Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Stupid Questions

As of late there have been so many stupid questions on here that i cannot resist anymore. I know that everyone starts somewhere, as did i, but some of the recent threads have been ridiculous. I hereby call for a stupid question contest. Let's see what you guys can come up with.

Here's mine:

I need to work on my spin, do you guys think 53x11 is a good gear? I live in a really hilly area and i have no brakes. Oh, and i don't know how to skid or skip either, you think this gearing will make it easier for me to stop?

should i buy a pista?

Locusts ate the tires on my Pista, so I was looking for some 700X8 tires to decrease my rolling resistance on my commute. Do you know where I could order a White Power spoke card? THX

why don't messangers wave to me when I am on my fixie?

what's with all the anger, TIP?

if you're sick of the questions, don't answer them. ignore it. let someone else answer them.

She's right though. I may have asked some stupid questions in the beginning (which wasn't very long ago), but I tried my hardest to find out the answers to my questions on my own, and 99% of them were answerable if I just searched, and googled, and read past threads.

I don't think the stupid questions are the problem, as everyone has those at some point. It's how much effort people put into answering the questions for themselves, instead of leaning and "pestering" people who know all this stuff.

And to add to the "Should I buy a Pista?", my thread would be entitled:

"n00b looking for a sweet Fixie! What should I buy?! Help now! Pista, Langster, or IRO?"

EDIT: Oh, and feel free to dig up old threads that I've written, asking stupid and annoying questions... :o

How do I replace my track bike derailleurs? They are acting more like breaks than derailleurs.

Convince me that I need to ride fixed!

Can I pour rubber cement in my Rohloff hub to make a budget fixie? Thx.

what's with all the anger, TIP?

if you're sick of the questions, don't answer them. ignore it. let someone else answer them.


I don't think it's so much "anger" as just poking a little fun mostly in jest.

By the way, I'm 6'2" and mostly ankles and I ride a 55cm frame, how high should I have my saddle?

what's with all the anger, TIP?

if you're sick of the questions, don't answer them. ignore it. let someone else answer them.


that's a good one! ;)

... I was about to ask my first question on this forum but I'll contain myself and study some more

don't hate

Why are we combating stupid questions with more stupid questions?

Oh wait, thats a stupid question, isn't it?

What is going on here?

Should I go for a bike ride? Even though I've had a few beers?

peace,
sam

"I have some track bars and i want to wrap them with cloth bar tape but i have two colors i want to mix together for a choice aesthetic.... anyone done this before?" :p

I want to upgrade to bullhorn handlebars. Can I take a mtb flatbar and bend the ends forward to make a ghetto one?

undulating catpants?

Do girls ride fixed gear?

does everyone hate me?

i got this old conversion on craigslist and the chainbroke so i calld the guy i got it from and said he should fix it but hes all 'no u' and now i need a new chain was it my fault to brake it

kthxby

I moderate two forums and have done so for several years.
The same questions come around again and again, and they only become stupid as one becomes more sophisticated.
In My Humble Opinion, the questions don't seem as stupid to the person who doesn't know anything as they do to the person who knows everything.

Generally, the more experienced folk leave the stupid questions alone, allowing those halfway between Newbie and Old Salt to answer them and thus gain more expertise.
Personally, I learn something new every time I answer a stupid question.
Every time.

I think I remember going through a phase where I made fun of people who asked stupid questions.
I mean, I've done every other rude, self-centered and inconsiderate thing imaginable, so why not make fun of newbies?
After all, it makes me feel bigger and stronger when other people look smaller.
Human nature, eh?

How ironic.
By the act of addressing behavior I have engaged in the same behavior.
Hm.
A pattern? :)

What is pie? Where can i find a stashpocket? Do chickens have butts? ...sheesh :rolleyes:

Is anyone going to answer these questions?

hey, does anyone remember that cool oregon trail game from back in the day? oh, and sorry about your missing roommate and all . . .

yeah, i probably fit into the annoying questions catigory asking about levers, but i just want some quick advise. its easy for a thread to just quickly disappear into the forums so all you have to do is ingore them.


'i bought a 3/32 chain and have 1/8 chainring, can i still run the two compontents?'

Can we also start a "stupid people" thread? And make it a sticky?

hey, does anyone remember that cool oregon trail game from back in the day? oh, and sorry about your missing roommate and all . . .

Remember when you'd kill all those buffallos and you couldn't lug them back to the wagon. Hahah!!!

PS - How can I play the old Apple IIe version on my PC?

Remember when you'd kill all those buffallos and you couldn't lug them back to the wagon. Hahah!!!

PS - How can I play the old Apple IIe version on my PC?

naw, man, the best thing about killing buffalos was those things would run so slow and bulky, but then as soon as you hit them PLOP they just flip over dead in their tracks with their feet in the air. didn't they? is this a stupid question?

Can we also start a "stupid people" thread? And make it a sticky?
that sounds like fun!

What is pie? ...sheesh :rolleyes:



Will you make fun of me if I say I like mincemeat?

Remember when you were new to all this stuff and totally appreciative of having people to answer your stupid questions?

