Commuting - people riding bikes that are too small

I see this a lot, people that are riding bikes that are way too small for them. whenever they pedal there knees come over the handlebars, and it looks ridiculous, a lot of kids do this with BMX bikes I saw a guy about 30 years old riding a kids bike and it really looked bad. Has anyone else experienced this?

Yeah, I see it too. It's usually 'hip-hop' (lol) looking bikers riding around on BMX bikes, with their knees looking UNCOMFORTABLY high on the upstroke. I'll confess, though. I found a free dept. store bike on the side of the road that's got a frame about two inches too small for me. I took off the drop bars, put a pair of cruiser-esque bars on it, and use it to ride from my house to the university, which is about six blocks. I jacked the seat up to give me good leg form, but technically, the bike is a bit too small for me. :) I also put a huge bling-bling chrome bell on it.

I see this a lot, people that are riding bikes that are way too small for them. whenever they pedal there knees come over the handlebars, and it looks ridiculous, a lot of kids do this with BMX bikes I saw a guy about 30 years old riding a kids bike and it really looked bad. Has anyone else experienced this?
Oh yeah I see this all the time. My favorites are the people on the POS dual suspension "bikes" with the backwards forks and the bar ends pointed straight up so that they have something to grab onto.


Time to clean the gene pool's filter.

I used to see adults riding 70 km on the Montreal Tour de l' Ile on childrens bikes. The amazing thing is that they seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Unless it's a BMX, I usually assume it was a free or stolen bike. Like the time I saw this kid having quite a time of trying to stay on a fixed gear bike that was too big for him...kinda funny to watch, though.

Who cares? Not everyone rides because they want to get somewhere and even those who are going somewhere don't always care if they are efficient, etc.

What is wrong with portraying ones style with a bike? I'd say everyone does it, conciously or not. Better than using a car as a fashion statement.

Al

Who cares? Not everyone rides because they want to get somewhere and even those who are going somewhere don't always care if they are efficient, etc.

What is wrong with portraying ones style with a bike? I'd say everyone does it, conciously or not. Better than using a car as a fashion statement.

Valid point, but I wonder how many of them would choose to be on a correctly fitting bike if they knew any better.

i went camping with a large group of friends recently...the girls and guys split up to go on bike rides. I had to raise all of the girls' seats at least 3 inches. They wanted them low because they thought it was more comfortable to get on and off, but i told them that it's better form to have it adjusted right (higher), and that their quads wouldn't get as tired. I didn't get any feedback from them, but when they left they were adjusted better.

Lots of people adjust seats so that it's comfortable to get on and off and to stand still at a stoplight with one foot on the ground. I don't think they know any better.

Who me?

http://images.ofoto.com/photos543/2/50/31/35/65/0/65353150206_0_ALB.jpg


:)

Jay

what I see a lot and noticed is that a lot of people have a misconception about handle drop bars, the one I see riding them as a mean of transportation usually have the drop flipped in a way that lower ends are on top, to them that's more comfortable.
Weird.
Corsaire

i went camping with a large group of friends recently...the girls and guys split up to go on bike rides. I had to raise all of the girls' seats at least 3 inches. They wanted them low because they thought it was more comfortable to get on and off, but i told them that it's better form to have it adjusted right (higher), and that their quads wouldn't get as tired. I didn't get any feedback from them, but when they left they were adjusted better.

Lots of people adjust seats so that it's comfortable to get on and off and to stand still at a stoplight with one foot on the ground. I don't think they know any better.

Probably the only bike where it's good to have the seat low are beach cruisers or the "Townie" where the geometry requires you to sit low and back. Unfortunately, most people don't even know the Townie even exists.

what I see a lot and noticed is that a lot of people have a misconception about handle drop bars, the one I see riding them as a mean of transportation usually have the drop flipped in a way that lower ends are on top, to them that's more comfortable.
Weird.
Corsaire

When people do this it's because the frame was too big and their hands are not comfortable on the drops.

Probably the only bike where it's good to have the seat low are beach cruisers or the "Townie" where the geometry requires you to sit low and back. Unfortunately, most people don't even know the Townie even exists.

I think you got lost. Here's the Electra Townie thread:
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=39627

G'day.

If you do lots of jumps and such on your mountain bike or BMX, tehn ahving hte seat slightly lower is fo help...but it should never be as low as many of these folks have theirs at.

I saw a guy riding a bmx with the seat so low that it looked like he was curled into a ball...now that was not only ******** but outright dangerous.

On another note...I may have taught a kid to move his seat up properly...on the rail, he asked why my seat was so high...I explained the knee pain, and he mentioned he had pain if he rode for a long time...so I let him use my wrench to get his seat up right....one less ghetto seat on the road :)

what I see a lot and noticed is that a lot of people have a misconception about handle drop bars, the one I see riding them as a mean of transportation usually have the drop flipped in a way that lower ends are on top, to them that's more comfortable.
Weird.
Corsaire
Oh you mean "DUI bikes"? Down here those are usually rusty weather beaten women's ten speeds ridden by some dude with a mullet and a bass fishing baseball cap wearing late 80's Oakley knock offs.
http://www.mulletjunky.com/webimages/ericandhaley.al.jpg
Yeah I've seen those

