What’s the Bike Doing There?

Perched on top of the concrete awning roof of Champa Thai Restaurant in Kaimuki is something you don’t normally see on a walk around town – a bicycle on a roof.

It caught my eye while I was having lunch at Town Restaurant across the street, and you know me … my thoughts and fantasies ran rampant.

Perhaps some office worker rides his bike to work every day and has nowhere to park it while working, so he walks it up the stairs to the second floor and slips it out the window until the end of the day?

Perhaps it’s a college prank (the University of Hawaii is just a couple of miles down the road) and some fraternity guys put it there without telling the owner?

Perhaps it was stolen and the perpetrator got a severe case of guilt and left it there to alleviate himself (or perhaps “herself”) of the mental and emotional pressure?

They say the simplest answer is usually correct. And in this case, it is. The restaurant waitress told me it’s there because there’s a bicycle shop in the building.

I looked it up. She’s right. It’s The Kickstand, a bike shop and café. They offer bicycle sales and service, a Mechanic’s Club (for bicycle maintenance and repair), and sell coffee and treats.

Shucks … I was hoping it was something a little more exciting than that.