Bike Shop

There are lots of guys sitting under trees in various parts of town who purport to do bicycle repairs. Most just patch tires.


Mr. Abass in front of his repair shop.

Mr. Abass runs a bike repair shop in La. He does a fantastic job. On this visit, he provided new handlebar grips and a gear shift tune up for $3, and I suspect that's more than he charges his regular customers.


My bike, with new grips, on the rack attached to the rear of my car.

Suppose we collected all the used bikes gathering dust in our garages, and simply gave them to Africans. I've given away a couple myself, actually, to some people who are now VERY happy. Good thing? I suppose so.

Can't help wondering, though, what would happen to all those shops in town (and their employees) that sell bikes if suddenly all their clients were able to get them for free. Free stuff always seems to have complicated and unintended side effects.