Ye Olde Bicycles

While moving stuff out of my grandma's old house which we sold recently, my dad's two old Ah Pek bicycles came into focus. They were a pair of man's and lady's bicycles, the man bike having a horizontal bar across from the seat to the handlebars while the lady's one was slightly smaller without the horizontal bar (hence, lady. geddit?) They had been rusting away for years, tyres flattened and my dad insisted to have them restored back to working order so yours truly grumpily did the honours. I took them first to the local bike smith, a man whose name i didn't know but whose face i knew since when i was a wee teeny bopper riding a chopper bike. Both the olde bikes were locked and we had lost the keys so the bike smith said he'd have to break or dismantle the locks. After seeking a second opinion and being told by a nearby young locksmith that there was nothing that he could do to open the locks, i brought the bikes back to the bike smith for him to do his job.

That's the green man bike. Anyway, the bike smith was all smiles and he proceeded to work on the female bike first. While i walked off to attend to another business, he took out the wheels and refitted new inner tubes and tyres.

The lady bike also had a basket upfront which would be useful when dad decided to go out hunting for free mangoes around our neighbourhood. I remember riding these "Ah Pek" bikes when i was teeny bopper and younger, they were some funny times.
Once i rode them without brakes and almost collided into a bunch of school kids after school was over. I went like: "Hoooyyyyyyyyy!!!!"

And these babies weigh a tonne too. Ah the good old days when primary commodities were still cheap and plentiful! The bike smith seemed to relish restoring these old babies and he even asked me if i wanted to sell them, especially the green man's bike. I told him no, cos my dad, over 70s he may be, but he wants to ride them. So the uncle worked steadily on them without as much as breaking into a sweat. He worked seamlessly and with great experience, feeling the little nuts and screws with his nimble fingers, oiling the gears and pedals, checking the brakes and using ordinary items like just an ordinary piece of wood to bend and fit things back into shape. When he heard a cranky noise, he'd bang and bend until the noise was no more.

Now, i have known this uncle for over 25 years, and if he was a mature man back then, surely he must be into his 60s now, at least. I was pretty impressed with uncle. To him, it was more a labour of love and less for profit as this was something that he enjoyed doing.

Almost before i knew it, within 40 mins he had put the lady's bike back to working order. I will come back again tomorrow to collect the green man bike but for today at least, dad gets to ride the old grey lady.