I left the matter to him, and he got me five pounds, which he said was
more than he had expected.

There are two ways you can get exercise out of a bicycle: you can
"overhaul" it, or you can ride it. On the whole, I am not sure that a
man who takes his pleasure overhauling does not have the best of the
bargain. He is independent of the weather and the wind; the state of the
roads troubles him not. Give him a screw-hammer, a bundle of rags, an
oil-can, and something to sit down upon, and he is happy for the day. He
has to put up with certain disadvantages, of course; there is no joy
without alloy. He himself always looks like a tinker, and his machine
always suggests the idea that, having stolen it, he has tried to disguise
it; but as he rarely gets beyond the first milestone with it, this,
perhaps, does not much matter. The mistake some people make is in
thinking they can get both forms of sport out of the same machine. This
is impossible; no machine will stand the double strain. You must make up
your mind whether you are going to be an "overhauler" or a rider.
Personally, I prefer to ride, therefore I take care to have near me
nothing that can tempt me to overhaul. When anything happens to my
machine I wheel it to the nearest repairing shop. If I am too far from
the town or village to walk, I sit by the roadside and wait till a cart
comes along. My chief danger, I always find, is from the wandering
overhauler. The sight of a broken-down machine is to the overhauler as a
wayside corpse to a crow; he swoops down upon it with a friendly yell of
triumph. At first I used to try politeness. I would say:

"It is nothing; don't you trouble. You ride on, and enjoy yourself, I
beg it of you as a favour; please go away."