Commuting - LOL, my wife asks what the difference is between "green bike" and the "black bike"

So I finished building my Surly Disc Trucker yesterday and I want to to ride to work today to test it. So I moved my bags off of my commuter and prepared the Trucker.

So my wifey looks at the 26" MTB aluminum (Nashbar frame) bike with fat 2.0 tires, worn out saddle, aluminum Topeak rack then at the sleek 700c Trucker with 700x32 tires, Tubus racks, Brooks saddle, trekking bars, etc., and asks me what the difference is between the green bike and old black bike. So what can I say? "Um.. . yeah, one is green and one is black, the green one rides better."

She has a blue bike, btw. That's all she needs to know, it seems :D

that's awesome, my wife usually can't tell the difference between my $1000 Surly and my $60 craigslist Schwinn Le Tour.

For a while it made me think that there was no need for such an expensive rig, but then I ride the Schwinn for a few miles and it reminds me how much technology has improved in the last 30 years.

My wife also has a blue bike

Blue bikes a re cool! ;)

I love the Trucker, BTW! I's been couple of years since I had a steel frame (Kona Sutra). The ride is so sweet! I reused lots of parts that I already had so it was under $1000 to build, so not bad.

Pics!

My wife has a blue bike too, LOL. Im teaching her the difference between bikes and why the Felt F75, the Surly Pugsley, the Trek hybrid, and the POS tandem arent enough and I need to get a couple more (Fixie, Cargo, etc.). Luckily my oldest son has the N+1 fever also, and has a fixie and a road, and is asking for a mountain now

Obviously the green bike is solar powered and the black one is coal-fired.

It's great she's interested in learning more...hope you encouraged her.

Pics!

Sure, sure :) Soon. I snapped two on the ride to work this morning. More later.

Blue bikes a re cool! ;)
.

But red is faster. Everybody knows this.

So I finished building my Surly Disc Trucker yesterday and I want to to ride to work today to test it. So I moved my bags off of my commuter and prepared the Trucker.

So my wifey looks at the 26" MTB aluminum (Nashbar frame) bike with fat 2.0 tires, worn out saddle, aluminum Topeak rack then at the sleek 700c Trucker with 700x32 tires, Tubus racks, Brooks saddle, trekking bars, etc., and asks me what the difference is between the green bike and old black bike. So what can I say? "Um.. . yeah, one is green and one is black, the green one rides better."

She has a blue bike, btw. That's all she needs to know, it seems :D

My daughters and I ride often, but I still think they would choose a Walmart special over a TREK Madone if it were the right color.

My wife has a blue bike too, LOL. Im teaching her the difference between bikes and why the Felt F75, the Surly Pugsley, the Trek hybrid, and the POS tandem arent enough and I need to get a couple more (Fixie, Cargo, etc.). Luckily my oldest son has the N+1 fever also, and has a fixie and a road, and is asking for a mountain now

Just tell her you need new bikes because you want a new color!

Just a second. She's interested enough in the bikes to ask you about the difference, so you come onto the internet and ask complete strangers to laugh about her? Huh?

When I started riding, I had no clue about the difference between a Walmart bike and a road bike, except that road bikes had curly handlebars and they looked uncomfortable. I now own three road bikes, and can discuss the pros and cons of steel vs titanium with the best of the bike snobs. But I don't snicker about people who don't know, I just tell them as much as I think they want to know.

Just tell her you need new bikes because you want a new color!

Ha! I gotta try this next time. Perhaps she'll be more understanding :)


But red is faster. Everybody knows this.

Yeah, the green one is nice but slow :D


Just a second. She's interested enough in the bikes to ask you about the difference, so you come onto the internet and ask complete strangers to laugh about her? Huh?

It was kinda cute, actually. But she was a bit ticked off and sarcastic too, because this is the second new bike in about a month. So I know she was a bit upset, but she knows that this stuff matters to me so she avoided outright "what do you need another bike for?!?" I'm not asking to laugh at her, I just think it was cute. But she doesn't really care, so I know there is no reason to try to explain. It was hard enough to teach her how to shift properly, it didn't bother her when the chain was rubbing the FD. I swapped her knobies for smooth Marathon tires, she was like "meh...". Some people just don't care and it's sometimes funny.

