Oh, my heart bleeds for the poor babies:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/business/06tank.html?partner=rssnyt&em...
So sad....
Smarter than the average bear.
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Smarter than the average bear.
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So sad....Oh, my heart bleeds for the poor babies: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/business/06tank.html?partner=rssnyt&em... |
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my favorite part
"Hummer clubs are hurting, too. In Nebraska, Ric Hines of the Omaha Hummer Owner Group — known as Omahog — stopped doing off-road trips this summer and started riding his recumbent bicycle instead."
:-)
Just wait 'till he finds out bikes can go offroad too!
This has to be good for bike
This has to be good for bike shops too... Not so difficult to justify $500 for a bike when your 'car' costs $130 to fill up
A bunch of people have come
A bunch of people have come in buying hybrid bikes, most of which are about 200-250 pounds and 45+ thinking they will make the 12 mile commute to work each way to cut down on gas prices. The same people come back in a week or so trying to return the bikes or place them in the back of their garage and forget about them forever.
On the other hand,
I've seen an influx of dusty old schwinns and bianchis coming into my shop to be tuned up for commuter duty. So at least there's a little of the desired effect going on.
Yeah, we have had a million
Yeah, we have had a million Schwinn Collegiate's come in. They have really weird shifters.
any with the 3 speed
any with the 3 speed internal hubs? if so, i want to talk to you: http://fastermustache.org/node/5333
This could be a cool FM public service thing
Urban cycling classes, or maybe commuter buddies to help people learn how to commute (I prefer the second because it actually sould get people on their bikes and on their way to work). Maybe ABC and Sopo could get in on the action too. I offered to ride to wrk a few tiems with a few people at my offices and one of them seems like she might take me up on it.
obligatory question goes.... here?
Am I doing this right?
Correct
You are catching on--it's getting old Alex moaning 'bout hot women.
Wait a minute, we all do that...
Obligatory question:
Yer doin' it awesome. Well done.
Yes yes
though, technically it is the "standard" question.
But well done!
And the answer is...
yes.
good idea :)
ABC offers a confident cycling class and is working on a bike buddies program. Anyone from FM is more than welcome to get involved.
commuter trains
emory does these once a semester or so... an experienced cyclist leads a group, following a pre-determined route, and other folks join up along the way.
i think they're a pretty good idea.
This Drives Me Crazy!
This drives me crazy! Crazy! The lumpen masses finally get around to buying bikes (trading in their SUVs, they figure; Gotta get in shape, they figure...) And when they do go to buy a bike, they basically buy the SUV equivalent of a bike. (Usually a Mongoose Hybrid from Target.) Big. Cumbersome. Heavy. Nearly worthless for anything other than a piddling spin around the cul-de-sac. These piece of shit rides are not commute worthy. Damn! Can't they see us? I mean, we're all over town on our road bikes. Don't they get it?! People spread the word: People should ride road bikes! MP
P.S. Also they won't spend $500 (or $700, really) for something decent. But God forbid they stop spending $100 a month on cable TV. Go figure.
And of course...
A brand new $300 comfort bike is going to be way nicer than a used $50 road bike. And aluminum is always lighter than steel. And you simply can't ride on the road without a suspension front for and suspension seat post to take the sting out of all those potholes. Oy.
From Whither Comest This Front-Suspension Default Mindset?
I always tell people that if they will be riding in the city they should buy road bikes. Road bikes! Made for the road, where we all ride. But in the face of this friendly advice, I always get this response: "Oh... but I'm the type that likes to jump up on curbs so I need more of a mountain bike" (i.e., heavy hybrid bike with fat knobby tires and -- you got it -- suspension fork and, I guess, shock absorbers of some ridiculous stripe). This whole construct confuses me to the uttermost. The bikes they buy will be ridden for about two weeks and then put in a shed. They are heavy and discouraging to ride. MP
it's the same mentality that
it's the same mentality that led them to buy an SUV in the first place.
I might need a lot of space one time to carry seven people and a load of lumber from Home Depot. It doesn't matter that I commute by myself in the car the vast majority of the time, I must plan for the worst-case scenario.
I might like to go ride on a bike trail one day. It doesn't matter that the vast majority of the time I'll be riding on smooth paved roads, I must plan for the worst-case scenario.
Wow this thread is really
Wow this thread is really starting to stink with the stench of entitlement.
First we want more people on bikes, then when it happens, we make fun of them b/c they look 'dumb and fat'. Nice.
I would offer them advice
But Slick is perjorative in southernese.
The Mongoose Wave Dilemma
Here's a huge philosophical dilemma: On Edgewood Avenue, do you wave at the overweight, seven-mile-an-hour huffing duffer on the just-purchased purple Mongoose hybrid? (He's moving slow but he's trying, right?) That's a tough one for me. Of course I deny no man his God-given worth and humanity. But... all the same... where roadie "street cred" mores are concerned, do I give this man (in a flapping-in-the-wind t-shirt) the "I'm okay/You're okay wave" that we sometimes give each other? Do I?! (Dunno...) Weird. MP
Dude, roadies don't wave.
Dude, roadies don't wave. Period. It's against the code.
Also, let it be known that I make fun of the way people look on bikes (and the way their bikes look) as much as the next guy. I especially laugh at this guy.
Unless
Unless it is a date worthy woman on a bike. All single roadies are looking for women who bike. Why roadies would even date female... *shudder*... triathletes since they cycle.
Dave Moulton on waving
Dave Moulton on waving
Whoa, hold on.
