I happened to find a sign board of a bicycle shop while I was ridinig around in the city. The shop was in the basement of a building. Going into there was like going to check a boiler room in the back of a building, through a dark narrow pass on which ceiling pipes run. I went in awkwardly.
There was a garage-like room at the end. A sturdy Russian man in T-shirt was working on a bicycle under dim light, and stared at me. I tried to speak to him with a little hope, and was so relieved when he answered me in English, though he never talked much.
My bicycle had been in bad condition for riding over 6000km. The movement of the rear dirailer was particularly bad. The chain derailed accidentaly quite often. I asked him if he could look at my bicycle, change the chain to the new one that I'd brought with from Japan, and how much it would cost. He said he'd do it for 500 tenge, which was much cheaper than I'd expected. I of course requested him the repair.
When I showed him my bicycle, he immediately found a problem of the derailer. The rear end where the derailer was attached was not straight. He bented it back to the straight position, and changed the chain. The movement of changing gears has become so smooth and stable after that.
He never asked me any personal question, only grinned at me as he scraped off lots of dirt from the gears with a driver. He was cool.
27 Aug 2008, Almaty
