The passion of the bike

The car-free Casanova

A local bike mechanic tells a zero-emissions tale of love lost—and found.

YOU, ME AND A BIKE MAKES THREE Maier’s live-in honey is very patient with his two-wheeled obsession.

Photo: Ben Reed

For some to experience true bike love, they must first learn about bike loss.

That’s what happened to Aaron Maier, a 30-year-old mechanic at Rapid Transit Cycle Shop in Bucktown. His journey to a petrol-free existence got in gear back in 2005 when he sold his car and, following a stint as a commercial fisherman in Alaska, bought a Miele touring bike to pedal down the Pacific Coast from Canada to Mexico.

“I rode in a very Gump -ish fashion until I got tired and camped along the way,” Maier recalls. Nearly 4,000 miles later, and after doubling the value of the bike with custom parts, he suffered a major blowout on the way back to his native Ohio for Christmas: There was a baggage embargo at the airport in Mexico City, and his prized possession and sole mode of transportation could not come with him. He sold the $1,000 bike to an airport employee for the equivalent of $70. Ouch.

While he may have lost the love of his life that fateful day in Mexico, he gained an even more attractive riding companion a few months later when the by then thoroughly bike-obsessed Maier moved to Chicago. He scored a job as a mechanic at the now-defunct Kozy’s in the South Loop so he could surround himself with bikes. Then, one day, a cute girl he’d met at a party brought her ride in for repairs. Only later did this woman, Michelle, admit there was nothing wrong with her bike. She was interested in him. The courtship further blossomed when, after a night out, Maier demonstrated his chivalry by transporting her safely home on his “sports utility bike,” a Surly Long Haul Trucker with racks that can haul upward of 180 pounds.

Now, Maier is a mechanic at Rapid Transit, and the couple live in mostly car-free bliss alongside their herd of six bouncing bikes in a Ukrainian Village apartment that’s always a few stray frames away from resembling a repair shop. “She’s the yin to my raging yang of bicycle collecting because if unfettered, my entire house would be filled with bike parts,” Maier explains. “She’s very tolerant…but when grease stains start appearing on the couch or I’m washing chain rings in the bathtub, she’ll be, like, ‘When’s the last time you rode that cruiser?’ ”

—Rod O’Connor

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