Goodbye Sawyer

 Yesterday I said goodbye to Sawyer. No......not a person. The bike. The cruiser style hard tail masterpiece that should have been a Gary Fisher branded bike, but was one of the victims of the timing of Trek's absorption of the Gary Fisher brand. While it was hoped that elements of the Gary Fisher brand, then called the Gary Fisher Collection, would survive, it disappeared a few years later, never to be heard from again. To my way of thinking, this is still one of the strangest, and biggest, mistakes Trek ever made. 

Well, back in the day, I was sent one of these Sawyers and I have had it around since then. I often enjoyed the bike, but with so many single speeds, it just didn't get used as it should have. 

I've written a few posts dedicated to the lines of this swoopy cruiser. I've talked about how Trek screwed up the marketing for this bike, how it was a big failure at retail, and how there has been a cultish following for Sawyers since then. I won't cover that old ground again. I'll just say that after three years, maybe more, of wondering what to do with this bike, I finally pulled the trigger on selling it. Then "Mr. W" answered my sales page ad and asked if he could be the bike's next caretaker. Well, the exchange happened, and now the Sawyer is all his to ride into the Sunset.

And that is exactly what should happen. Bicycles weren't made to be collected and sat in rooms to be ogled by bike nerds until they die and relatives have to dispose of them. They were made to be ridden. They were made to be scratched, beat up, and eventually worn out. I often think about what Mike Varley, of Black Mountain Cycles, told me once when I asked for touch up paint codes for my "Orange Crush" rig. He said something to the effect that he'd rather I let the scratches be and they would be "character marks", scratches that invoked stories and memories of adventures had with that bike. He's right, you know.

I don't think you've had a successful time with a bike unless you've ridden it so much you've worn out parts, dinged it up, and somehow kept it going for years and years. Bikes with character marks, and maybe more importantly, stories to tell. That should be the goal. Not having some pristine garage queen parked on a pedestal. But to each their own. This is only my view.

And getting back to the Sawyer- I was happy to hear "Mr W" say to me, as he wheeled the bike out the door, that he'd "definitely be riding this bike a lot". More than anything else, those words were music to my ears. 

I grinned to myself later, long after the Sawyer was gone, thinking about "Mr W" and his new-to-him Sawyer, blasting some single track somewhere, making memories, and gaining a few of those "character marks" in the process. It made me glad I decided to let that bike have a new lease on life. It made me happy to know that I could, at least one time, let a bike go I really liked, but wasn't utilizing, and let someone else experience the joy of riding a bike that a person cherished and loved on terrain that made for good times. 

Be well, Sawyer! May you and "Mr W" have miles of smiles with each other!