All I'm sayin' is I'm frustrated by people who insist on purchasing bikes that will work against them, often to the point of successfully discouraging them from riding at all.
less dense, not lighter. 2
less dense, not lighter. 2 lbs of aluminum will always be heavier than 1 lbs of steel.
Worse!
Womens bikes should be outlawed! Eventually they end up being sold to construction workers, dishwashers, busboys and landscapers who do not know the faux pas the are making by riding a woman's bike down the left side of the road carrying a Kroger bag! The hell with the Mongoose hybrids, we have to get guys off cheap women's mountain bikes! (And I mean the bikes are cheap, not the women!)
faux pas perhaps
but the utility of these bikes in the hands of 'ignorance' certainly goes a long way towards disproving mr. peaches' statement concerning their worth.
I met a kid once who had [allegedly] ridden from Idaho on a Mongoose (not Pro) BMX bike straight off the Wal-mart floor. he was on his way to Florida, had a couple of pieces of scrap 2x4 nailed together and zip-tied to the rear triangle to hold the two 2liter bottles of water he was riding with, and a backpack strapped to the handlebar with half a dozen chainrings, 3 or 4 freewheels, and a couple of wrenches in it.
FauxPas perhaps, but i would say that he got more utility out of that 69$ purchase than most people on this board have gotten out of any of their 'proper' bike purchases.
To be fair though, about the women's bikes... rather than yelling "get off the sidewalk" i always want to yell "get a skirt"
get a skirt
oh yeah and preferably short.
You know so its doesn't get caught in the wheels or chain.
I am getting a new kilt once
I am getting a new kilt once it's cold
Yeah, but with a short skirt
Yeah, but with a short skirt you have to explain the whole leg shaving thing. Lord knows the trouble that will cause at the construction site.
my decatur yellow bike takes
my decatur yellow bike takes offense at your assertion.
first, thats not a 'proper'
first, thats not a 'proper' bike purchase; second, exception that proves the rule
Actually...
When I first started cycling again in the early 1990's, I bought a POS high tensile steel KHS with some seriously bottom end components on it. At the time it was all I could afford. I rode the hell out of that bike. The guy who owns Roswell Bikes was amazed at the mileage I put on that thing. I also learned how to work on that bike, and screwed it up as much as I fixed it. I used it for years and raced many a triathlon on it. I finally just wore it out. I got way more mileage out of that bike than it was ever designed for.
about 10 years ago Kevin
about 10 years ago Kevin Kaiser was overweight and playing video games in his livingroom. He just finished RAAM on a fixed bike.
9 years ago I was a truck driver and stopped weighing myself at 245. I did alot of racing in college and started 24 racing in 1988. So I decided to start riding again.
I used to train with a guy had got 3 DUI's and lost his license. Smoked 2 packs a day. Bought a bike and made Cat 2 in an incredibly short period of time... in Champaign IL at that. That is in insanely difficult region to move up in.
The funny thing about cycling is that you never know who is genetically predisposed to be the next amazing cyclist out that... but to your point, yeah most will be on craiglist in about 6 months.
most of which are about
most of which are about 200-250 pounds
that still describes me.
Really
I feel just fine taking my 250 lbs on a nice 11 mile ride to work. Trouble is, by the time I get to work I still want to keep riding.
And don't get me started about age and ability. Not with people younger than me dying of behavioral causes.
Scooters
I caught a news story about a scooter shop. Every scooter on the floor had a sold tag on it. For a $500 deposit, they might be able to get you a scooter in 6 months.
Are they cleaner than cars?
Maybe the 4 sroke ones are, but I am not sure about the 2 strokes. I'll stand behind a diesel cab any day before standing next to a 2 stroke scooter.
don't think they're cleaner
don't think they're cleaner than cars, but the average consumer cares more about price. when they see 80MPG all environmental concerns are out the window.
it's true
2 stroke scooters are actually worse than cars. i can't remember where i read that, but it's true.
.
the output concentrations are worse, but is the total output (what really matters)?
paul, she already said she
paul, she already said she can't remember her source, what more do you want from here? isn't the admission in her post that all she's saying is hear-say and unsubstantiated enough?
I was going to post data and
I was going to post data and a source substantiating Conjob's statement... but decided it wasn't worth it, but only because I don't like Mods and Ska.
I don't get this
Many consumers whose tanks would easily swallow $100 worth of gas refuse to pump that much at once, just to avoid the trauma.
“Usually I don’t let it get real empty so that I don’t have to see that $100 on the pump,” said Bob Hammond, 61, of Chesterland, Ohio, who drives an Avalanche. “It’s a mental thing.”
I've known several people who always do this, and I don't get it. You know you're going to need more gas anyway, and these days the price is higher and higher... Don't they realize the price today is much cheaper than the price is going to be in a week?
Easy...
this is in the tradition of calling anal sex not sex so that you can say you are a virgin.
+1
I suddenly have an urge to go floating down a certain egyptian river.
do you have beginner bicycle
do you have beginner bicycle classes and rides in atl?
and the shops here in birmingham have been hit hard. i need to pick some parts up for my ride bike. all the shops in the city have empty slots in the shelves. (speaking of i finally fixed my allez, now just to figure out my fixed)
birmingham has two weelky beginner cyclist rides one that is sub 20 miles and one that is sub 40 miles and led by a tandem thats basically a rolling workshop.
and yes 2-strokes and much worse because they are burning crude oil, thats why we dont have them any more. epa doesnt like them