And here is the Trucker.

Large: http://a-world.net/files/cycling/2012/Surly-Trucker/04/large/

http://a-world.net/files/cycling/2012/Surly-Trucker/04/small/Picture-03.jpg

http://a-world.net/files/cycling/2012/Surly-Trucker/04/small/Picture-02.jpg

http://a-world.net/files/cycling/2012/Surly-Trucker/04/small/Picture-01.jpg

Since I only have the one beater Schwinn right now and just bought the spouse an ice blue 3-spd I don't get "bike difference" questions, yet. But, I sure used to get an earful when I'd buy another BBQ cooker. At one time I had 4 different cookers not counting the turkey fryer and gas grill. Yeah, "what is the difference" questions can be cute, cutting, or "do you really want me to answer that"...
Oh, I'm down to 3.5 cookers now... :D

Nice Trucker! The question I get from my wife is: Why do you need so many bikes? It's kind of hard to explain to someone who doesn't ride how the different bikes all serve different purposes -- one is my main commuter, another my backup commuter and weekend bike, another my weekend bike for fast or long rides, another my backup backup bike for just noodling around. I ride all of my bikes, none of them are just for show. If I find that I no longer enjoy riding a bike or just don't need it, I sell it.

I currently have 4 road bikes with another one on the way (that she doesn't know about). However, I've sold two bikes within the past 6 months and might sell another one when my touring bike is completed. The bike that I am most likely to sell is one that I really want to keep, however, because it's an Italian racing frame that fits me perfect and is fun, fun, fun to ride. So I'll probably hang onto to it at least for a while.

But I still think they would choose a Walmart special over a TREK Madone if it were the right color.
My children are the same way. I have four daughters and one son, and I didn't want to buy a 16" bicycle for only one child, so we painted it white. It had been pink. Now he's happily moved up to a 20" silver BMX bicycle. My oldest daughter (almost 11) has been asking for a 3-speed hub, though.

My wife's bike is a hi-ten Schwinn mtb, with baskets front and rear, fenders, and a Brooks B33. It's bluish green. She likes it a lot for short errands, but has no interest in changing anything or having a different bike for different sorts of rides. She wanted the baskets, didn't really care about the fenders, but it was a major thing for me to convince her to try different handlebars. I took off the flat bars and put some "north road" ones on. She won't even consider drops. She likes them now.

But really, for the sort of riding she does, it's the perfect bicycle: comfortable, reliable, able to carry things. The difference between that bike and a "faster" one wouldn't really matter to her.

Sweet Trucker. I only have one bike, every spring I have to resist the urge to buy another, and the Trucker is one on my short list every year. The REI Safari is right up there too.

That is a beautiful ride congratulations on finishing the build.

Tell her the Black bike is for kick ass day and the green bike is for Spare the Air Day.

Nice Trucker! The question I get from my wife is: Why do you need so many bikes? It's kind of hard to explain to someone who doesn't ride how the different bikes all serve different purposes -- one is my main commuter, another my backup commuter and weekend bike, another my weekend bike for fast or long rides, another my backup backup bike for just noodling around. I ride all of my bikes, none of them are just for show. If I find that I no longer enjoy riding a bike or just don't need it, I sell it.

I currently have 4 road bikes with another one on the way (that she doesn't know about). However, I've sold two bikes within the past 6 months and might sell another one when my touring bike is completed. The bike that I am most likely to sell is one that I really want to keep, however, because it's an Italian racing frame that fits me perfect and is fun, fun, fun to ride. So I'll probably hang onto to it at least for a while.