If I buy a ridiculously expensive track bike with my kryptonite U-lock in my back pocket and ride it around on the street with no brakes and no helmet, but wear my messenger bag with a stash pocket that can hold 2 orders of pie while wearing a cool t-shirt that sports a cool slogan while learning how to skid and stop with a 53x11 gear and Adidas Sambas and metal toe clips and manpris and one of those top tube protectors on my top tube and keirin grips on my bars and spoke cards in my spokes and a naked pic of me on the FGE and a pic of my bike on the fixed gear gallery........can I call myself a hipster?

I asked terror out for a date once, which in hindsight seemed like a pretty stupid question.

Okay, not really, but I would.

How ironic.
By the act of addressing behavior I have engaged in the same behavior.
Hm.
A pattern? :)

more of a paradox, almost. it's a big issue for social researchers, that anyone who observes a group's behavior invariably influences the group.

i don't use the word "stupid" very often. there's a difference between simple questions that have been asked and answered before, and questions that are ambiguous or unclear in some way. if you are weary of these things, you needn't reply to either type. if you want to be helpful, in the former case you simply answer the question, whereas in the latter case you have to ask for more information.

Isn't that a violation of the prime directive

I humbly submit myself for inclusion in the stupid people thread.

I just find it funny that people shorten Bianchi Pista to just Pista, when pista is Italian for "track." So in effect, when someone says, "Should I buy a pista?" they are saying, "Should I buy a track [bike]?"

i find it funny that a perfectly good bicycle made by a perfetly respectable company and specced with perfectly decent parts, priced perfectly, is the object of such derision to a bunch of people who should really know better

I asked terror out for a date once, which in hindsight seemed like a pretty stupid question.

Yes, it is a stupid question. The answer is clearly HELL NO!



Okay, not really, but I would.

Off to the stupid people thread!
Okay, not really

Agree with Ken. If it wasn't for "stupid questions", BF SS / FG would just be two stickies devoted to the inclusive (and hence boring) chats between the regular lurkers.

"In the beginner's mind, there are many possibilities. In the expert's mind, there are few." - Suzuki Roshi

what did Bill Murray say to scarlett johansen when they're huggin at the end of "Lost in Translation?"

Being one of those who has recently asked a 'stupid question' I'll say this - I can think back to the first time I went into a bike shop as an adult (about 3 years ago to be sorta accurate) and was trying to find out what had changed in the 10 years I had been away from the sport. The guy was a dick. He didn't want to answer questions and expected me to have all the answers to my own questions. Ultimately, I walked away and plopped down my first $800 for a bike elsewhere. Now, nobody here is paid to answer questions, and that wasn't why I walked away from that first bike shop.

I walked away because I felt like an outsider already, and that my interest in bicycling in general was not worth this guy's time. So, when someone asks what you think is a stupid question, realize you might actually be forcing someone who is interested in the concept of riding a fixed gear to go away as opposed to eating a nice steamie pile of **** for their interest. I can only assume its on par with beating the crap outta freshmen at football camp (or worse) simply to make them prove through pain, degradation and humiliation that they wanted to participate. Maybe that is the point ultimately I was too stupid to go google up the entire history of fixed gear bicycling, and midranged track bikes that were designed for street use as well as doing a full search on track cogs, lock rings and virtually everything I knew nothing about in the first place (so, consequently, I would not have known what they were to look up)- hell if I know - thanks for the paradox!

My stupid question:

If the answer is always 42, how does that correlate to fixed wheel biking?

Can we also start a "stupid people" thread? And make it a sticky?
how this?
http://www.bikeforums.net/forumdisplay.php?f=178

']how this?
http://www.bikeforums.net/forumdisplay.php?f=178

Oh I get it... because we're all stupid. That's a good one.

I'm learning so many awesome things today. Thanks for being so helpful, everyone.

PS - I miss MERTON

Remember when you were new to all this stuff and totally appreciative of having people to answer your stupid questions?

Sometimes I get a little pang for the "good old days" myself. Apparently some of the kids these days just inherently know everything about their bicycle and cycling culture. Lucky them.

Like Ken Cox stated, I think the tendency in online forums is for the most knowledgable people to kind of sit back, and not waste time responding to the beginner questions. The people who have an intermediate amount of knowledge chime in more. I think that's a good system, certainly better than mocking the newcomers just because they don't know a darn thing about fixed-gear or are curious about the "culture". The fact is that most people, even a lot of serious cyclists, don't really understand fixed-gear, mechanically or otherwise.

Maybe I'm losing my sense of humor and am reading this thread a bit too seriously.

anyway,
OK OK, IS THIS WORTH $425??? 1979 Schwinn Continental fixed-gear conversion (like track bike!), geared 39x19, flipped and chopped road bars, comes with awesome Weinmann front brake. Missing left chainstay.

']PS - I miss MERTON
I miss 53-11's wealth of knowledge. Seriously.

As of late there have been so many stupid questions on here...
There are no stupid questions. Sometimes, there are stupid answers.
Robert

As of late there have been so many stupid questions on here...

you mean like this one?:

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?p=985562#post985562

']PS - I miss MERTON

For real. Where's Merton? Is he still mowing lawns while wearing a Chrome bag?

If the answer is always 42, how does that correlate to fixed wheel biking?

displayed on my jeoperdy screen: "if i have a 16t rear and live in a moderatly hilly place and dont mind spinning a bit... what would be my ideal front chainring size be?"