General Cycling Discussion - Pet peeves?

my two:

1. squeaky bikes. arghh!!!! so annoying... lube yo shizz, and give'er a tuneup!

2. people commuting to school on new 500$ mountain bikes, seat rail almost touching the top tube, and knobby tires have never touched dirt... usually oblivious of gears (either spinning like crazy uphills, or standing and pushing toooo tall of a gear)

I hate it when my sister sings...

god help us all when she starts...

Pets...

my two:

1. squeaky bikes. arghh!!!! so annoying... lube yo shizz, and give'er a tuneup!

2. people commuting to school on new 500$ mountain bikes, seat rail almost touching the top tube, and knobby tires have never touched dirt... usually oblivious of gears (either spinning like crazy uphills, or standing and pushing toooo tall of a gear)

Nothing wrong with sqeeky bikes, Saves having to yell out Riders behind all the time. No I do not have a bell as they do not work on the vital parts of walkers(Their ears)

Low fat cottage cheese. Ewww.

Reality TV.

people who post about their pet peeves :D

oh, and squeaky chains have to go... I stopped riding with one guy until he lubed his chain.. drove me nuts !

jeff

I hate riding behind my friend, looking at his buttocks squish around the seat.

2. people commuting to school on new 500$ mountain bikes

people who put the dollar sign after the amount ;)

people who put the dollar sign after the amount ;)
makes it more fluid when its read

rich people (that are not me. yes. i am envious.)

dogs (BURN THEM FOR FUEL!)

theives (i seriously whish i could inject them with something that would make their blood clot in an almost magical manor while take meat hooks and hang them all by their sex organs and then proceed to disect them alive and fully concious)

noise. (i hate it!)

light polution ( i wanna see the f'in sky!)

polution.


etc.

People that ride around on £60 full suss 'MTBs' with quill stems (not that there's anything wrong with quills) and rusty steel rims, and think it's a cool bike. Even worse when they're kids on 20 inch ful sussers or the kind of person that would never ever go off road (not that the bike could take it, but...)

And people that ride around in their big ring all the time. Learn to spin goddamit!

Too many 9's in the pricetag (my bike was 499.99). I said "five hundred, hrm...", and he replied "no, 499.99"... *slaps forehead*

getting honked at when i'm ALREADY AS FAR OVER AS I CAN GET!!!!

Rich people.
Useless parents and their rotten brats!
I agree-cottage cheese, ewww!
The war!

ok I got another one...

For everyone who knows what AIM is then you know the little chime it makes when a message is sent.

Well, today my sister sat in front of my computer since she came home(4:00pm) and is still chatting on AIM. The little chimes are driving me crazy.....hehe.....

rich people (that are not me. yes. i am envious.)

dogs (BURN THEM FOR FUEL!)



Less waste if you eat 'em for fueL. Tastes like chicken.

Low fat cottage cheese. Ewww.


If you think low-fat is bad, you better not EVER try non-fat cottage cheese. Barf-o-rama city.

First they made cars more complicated so the backyard mechanic would have a very difficult time fixing them, then they made them so they would not last as long. NOW THEIR TRYING TO DO THE SAME THING WITH OUR BICYCLES! Why should anyone have to replace a $30+ chain everytime they replace tires seems obsurd to me! I can't wait till the electronic shifting systems come out...do I hear the sound of cash registers opening?

First they made cars more complicated so the backyard mechanic would have a very difficult time fixing them, then they made them so they would not last as long. NOW THEIR TRYING TO DO THE SAME THING WITH OUR BICYCLES! Why should anyone have to replace a $30+ chain everytime they replace tires seems obsurd to me! I can't wait till the electronic shifting systems come out...do I hear the sound of cash registers opening?

Both my cars have well over 100,000 miles on them and I generally fix them myself. If anything, fuel injection and electronic ignition have made cars much simpler to maintain since there is very litlle vacuum hose spaghetti and you do not have to set points and timing when you do a tune up. Speaking of which, you don't even have to do a tune up any more. For the most part, just change the oil and filters now and then.