I was like that too, but you always lose money when you sell a bike so I tried to be more thoughtful this time. I ended up with four decent bikes that should cover all my needs: a tough commuter/utility bike (rigid MTB), a full susp MTB strictly for off-road rides, a carbon road bike and the Trucker. I hope I won't be buying another bike any time soon. Now I just want more time to ride them. If I had the money, the space and time to ride more I'd probably get a recumbent or a trike, maybe a Pugsley or Moonlander for fun rides, but - besides the cost - I wouldn't have the time to ride all of them, nor the space to keep them. Even with the four now, it's tight. Now we're looking to move and the bikes are an issue.

But yes, for my wife one bike is enough because she only does errands and short rides. The longest ride we did together was a poky 20 miles around Brooklyn and she wasn't really looking forward to another one. One thing, and I can't blame her, she hates riding in the city, bu we don't have much choice. She did enjoy riding around the Acadia National Park because it was great outdoors, no traffic, etc. But only for a day and slowly. I rode the whole park around and through and through for two days while she was chilling by a lake. She has zero interest in long road rides and touring. But at least she understands that it matters to me.

If we manage to move outside of NYC perhaps she'll be more interested in riding. There are some nice roads a trailways upstate NY, still within a train commute to NYC. But on the negative side: I won't be able to commute by bike and that's a nice workout, really helps with weekend rides. I will need to find a way to put in some miles.

Oh, by I started rambling :(


Tell her the Black bike is for kick ass day and the green bike is for Spare the Air Day.

:D


That is a beautiful ride congratulations on finishing the build.

Thanks! It rides awesomely too. Not nimble like my other bikes, but faster than my commuter and very, very, very smooth ride.

Just a second. She's interested enough in the bikes to ask you about the difference, so you come onto the internet and ask complete strangers to laugh about her? Huh?

Yea.. I thought that too, but I didn't say anything. My wife puts up with my bike habit.. she can ask any question she wants, as long as it's not "When are you going to sell one of those?"

Yea.. I thought that too, but I didn't say anything. My wife puts up with my bike habit.. she can ask any question she wants, as long as it's not "When are you going to sell one of those?"

Trust me, she wouldn't mind. We're not so uptight, we make fun of each other all the time.

I'm going to play the devil's advocate and side with all your wives/SO's. Whatchy'all need all them bikes for anyway? You only need one bike. Period. Well, maybe you need a tandem if you want to take her for a ride. And you ride the track? OK, that requires a specialized bike. But why would anyone need more than those three bikes anyway?

OK, a winter bike or a fixie to preserve all the expensive equipment on the "A" bike. And maybe a mountain bike, if you do significant off-road.

So why would anyone need more than five bikes?

OK, so you race bikes on the road. So there's your "A" bike (which your team will give you if you're good enough and on the right team). but then you need a "B" bike for training on (last year's A bike) to save wear and tear on the A bike, and to use as a spare in the stage races. Plus you need the specialized time trial bike. And wheels, lots and lots of wheels!

Yeah, so why would anyone need more than seven bikes?

Luis

When I was eyeing a fancy bike at the bike shop, my wife posted on the shop's facebook wall that they should make me a really great deal on it. I hadn't even said I wanted to buy it, but she saw my face when I took it for a test ride. She had also picked it up and was amazed that a steel bike could be so light.

Yeah, I'm lucky.

I currently have two bikes: a hardtail 29er MTB for the trails (Novara Ponderosa), and a steel drop-bar for road riding (Salsa Vaya). Both bikes serve commuting duty, with studs on the Ponderosa in winter. I'd like to add two more to the stable: a Fatback for winter trail rides and a really fast road bike. I think I would stop buying bikes at four. Right now, getting even one more would create more marital disharmony that it would be worth.

Before I got my wife into shooting, she could only distinguish between my pistols as "black" or "silver." So as long as I only bought "black" guns, she never realized that I had a new one. That doesn't work any more. And it definitely wouldn't work with a bike. Bikes take up a lot more room than pistols.

The green one doesn't contribute to global warming, whereas the black one absorbs heat compounding the problem ;)

Just tell her you need new bikes because you want a new color!

"But honey, this one doesn't match my bag so I needed a new teal bike!"

