, and Dad was pedaling away, checking out the features.

I have been receiving regular reports that Dad is committing to the plan, namely pedaling for 30 minutes per session, at least 3 times a week. I'm thrilled that he got an amazing deal on a new bike, and it hardly takes up any room in a house that really doesn't have much elbow room anyway.

Persistence paid in the search for the bike. Here's hoping it pays off in its use. <EM>