Buyer beware

I'm fuming mad, pushing a bike across College St. in the hot afternoon sun. Sweat is pouring down my forehead and I can feel it pooling under the shoulder strap of my bag. Plus every third or fourth step I catch my foot on the bike pedal and trip a little, exacerbating my white-hot rage.

This was the scene the other day as my cheap, Canadian Tire Supercycle mountain bike came apart underneath me like Hilary Clinton's presidential bid, peddling furiously but going nowhere.

Looking down I notice the rear gear housing wobbling uselessly and in a way that made it clear I would be spending the next 45 minutes pushing this useless green frame home (uphill no less). The funniest part is that I had only purchased it a month and a half ago…hilarious right?

So as I made my way home in the heat (did I mention how hot it was?), my mind turned over a number of different scenarios featuring me, a lead pipe and the bike's designer – all of them bloody…all of them satisfying.

The point is I am still continually shocked with the outrageously poor and shitty way most things are constructed nowadays. I say nowadays as if I have some 50-year benchmark to measure against, but the fact remains most products these days are absolute shit.

When I opt for the cheaper model of something, I naively imagine that it's cheaper because it has less features or is painted an embarrassing green colour. I don't naturally assume that cheaper means it has an expiration date attached to it like eggs or Chad Kroeger's haircut.

I realize that getting worked up and acting surprised is as pointless as…well as that shitty bike, but it's my blog so fuck it…did I mention how hot it was?