In my experience, cars last a lot longer than they used to with far less maintenance. Maybe if we went back the good old days of autombiles, more people would get frustrated with their cars and ride bikes. Ever maintain an aircooled VW?

Reality TV.

Ditto. Mind you, most television programs are crap these days - as is popular culture of all forms generally.

What about illiterate letter box deliverers? I mean, the words "No junk mail" are hardly toothpaste ingredients, are they really so difficult to read?

Summer generally.

lets keep this bike-related :D

Ah I got one, I know like 5 girls and they can't say one sentence without 'like' being in it between every other word.

my two:

1. squeaky bikes. arghh!!!! so annoying... lube yo shizz, and give'er a tuneup!

2. people commuting to school on new 500$ mountain bikes, seat rail almost touching the top tube, and knobby tires have never touched dirt... usually oblivious of gears (either spinning like crazy uphills, or standing and pushing toooo tall of a gear)

I see that a lot here (Baylor), but I don't get annoyed by it. The kids don't know any better, and at least they are riding a bike vs. driving their 2004 540i. Lots of kids look at me funny though cause I'm on a 19" frame with the 400-ish mm seatpost near max extension. They don't understand you aren't supposed to be able to flatfoot on a bike anymore. I am amazed though at how low people let their tires get, and really surprised they don't get pinchflats.

Bar ends sticking straight up and drop bars rotated up with the brake levers on top though are mildly annoying to me.

lets keep this bike-related :D

My point about summer was. I honestly can't think of worse conditions to ride in than our summer heat -- and yes, I've quite happily ridden in hail.

What irritates me the most when I ride a bike is seeing so many bike riders blow through red lights and stop signs. I would say over 90% of all riders I've seen here in San Francisco do this -- from grandpa on a fred bike, husband and wives out for a Sunday ride, to Joe Racer-types decked out in full Euro team uniforms. Why do people feel when they're on a bike they're above obeying traffic law? I don't get it. :mad:

-Kevin

What irritates me the most when I ride a bike is seeing so many bike riders blow through red lights and stop signs. I would say over 90% of all riders I've seen here in San Francisco do this -- from grandpa on a fred bike, husband and wives out for a Sunday ride, to Joe Racer-types decked out in full Euro team uniforms. Why do people feel when they're on a bike they're above obeying traffic law? I don't get it. :mad:

-Kevin

You what one of my pet cycling peeves is? The fact that virtually everyone else points the finger at every cyclist who breaks the law without first looking at their own actions. Honestly, if you caught and fined every speeding motorist on the Gold Coast for just one day, you would generate enough revenue from the fines to abolish all forms of taxation nationwide for the next 12 months -- and it's not just speeding. I see drivers blow through red lights, cut corners, drive on the footpath, drive the wrong way down the street everyday and nobody seems to care. Yet the minute a cyclist does any of this, my God the outcry makes one think the world is about to fall down.

Sheer bloody-minded bigotry.

Folks that consider their bikes and their cycling regalia to be a reflection of the kind of person they are. That somehow this sets them apart from "ordinary" people. It's basically the same disease that is suffered by those that use the jacked up 4x4 truck to make a statement about their masculinity.

You what one of my pet cycling peeves is? The fact that virtually everyone else points the finger at every cyclist who breaks the law without first looking at their own actions. Honestly, if you caught and fined every speeding motorist on the Gold Coast for just one day, you would generate enough revenue from the fines to abolish all forms of taxation nationwide for the next 12 months -- and it's not just speeding. I see drivers blow through red lights, cut corners, drive on the footpath, drive the wrong way down the street everyday and nobody seems to care. Yet the minute a cyclist does any of this, my God the outcry makes one think the world is about to fall down.

Sheer bloody-minded bigotry.
Hear here. I had a driver chastise me yesterday for not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign (I was rolling at less than a snails pace). Same driver didn't seem to notice that they'd rolled through the same sign going at least 5mph, and neglected to indicate their left turn. *sigh*

Oh, and I used to think Queensland was bad until I moved to Colorado. At least Queenslanders have a vague idea of what a red light or a stop sign means...

