I finally bought a bike! For a while now, I’ve wanted wheels so I could save a few bucks on subway fare and see more of the city. Finding the right steed has been a struggle.

Craiglist is a bottomless well of Fender guitars, erotic masseuses and software developers, but not bicycles. And the Manhattan bike shops don’t sell used ones.

Then, yesterday, I stopped by Recycle a Bicycle on Avenue C. This nonprofit takes donated bicycles, fixes them up and resells them. The profit goes toward training impoverished inner-city kids to be professional bike mechanics.

A red single-speed bike stood right inside the entrance, apart from the others. Tall and thin, with the words “Super Star” on the top tube. Don’t get too excited, Ferris, I told myself. I asked Patrick, the mechanic behind the counter, what they had in the way of single-speed bikes.

He pointed to Super Star. “That’s about it,” he said.

Super Star had me at the test ride. It is an incredibly simple rig, lean and fast. I bought and rode up 1st Street, dodging buses and taxis. I cruised until I got to the U.N. and happened across the president of Georgia, Mikhail Saakashvili, giving an impromptu press conference at the corner of 50th Street.

I’ll capture a lot more of the city now that I’m seeing it at street level.