I sold my oldest bike today (Minerva, my Trek Navigator 200 city/utility bike), to a friend, which got me thinking about how long I’ve had it.

I’ve owned that bike since summer 2001. With the exception of some of my musical instruments, it’s the high-value possession I’ve owned the longest and used the most. (I’ve owned my flute since 1993 or so.) It cost about $400 new, and I sold it for $100 since I’ve maintained it well and it came with a bunch of accessories that I put on (rack, fenders, headlight, seatbag, lock, etc.). That’s a long time and a lot of use for a relatively small monetary outlay.

I’m really not at all unhappy to sell it on, which I was worried I might be. My friend will get more use out of it than I was getting (since I got Meg almost a year ago, I was riding Minerva only to the farmer’s market and in the crappiest rainy weather); I’ll ride Meg more which I should be anyway; I won’t be taking up space in the carport anymore; I’ll only have two sets of maintenance chores to rotate. I have a bit of extra money, which definitely comes in handy right now.

Besides, now I have room in my stable for a bike of a different function!