Brown Bicycle

Parked, or rather dropped on the ground outside the front door of Hank's was a bicycle. It was noticeable because it was painted brown. Not just the frame, but the entire bike except the tires, (and maybe the seat, I don't recall), and kind of an ugly house brown to boot. Then I noticed the front disk brake and the rear suspension, and I got to wondering. Could this be an expensive bike that somebody painted to hide it's value? Or a stolen bike, painted to disguise it's origins? Neither explanation makes much sense. If it was valuable, why was it lying on the ground? As for being stolen, I've never know a thief to do something like this. Bicycle thieves usually just ride them until they get bored and then ditch them. Or if they are pros stealing expensive bikes, they sell them. Painting doesn't make much sense in either case.

And then there's the way high-tech filters down to the mass market. Disk brakes may be what you get on your run-of-the-mill mountain bike these days.