Commuting - The latest in hipster silliness

Many BFers are likely familiar with hipster bikes. A better description (http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/02/10/61-bicycles/) than I can provide:


But not all white people love bicycles in the same way, there is much diversity. First up, we have the younger urban white folks who absolutely love their fixed gear bicycles. These are seen all over college towns, Silverlake in LA, Williamsburg in Brooklyn, Queen West in Toronto, and Victoria, British Columbia. Fixed gear bicycles meet a lot of requirements for white person acceptance. They can be made from older (i.e. vintage) bicycles, thus allowing the rider to have a unique bike that is unlikely to be ridden by anyone else in town. They are also easily customizable with expensive things Aerospoke rims, Phil Wood Hubs, and Nitto Parts. The combination of rare bicycles and expensive parts makes it easy for white people to judge other white people on the quality and originality of their bicycles. This is important in determining if someone is or isn’t cooler than you.

Note the bolded section. Today I saw an example of the "vintage" trend taken to an extreme. I passed a hipster on a creaky, rusty old cruiser that had no saddle (or seatpost). I don't think it's a big leap of faith to suggest that it was a deliberate choice by the rider. :roflmao2:

Many BFers are likely familiar with hipster bikes. A better description (http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/02/10/61-bicycles/) than I can provide:



Note the bolded section. Today I saw an example of the "vintage" trend taken to an extreme. I passed a hipster on a creaky, rusty old cruiser that had no saddle (or seatpost). I don't think it's a big leap of faith to suggest that it was a deliberate choice by the rider. :roflmao2:

was the seatpost/saddle stolen?

Could be a garbage pile find.

Personally, I find that the need to slap labels like "hipster" or "superman" on other cyclists says a lot more about the speaker than it does about the label-ee.

Personally, I find that the need to slap labels like "hipster" or "superman" on other cyclists says a lot more about the speaker than it does about the label-ee.

Personally, I find that the need to obtusely label labelers says a lot more about the second labeler than the first. :roflmao2:

BTW, of course I thought of the "garbage find" and "stolen seatpost" possibilities but y'all ruin the fun by trying to be logical. Plus, if you saw the rest of the "hipster kit" you'd have thought the same as I. :D

Silly hipsters.

Ouch

Personally, I find that the need to obtusely label labelers says a lot more about the second labeler than the first. :roflmao2:

BTW, of course I thought of the "garbage find" and "stolen seatpost" possibilities but y'all ruin the fun by trying to be logical. Plus, if you saw the rest of the "hipster kit" you'd have thought the same as I. :D


But what does it say about the labelling of labeler's labeler's?

But what does it say about the labelling of labeler's labeler's?

Or the about the commenting on the labelling of labeler's labeler's? There are wheels within wheels.

Or the about the commenting on the labelling of labeler's labeler's? There are wheels within wheels.

And I'm willing to take it labeling to the 5th power. ;)

Actually I love looking at the silly hipster bikes, and I've had many interesting conversations at the bike racks with their silly hipster creators. They're fun people, to put another label on them.

:)

Trials Bike :)

I have a Dymo Personal Labelmaker LetraTag labelling gun and I'm
not afraid to use it.:)

I have a Dymo Personal Labelmaker LetraTag labelling gun and I'm
not afraid to use it.:)

^^^^^^^ threadwin!

I just got an email from a much younger (about 30 years) riding buddy asking if she should buy a fixie off CL.

I said oh hell yeah.

It'll keep me smoking her on hills.

It'll keep me smoling her on hills.

Sounds hot.

I just passed a guy pushing a shopping cart. I'm pretty sure that it must be the new hipster cyclist trend.

Personally, I find that the need to slap labels like "hipster" or "superman" on other cyclists says a lot more about the speaker than it does about the label-ee.

The website is "stuff white people like", and you're more concerned about the term "hipster"?

The website is "stuff white people like", and you're more concerned about the term "hipster"?

I love that blog. Not concerned with the name in the least, it's one of my favorite blogs. And 'hipster' dosen't bother me either. Only Hipsters get offended if you call them a hipster. It'll only be a matter of time (it's already happened A LOT) till every messenger bag clad, U-lock in back pocket, fixed gear rider turns it into a term of indearment like "Geeks", "Nerds, and "Jocks" have.

For now, I'll ride sans freewheel when i wish, and with it and 24-speeds when i so desire.

btw, we are all guilty of :deadhorse2: with this topic

Only Hipsters get offended if you call them a hipster.

