Getting to the bike shop with Yuseiw was easy, she spoke and the taxi driver went. When we were at the shop, we got a card so we could get back. However once we tried to go back, we couldn't find a cab driver who could find it. We tried about 6 cabs before calling Yusiew and getting her to speak to him (thanks :). It turns out it was either because they just don't go that way often, or because the street name didn't match the name on the English side of the card. Either way, it was a bit of a pain.
It wasn't even all that far away, oh well. Once we got there we looked through their selection. They sell everything from single speed road bikes for about 5-600 yuan all the way up to serious racers for 45,000 yuan. We settled on some 3 speed bikes for about 900. Two bikes plus baskets and locks came to about 1900 yuan. This equates to almost $300 for two fully kitted out bikes, of a reasonable condition. It is possible to buy them for much cheaper but these were a decent brand and should last a while. We might even get some money back at the end of our year :)
So we pay, they adjust the handle bars and seats for us and we ride away. Jane immediately says "your wheel looks weird" and we stop and my wheel seems totally warped. Back to the shop we go, I show the guy and he adjusts the spokes for about 20 minutes. I thought the wheel was broken and he'd have to swap it but he knew what he was doing and soon it looked perfect! Shows what I know about bikes anyway.
Then we mostly work out ho to get home and it's on the road. Riding is a fair bit more confronting than walking, you're a lot closer to the traffic and people expect you to know what you're doing. However, following my rules for walking in Beijing, we made it home with no problems.
So now we are true Beijing-ren (Beijingers) having bought stuff from the markets, ridden our bikes through town and survived both experiences!
Incidentally, comments are welcome :)
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