What stuck with me (I couldn't finish it either) was the difference between the main character and his friend's attitude to maintenance issues. Specifically the soda can shim situation. His friend had a loose handle bar or something, and the solution was a metal shim. The friend refused to "use trash as a shim" (a piece of aluminum can) and would rather pay someone at a shop to fix it. That sort of world view is something that always really irked me, but I never know how to describe it.