People that y'all call "hipsters" probably never even heard the term unless and until some middle-aged computer dork applied it to them.

Here's a picture to go with this---


They dream about waking up and riding to a little cafe, then visiting bakeries and cheese shops and finally riding home to prepare a fancy meal for their friends who will all eat under a canopy with white Christmas lights.

People that y'all call "hipsters" probably never even heard the term unless and until some middle-aged computer dork applied it to them.

:)

To call someone a "hipster" is to make a lot of assumptions.

To be a true hipster, don't you have eschew all things that would make you identifiable as a hipster?

:)

To call someone a "hipster" is to make a lot of assumptions.

Not in this case. I was riding in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, possibly the hipster capital of the world (see the stuffwhitepeople like post I linked-up in the OP!).

My coworker is one of those hipsters that denies being a hipster when you call her one... even though she is one. And yes, she owns a fixie.

I bought a fixie so that I would be a hipster. Ironically, I think it means I'm a poser. Fortunately, posers are the new hipsters.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3116/2691452881_600ce46d5b.jpg

I bought a fixie so that I would be a hipster. Ironically, I think it means I'm a poser. Fortunately, posers are the new hipsters.

lol!

I consider myself part hipster, part white trash, part elitist, part rebel and part American!

Whatever

I just passed a guy pushing a shopping cart. I'm pretty sure that it must be the new hipster cyclist trend.


The way the economy's collapsing, that's not a hipster but a lifestyle for a 20-something recent college grad!:)

BTW: Was that shopping cart's frame cro-moly or carbon fibre? Drop, moustache, or trekking handlebar?

Not in this case. I was riding in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, possibly the hipster capital of the world

I always thought that Williamsburg was one of the world capitals of Hasidism. In any case, no assumptions at work here, nosirrreebob...

Standing outside an art-party next to a neat row of locked-up fixed-gear bikes, I come across a couple girls who exemplify hipster homogeneity. I ask one of the girls if her being at an art party and wearing fake eyeglasses, leggings and a flannel shirt makes her a hipster.

“I’m not comfortable with that term,” she replies.

Her friend adds, with just a flicker of menace in her eyes, “Yeah, I don’t know, you shouldn’t use that word, it’s just…”

“Offensive?”

“No… it’s just, well… if you don’t know why then you just shouldn’t even use it.”

“Ok, so what are you girls doing tonight after this party?”

“Ummm… We’re going to the after-party.”

http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/79/hipster.html

Here's a picture to go with this---

They dream about waking up and riding to a little cafe, then visiting bakeries and cheese shops and finally riding home to prepare a fancy meal for their friends who will all eat under a canopy with white Christmas lights.


Are those clipless high heels? And I'm not sure that cutting your hair in the shape of a helmet will offer any real protection in a crash...

http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=86897&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1227042931 (http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=86897&d=1227042931)

I suppose my Fredliness could easily be mocked, but it's so much more fun to laugh at someone who is really trying to look cool. Not a bad looking bike, though.

really? this thread... you're serious?

wat?

hed assplode.....

There's a real reason why people are using the word 'hipster' in a perjorative sense - an example like the keffiyeh can show this.. it had and still has a lot of political and emotional power. Now, I can go down to Queen West and find 20 or 30 people who have no idea of the significance. Personally, it bugs me that the symbolic value has been destroyed by cliché and materialism of the current hipster culture.

I don't have a relevant opinion either way on Palestinian nationalism and it is not my intent to start a debate. There have been many other appropriated cultural symbols too (Che Guevara comes to mind), but this one is an accessible example to me. I'm also aware it's been a fashionable item at various times in North America over the last 25 years, and the same concern was raised then too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keffiyeh

I think the fixed-gear craze is starting to wane. I teach on a big college campus where the students are like a hipster weather vane. And I'm bike-watching all day long. They are flipping their hubs to freewheel. You see a lot more coasters than a year or even a few months ago. I think singlespeed and old frames are more than a fad with the students because beyond aesthetics it makes sense in terms of cost and utility. But riding fixed is maybe more of a bicyclist thing and it seems like the students are giving up on it.

.....

I always thought that Williamsburg was one of the world capitals of Hasidism. In any case, no assumptions at work here, nosirrreebob...

Correct. Southside ==> Hasidic Jews. Northside, OTOH, is chock full o' hipsters. Ever been here? Ah, didn't think so. :D

I'm not that familiar with New York City, but I spent some time in this neighborhood in the Lower East Side and it looked like hipster heaven. There was this one guy behind the counter at a organic food store wearing this big fur hat, and I couldn't help but think, "Seriously, you made a decision today to wear a giant fur hat indoors all day."

