So in the end we sold my bike to a lovely friend and The Atlas gave away his commuter bike and we took his mountain bike as one of our 10!! bags. Yeah, travelling through customs with that many bags - not my proudest moment!
So, we needed new bikes when we arrived here. As you know I have very strict criteria for bike selection. It must have a bell, I must be able to ride in a skirt and it must have a basket. The Atlas also wanted to get a light commuter bike for his ride to and from work. (Because apparently a mountain bike is just for mountain biking ;-) ?- I guess he might say the same about the range of crafting implements I find necessary!)
We ended up going to treadly which is located just behind the east end of Rundle Mall (the main central city shopping road, half pedestrianised). Sam who runs treadly is super nice. He clearly loves bikes and his shop is filled with all sorts of cycly treasures as well as bikes.
Along this same street there is a gorgeous gift shop and a jewellry designer/manufacturer that uses ethical and vintage stones to make amazing designs, and a cafe and ugg boot shop (I can't see that anyone would need ugg boots in this country but maybe it does get cold in winter??).
He listened to what we wanted and ended up suggesting I get a batavus bike which is Dutch and has 5 gears (my last one had none), a full chain guard and a skirt guard as well. Let me tell you my new bike is a beast (in a good way - a feminine beast!) it is heavy and wide and truly European in its style. I love it. I think I should probably call it Beryl - because it is beautiful but also not the kind of bike you'd want to wrestle with in a dark alley way, if you know what I mean. And Beryl sounds like that kind of name to me too. (No offence if you are called Beryl).
Sam, the owner, also put a basket/tray on the front for me and sourced the wine crate for me from a local store so I can just throw in my keys, phone etc. I chose a stylish helmet too because how could I not want a pink helmet that says 'I love my brain' on the back of it? I'm going to do some decoration of my crate basket and buy some panniers at some point as well. (The photo is before the crate was attached).
The Atlas chose a much more Australasian style bike. Light weight and narrower, in olive green.
Treadly is a shop for people who love bikes and people who love good service by people where nothing is a problem and they are truly passionate about cycling. It stocks everything you might want whether you are a lycra wearer or a perfectly stylish picture of cycling awesomeness (that is me BTW).
If you just want a bell or the whole shebang, if you are a bike lover in/visiting Adelaide you should totally check them out. Okay? They even have some cool framed prints which I rather like as well.
** In my neighbourhood, recording our journey and writing the kind of posts about living in Adelaide I wanted to find before we left NZ**
love you more than the sound of my new bicycle bell xxx
