Today’s ride took me up to campus for a meeting. Afterward, I walked the Surly over to Loyola with R. to check out their biannual bike auction. Lots of bikes get abandoned on campus, left locked up, their owners failing to return. The Loyola police gather them up and put them up for sale. R. needs a bike, badly. He’s been driving around New Orleans! I simply can’t abide that choice. But the bike auction didn’t end up being the place to get that bike. The prices were high, with people bidding to win, not necessarily to get a good deal. To get a bike here you also need to know exactly what you want, and to have a pretty good idea of what are cheap fixes and what might be a bit too technical to take care of at home. Also, you’ve got to get to the auction early if you want to test ride them–an essential part of bike shopping. You need one that fits, for sure. People were leaving with the bikes they wanted, so the event was surely a success. R. is going to have to continue his hunt. Craigslist, here we come!