My wife now has more bikes than I do (three to two), so I don't get these questions anymore. The parents that are storing the out-of-season bikes still don't get it.

i don't really see how anybody would need more than 2 at any given time, one for general riding/errand running and one for travel. maybe i just don't get the whole multi-bike thing.

i don't really see how anybody would need more than 2 at any given time, one for general riding/errand running and one for travel. maybe i just don't get the whole multi-bike thing.

- fast and light road riding
- heavy loaded touring
- mountain biking
- a beater for commuting and utility runs

Two for me. A beater/errand runner/kid carrier and my exercise mtb. Don't see the need for high speed so I just run off road tyres on it. If it rains or I have to leave it on the street the beater goes on my commute. If I have a safe place to park I use the fun bike. I could see the use for a tandom, but beyond that I don't need anymore bikes.

beyond that I don't need anymore bikes.


i just don't get the whole multi-bike thing.

:twitchy:

Ha! I gotta try this next time. Perhaps she'll be more understanding :)



Yeah, the green one is nice but slow :D



It was kinda cute, actually. But she was a bit ticked off and sarcastic too, because this is the second new bike in about a month. So I know she was a bit upset, but she knows that this stuff matters to me so she avoided outright "what do you need another bike for?!?" I'm not asking to laugh at her, I just think it was cute. But she doesn't really care, so I know there is no reason to try to explain. It was hard enough to teach her how to shift properly, it didn't bother her when the chain was rubbing the FD. I swapped her knobies for smooth Marathon tires, she was like "meh...". Some people just don't care and it's sometimes funny.

And here is the Trucker.

Large: http://a-world.net/files/cycling/2012/Surly-Trucker/04/large/

http://a-world.net/files/cycling/2012/Surly-Trucker/04/small/Picture-03.jpg

http://a-world.net/files/cycling/2012/Surly-Trucker/04/small/Picture-02.jpg

http://a-world.net/files/cycling/2012/Surly-Trucker/04/small/Picture-01.jpg

Nice! What fenders are those? I like the double stays on the front.

Planet Bike Cascadia, yeah, those double struts make a lot of differnce, the fender doesn't move.

Pics!And I thought everyone would be able to tell the difference between green and black without having to look at pics.

Second best thing to pics:

GREEN

BLACK

Has anyone else made the mistake of actually trying to answer that question? On a couple of occasions, I have tried to explain the necessity of multiple bikes to my wife after she raises the topic. By about the third sentence, I can tell that I've surpassed her actual interest level in the topic.

That's one nice Truckin' bike there Adam! I have enough bikes that the last 2 I stuck in the row for several months before the wife asked about them. By then it wasn't really lying when I said, "Oh, I've had them for quite a while!" Most of mine were picked up at thrift stores or garage sales or Craigslist, so there's not that much cash involved anyway.

This means you're free to buy as many bikes as you like, as long as they're either green or black.

i don't really see how anybody would need more than 2 at any given time, one for general riding/errand running and one for travel. maybe i just don't get the whole multi-bike thing.
Your bikes are not specialised enough.

I only own two, but can easily come up with at least 11 desireable bikes without even stretching my imagination
1- Heavy duty bike for touring and commuting
2- Winterised mountain bike for, well, winter
3- Full suspension MTB for single track
4- Cargo bike for running errands not easily accomplished in panniers, or for transporting children
5- Comfort bike for toodling around
6- Lightweight road bike for fun rides
7- Fixie for track riding
8- Fixie for acting all hipster (requirements are different from track bikes)
9- Classic fashion bike to show off
10- Folding bike for intermodal travel or easy flying
11- Tandem for going out with a friend/spouse/whatever who bikes at a different speed than you do
...

Bikes are specialised. Any one person being interested in all these things is unlikely, but more than two is pretty easy.

10- Folding bike for intermodal travel or easy flyingI forgot about that one. A nice Bike Friday would be a good one to add to the garage. So now I'm up to five.

I think I'd rather have a trailer than a cargo bike. But I have little experience with trailers and no experience with cargo bikes, so some time in the saddle might lead to a different conclusion.