About two weeks ago I got a flat tire while riding my scooter Chuck and I were near no repair places that we knew of and I called and was unable to make known what I was looking for. I was certain that there was a place to have my tire repaired but since we don’t read Chinese well it could be right under our noses and we would never know. Well I was correct, when Chuck got my scooter down from it’s kickstand the police officer and hotel security that were at the corner with us started pointing and exclaiming in Chinese how the tire was flat and needed to be fixed. We didn’t understand what they said by body language meant that they knew of a place near by that we could go to and get the tire repaired. Just as we were certain we would never understand where to go when along came a woman who spoke English and could translate what the two officers were telling us. We have passed this place close to a million times, it is right on Songshan Road near the university and next to the public toilets. This little yellow housing complex has a bike garage like the one we have in our complex. The person there not only provides security for the bikes but she also repairs bikes and scooters. As soon as she saw me riding Chuck’s scooter and he was pushing mine she pointed for Chuck to wheel my sick scooter in so she could fix the tire.
With great efficiency she got a basin and filled it with water, she then opened up the wheel and accessed the inner tube and pumped it with air and then ran the tube through the water so she could find leaks and then patch them. She found two holes got them patched up then she inspected the tire to see if there was a reason the holes got there in the first place. After finding nothing she put the inner tube back in the tire and attached the tire to the wheel. Then after Chuck paid, I got my scooter down from its stand and it sat nicely on its newly fixed back tire.
Chuck stayed with the scooter while she worked on it and I rode his scooter (much bigger) onto the campus and got waters for both of us. Now because his scooter is larger than mine and Nate’s his scooter stand operates in a different manner than the one on my scooter. I had pulled up in front of the store to get water when I realized that I had never put this larger scooter onto its stand. When you put a scooter on its stand the rear wheel gets elevated off ground making taking a scooter more difficult. Well I figured it out and went into the store and got our water then I rode back to the repair place and gave Chuck his water.
Because Chuck’s scooter is bigger it has a nicer seat more like a saddle than a bike seat, it also has improved suspension I liken the difference in being that between a Volkswagen and a Mercedes. My first paycheck of the fall will go toward getting me a larger scooter.