The American Automobile Association is branching out from emergency roadside assistance of cars, trucks, vans and RV’s.
Into, wait for it…..Bicycles!
Yes, that mode of transport you can carry with you or chain to a lamp post is now rescuable by a, wait for it….truck!
AAA Auto Club is now offering bicycle roadside assistance for its plus members in Oregon and Idaho.
This new bicycle coverage, the first of its kind in the nation, would offer roadside assistance to cyclists if their bicycle is disabled or inoperable.
AAA will pick up cyclists, take them anywhere within a 25-mile radius and drop them off but they won’t repair the bicycles or give cyclists parts, making some cyclists frustrated.
“It sounds a little incomplete in the fact that they will only pick you up and drop you off and not give you the supplies to fix on your own or fix a flat tire,” said Travis Blue, a cyclist.
OK, listen up here, Trav: A new inner tube for your bicycles tire is smaller than my wallet. How about you carry one (or even,gasp, two) for yourself so that when you call a AAA truck to save your wretched primitive mode of transport, all he has to do is bring a silly bicycle pump?
Or is that too complicated for a pedal pushing Portlander?
I’m going to disagree with you on this one, Phil. Sure, the average failure on a bicycle involves a flat tire, but other mechanical failures can happen as well. If I was 15 miles from home and managed to taco a wheel or foul up my drive train I’d be thrilled to be able to call AAA instead of relying on friends and family.
Mike, if it wasn’t for the totally car-oriented AAA Oregon trying to play the “green game”, I’d agree with you. This is nothing but a blatant attempt on AAA’s part to try to recruit more of the yuppies as AAA members, that’s all.
Instead of supporting them so wholeheartedly, why don’t you do what I am going to do, and send them a letter suggesting that they walk their talk, and pay for a few bike people to rescue the stranded bicyclists. Only when I see that plan put forward by AAA will I believe that this is anything but a publicity stunt for them.
BTW, there sure the hell wasn’t a single AAA vehicle in sight yesterday for the Seattle-To-Portland bike tour, which put better than 10,000 bicyclists over the Longview Bridge into Oregon and down Hwy 30 to Portland. I had to drive back from Cathlamet, WA yesterday and paralleled the bikers’ route. I guess the AAA missed their chance, or maybe their Bright Idea Guys aren’t so bright after all.
I’m not kncking the service, Mike, I’m mocking the whiny “woe is me, they won’t go bring me the exact parts I need” attitude of the guy in the story.
The plethora of different parts (chains, sprockets, wheels, etc.) makes what that jackass wants impossible.
AAA doesn’t fix your car. They give you a jump, a couple gallons of gas, will install a spare tire where your flat tire was or will tow your car to the repair facility of your choice within your membership’s mileage boundaries.
That is exactly what their service plan is for bicycles is. But that numbnuts wants a “happy ending” to boot.
Idjit.
Part of commuting by bike is learning how to change tubes properly … including dealing with the issue that caused the leak in the first place.
Competant commuters carry spare tubes … and might even have a kevlar-beaded spare tire folded up in a box.
Flats are just part of the experience.
Gets even better: you can buy a little gadget that uses a CO2 cartridge to inflate your tire, so you don’t even need a pump.
And if I were going to be on a bike miles and miles from home, I’d damn sure have something along to take care of a flat.