Oh, and cycling pet peeve?

Broken glass bottles in the bike lane, or right hand lane. Is it really that hard to show a little bit of respect for others and the environment?

Hear here. I had a driver chastise me yesterday for not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign (I was rolling at less than a snails pace). Same driver didn't seem to notice that they'd rolled through the same sign going at least 5mph, and neglected to indicate their left turn. *sigh*


I had a driver hoot his horn at me on the Story bridge last week as if he thought I was somehow blocking traffic. Less that a kilometre down the road I see him come to a complete stop in the right hand lane just past an intersection where cars were trying to turn onto that road, just so that his girlfriend could get out of the car, get her bag out of the back seat and walk round to the driver's side to give him a farewell kiss. All up he caused far more disruption to the traffic flow that I ever did. Idiot.

You what one of my pet cycling peeves is? The fact that virtually everyone else points the finger at every cyclist who breaks the law without first looking at their own actions. Honestly, if you caught and fined every speeding motorist on the Gold Coast for just one day, you would generate enough revenue from the fines to abolish all forms of taxation nationwide for the next 12 months -- and it's not just speeding. I see drivers blow through red lights, cut corners, drive on the footpath, drive the wrong way down the street everyday and nobody seems to care. Yet the minute a cyclist does any of this, my God the outcry makes one think the world is about to fall down.

Sheer bloody-minded bigotry.

heh.. they even drive on the train tracks here sometimes. :D

Concrete trucks that fail to clean off the chute, leave a job site and somehow all that left over concrete is dropped right on the right 2-3 feet of the road just where you want to ride making a nice smooth road nice and bumpy.

Rumble strips, grooved surfaces, tar all over the road on a hot summer day and freshly oiled & chipped roads right before a event (seems like almost every cycling event I've ridden they did it someplace on it) :eek: :mad: :mad:

Oh, and I used to think Queensland was bad until I moved to Colorado. At least Queenslanders have a vague idea of what a red light or a stop sign means...

Depends which bit of Queensland you're talking about. I often ride from here to Brisbane to visit family I have up there. Let me tell you, it's a hell of a relief to get on the other side of Beenleigh everytime.

Both my cars have well over 100,000 miles on them and I generally fix them myself. If anything, fuel injection and electronic ignition have made cars much simpler to maintain since there is very litlle vacuum hose spaghetti and you do not have to set points and timing when you do a tune up. Speaking of which, you don't even have to do a tune up any more. For the most part, just change the oil and filters now and then.

In my experience, cars last a lot longer than they used to with far less maintenance. Maybe if we went back the good old days of autombiles, more people would get frustrated with their cars and ride bikes. Ever maintain an aircooled VW?

New cars are fine untill their little sensors and computers start to go then it's nightmare city. I prefer points anyway and newer cars do not last as long as the older 60's cars lasted and they don't have spaghetti hoses or electrical mumbo jumbo. The same (I HOPE NOT!) will happen with bikes, they will take away the simplicity and go with electric deraileurs, then electric brakes, keep the batteries charged so you can't stray to far from home and never ride on below 36 degree days, then some day add little computers to assist the electrics better and where will this stop? We'll all have to stop at the LBS to get it serviced by technicians that are paid as much as some HMO doctors.

I have 3....

Guys who ride $4000 bikes who can't be cival upon meeting them for the first time at a club ride, then get even more pissy when you pass them going uphill.

Guys obviously much older than me who kick my cycling arse. I hate that but it gives me something to shoot for.

And $5000 wheel and tire combos on a $600 car.

55/Rad

Pedestrians who give you dirty looks because you're riding a bike down a bike trail.

Cars that cut me off (usually they're 30 year old rust buckets still with their original tyres too).

13 year olds who think they're the toughest thing since Mr T.