I think there are two forces at work here:

1. People who are pragmatic in nature and follow trends mostly because the market produces trendy stuff and not much else to choose from sometimes.

2. People who are trendy and will buy something based on what others will see and think of them.

A "real" NYC bike messenger rides a fixed gear bike often because they are more secure when locking up. Few components to get stolen, simple, cheap.

Then there are the millions of old "10-Speeds" rotting in sheds and garages that are just dying to find their way into some appreciative person's hands who might take the cheap way out and convert to a single speed - fixed or not - because no one makes parts for the old rear hub spacings. So it's usually single speed, or landfill. They are forced to be "hipsters" like it or not.

After those groups come the "hipsters" who see the first two groups and want to look like them for whatever reasons.

I find Sociology pretty interesting, especially from a retail standpoint. It all comes down to making money and pushing some agenda the people will buy into. Like the fat old men on the MUP in full race kit on a Moots Titanium wizzing along at 12 mph. They are "hipsters" in my book as well. Not to mention a great source of humor.

I'm not that familiar with New York City, but I spent some time in this neighborhood in the Lower East Side and it looked like hipster heaven. There was this one guy behind the counter at a organic food store wearing this big fur hat, and I couldn't help but think, "Seriously, you made a decision today to wear a giant fur hat indoors all day."

The LES is across the Williamsburg Bridge from, well, Williamsburg, so it's a natural location for a hipster enclave.

It would seem I have betrayed my generation. I drink bourbon, wear shirts that button and pants that fit, and consider riding fixies to be a kind of masochistic anachronism.

It would seem I have betrayed my generation.
I am told that all that time. (I'm 24 BTW.)

I drink bourbon,
+1. Woodford, Buffalo Trace, and Basil Hayden are sitting in my cabinet right now.

wear shirts that button and pants that fit,
+1 to both. I'm in law school, so I kinda have to.


and consider riding fixies to be a kind of masochistic anachronism.

Yup. 3 speed is fine. Single? I live in CT. The Northeast is way to hilly for that nonsense.


I should add, I also go to sleep by 11:30 every night. Clubbing ad bar hopping are a once or twice a year sort of event.

the coolest hipsters at my school seem to ride fixies with no bar tape

must be comfortable :rolleyes:

Correct. Southside ==> Hasidic Jews. Northside, OTOH, is chock full o' hipsters. Ever been here? Ah, didn't think so. :D

I used to live in Carroll Gardens, smiley guy. I'd pass by and sometimes through Williamsburg on my way to elsewhere. Can't say the so-called "hipsters" made a major impression on me, but I'll take your word that there are a lot of people that you label "hipster" there.

Yup. 3 speed is fine. Single? I live in CT. The Northeast is way to hilly for that nonsense.

Most people consider any form of bicycling to be a form of anachronistic masochism. I started riding fixed in the hilly Northeast and now ride fixed in the hilly Rocky Mountains. What is your point in describing a sport you don't participate in as nonsense and why do you delight in your embrace of conformity?

:thumb:

Just giving you a hard time because Your state extends into my home county.

bf

I used to live in Carroll Gardens, smiley guy. I'd pass by and sometimes through Williamsburg on my way to elsewhere. Can't say the so-called "hipsters" made a major impression on me, but I'll take your word that there are a lot of people that you label "hipster" there.

How long ago? I think the hipster thing is a relatively recent phenomenon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hipster_(contemporary_subculture)

Most people consider any form of bicycling to be a form of anachronistic masochism. I started riding fixed in the hilly Northeast and now ride fixed in the hilly Rocky Mountains. What is your point in describing a sport you don't participate in as nonsense and why do you delight in your embrace of conformity?

:thumb:

Just giving you a hard time because Your state extends into my home county.

bf


Everybody is jealous of the great and mighty state of CT. It's ok. :p

Not in this case. I was riding in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, possibly the hipster capital of the world (see the stuffwhitepeople like post I linked-up in the OP!).

What I meant is that calling someone a "hipster" is a lot like calling them a "poseur". It's got a lot of negative connotations. To call someone a hipster based only on what they're wearing or riding is making some assumptions.

To call someone a hipster based only on what they're wearing or riding is making some assumptions.

Well what Else would you base it on?
Considering the term 'hipster' is only an Image, not a race or religion or who your father was, I'd say calling someone this based on Appearances makes pretty good sense.