Right on Al. Glad you said it. If people paid more attention to what they feel instead of how they look the world would be a better place I think. I have loved to bike all my life and had several mountain bikes but never really thought they were that great or agile enough for me. I have seen many people riding bmx and looking silly. Why? Cause the bike was never set up for them properly. They probably just think that you get a bmx and that's enough. Kinda like people who buy guitars and drumsets so they can look at them and never really make the effort to learn them. Everything is kinda like that. I think the term is poser. Well I am 45 years old ..... very active and love to get right in there with my 14 and 15 year old boys and I just bought a bmx bike and I am hooked. Talk about a workout. I took the time to research the sport first and have my local bike tech set it up properly for me and I love it. I don't want to sightsee, I want a workout. So the riders you see hip hoppin along with knees over the pedals ? Well as far as I can see thats not the way to ride that style of bike is it? Like the man said .... a goofy bike is still a better fashion statement than a environmentally unfriendly car. Hey ..... my bike always starts....... rain or shine . Ride on and get your ass in gear!! If more people do maybe we won't see as many people dying at age 40. Just my opinion .. TK

I see either the typical stonner 28-34 year old guy with a Slayer t-shirt still riding BMX. The kind of guy that never moved out of the parents garage unit...OR the urban vegabond/drunkard type on a brand new Gary Fisher or Trek 1200. The latter one really gets me pissed off, since I just had my MTB ripped off.
I mean c'mon, if you are sleeping in the park/under Hwy overpass, CAN YOU AFFORD a Trek 1200! I love watching these guys cruise right by the cops....GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

The latter part here should be another thread...

Valid point, but I wonder how many of them would choose to be on a correctly fitting bike if they knew any better.

How many people here would pay $500 for a pair of headphones and $1000 for a dedicated amp for the headphones and $400 for a super audio CD player and then hundreds to thousands to update their CD collection to SACD?
Because I have to wonder, how many people would choose to listen to non-fatiguing, natural sounding headphones rather than the cheap $5 ones that came with their cd player?
Head on over to head-fi.org and you'll find people who's headphones cost more than most people's full carbon bikes here.
I have a coworker who wears a jersey and biking shorts but commutes with a $50 full suspension mtb, as long as he doesn't get any sores, he's happy.

I used to see adults riding 70 km on the Montreal Tour de l' Ile on childrens bikes. The amazing thing is that they seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Seemed to be enjoying themselves?
Or were they actually enjoying themselves?

Wut's a "stonner"??? :rolleyes: ;)

PS - I've had more fun on a bike that's "too small for me" - usually a kids bike, not a BMX - than most average americans have in their entire lives, so there!!! :D (and I know better, too - I've got plenty of "big bikes" to choose from when I want to ride, but WTF, it's ZooBomb... ;) )

PPS - but I know what you mean, 'cause the tweakers in the park all ride bmx...

PPPS - nice analogy w/ audio equipment, eh!!! :p

:)

those guys you see riding tiny BMX bikes actually do have their bikes set up correctly. not for distance riding, obviously, but for BMX tricks. might look ridiculous to us, but a rider with a perfectly fitted road bike would look equally ridiculous in a halfpipe

I have a coworker who wears a jersey and biking shorts but commutes with a $50 full suspension mtb, as long as he doesn't get any sores, he's happy.

I saw someone like this the other day on the Lightrail. He had a massive backpack, (the kind back packers wear) a cheap helmet from Mongose, sneakers and a $129.00 dollar Mongose department store bike. The tuneup I had done on my Univega cost more than that bike.

I'm wondering how many of those that noted the "mal-adjusted" bmx bikes would have theirs set up....

The current trend of tricks/stunts/magic with the freestyle bikes requires thta the seats be very low like you see. HOWEVER; I would bet that the great majority of these kids cannot even manual for a parking space, or do a 180 bunnyhop. So, I agree that its really an image thing for most, and the others just don't care.

(for the record, my old bmx/freestyle bikes had the seat level with the grips when the bars were turned 90 degrees. If I knew i'd be riding long distances, or doing a lot of wheelies, I'd raise it higher. rarely would I put it lower though.)

I don't get to see very many inverted drop bars anymore (verticle bar ends seem to have taken their place). Used to see this a lot in the ghetto, or else it was stoner/burnout/hessian riding it. Funny, all the burnouts/stoners/hessians always seemed to be able to do wheelies very very far, while smoking. reminds of that dude from Bad News Bears on the motorcycle....

I saw someone like this the other day on the Lightrail. He had a massive backpack, (the kind back packers wear) a cheap helmet from Mongose, sneakers and a $129.00 dollar Mongose department store bike. The tuneup I had done on my Univega cost more than that bike.

But was he enjoying it?

My view on this is: At least they're riding.

I really don't care what people ride as much as how they ride. I don't even care if they follow the rules or not, as long as they at least understand and follow the principles of riding with traffic.

do you mean like this guy?

BMX bike seats are meant to be low. They don't sit on them while landing tricks, that would just hurt.... They pretty much stand and use their legs for shocks, seats are just there for looks and "just in case" the foot slips off the pedal.

Besides, "we" shouldn't be talking about looks in our tight fitting, bun showing clothes :D

Funny, for some of us the bikes are going to be small unless we go with a "giant" model... i.e. 22 - 24 inch bike for a 6 foot 6 inch person...