People that ride around on £60 full suss 'MTBs' with quill stems (not that there's anything wrong with quills) and rusty steel rims, and think it's a cool bike. Even worse when they're kids on 20 inch ful sussers or the kind of person that would never ever go off road (not that the bike could take it, but...)

And people that ride around in their big ring all the time. Learn to spin goddamit!

I'm always spinnin' in the big ring!

Depends which bit of Queensland you're talking about. I often ride from here to Brisbane to visit family I have up there. Let me tell you, it's a hell of a relief to get on the other side of Beenleigh everytime.
True... cycling on the Gold Coast has never been my favourite activity.

Oooh another one:

Kids in upperclass suburbs wearing "du rags" and all "iced out" sportin' the "bling bling" listening to Ludacris in their BMW 330i and look like they are driving from the backseat.

Ever maintain an aircooled VW?


How about a 63 Covair does that count?

How about a 63 Covair does that count?

You mean you drove one of those things and lived to tell about it? Don't tell Ralph Nader :-)

lets keep this bike-related :D

one of my pet peeves is people on this message board who write, "lets keep this bike-related" just because a thread strays even the slightest bit off topic.

My biggest online pet peeve is people who write long blocks of text without paragraph breaks. I won't name names but there is a supposedly highly regarded writer on this board (who's name is a condiment) who apparently thinks that paragraph breaks are optional. I am no grammar nazi but trying to read 400 lines of unbroken text is tedious and mind numbing. If you can't be bothered to include paragraph breaks then I won't be bothered to read anything you write.

Posers and racer wannabees on $5,000 wonderbikes with full color-coordinated cycling wear that look down on me on my retro bikes with fenders and panniers. Of course, when said poser/racer wannabee gets dropped by fat old guy on a fendered fixed gear, they know they've been DROPPED.

It's truely amazing to me how many of these full ticket bike magazine poster posers can't ride for s**t. Why do they spend so much money and yet not learn to ride?

one of my pet peeves is people on this message board who write, "lets keep this bike-related" just because a thread strays even the slightest bit off topic.
what about people making obvious hyperboles -- when they characterize a majority (of replies) as just slight
:D

or how about 3 replies in a row, rather than consolidating them into 1 :D

and, most revelantly, safety brake extension bars :D

. . . Ever maintain an aircooled VW?

We run two 71 VW busses and a bug, with everything stock on the running gear and stock 1600 "bug" engines. Change the oil religiously, check any and all rubber hoses on them, make sure everything is mechanically sound (have it done professionally if you are not up to it), and very little maintenance is required--if you drive the things within their limited power spans. Hubby has waaaaay over 200,000 miles on the bug engine; the last engine he put in it was about 20 years ago.

I can be a real pain in the butt though, if your VW is in a "piece of s**t" stage and you try to "maintain" it.

Broken glass bottles in the bike lane, or right hand lane. Is it really that hard to show a little bit of respect for others and the environment?
I think that rednecks in pick up trucks and their ilk intentionally break bottles in the bike lane to mess with the cyclists... :mad:

First they made cars more complicated so the backyard mechanic would have a very difficult time fixing them, then they made them so they would not last as long.

I have to disagree with you on that one. In the 60s a car was completely worn out at 100,000 miles. That means the engine was shot, the suspension was worn out, and the interior was a raggity mess. How about the Chevy Vega (1971 - 1975) with the AL engine block and cast iron head? They literally rusted while sitting on the lot before they were sold. If you got 30K out of the engine, it was a small miracle.

A modern car will easily last 200,000 miles with just oil changes. And you don't need to do those as often as you used to. Then there are points, plugs, condensors, rotors, carberators, valve adjustments, timing adjustments, and other mechanical nightmares that are now, thankfully, a thing of the past.

BTW, I am a car nut and have owned several older cars. Including (don't tell anyone) two Chevy Vegas (first two cars), $250 total. I sometimes miss the older ones, because there is hardly ever anything to do to my modern car. It just runs, and runs, and runs.