Go Back  Bike Forums > Bike Forums > Classic & Vintage
Reload this Page >

Why do some people think it's ok

Notices
Classic & Vintage This forum is to discuss the many aspects of classic and vintage bicycles, including musclebikes, lightweights, middleweights, hi-wheelers, bone-shakers, safety bikes and much more.

Why do some people think it's ok

Old 02-08-09, 10:39 PM
  #1  
Fast Old Guy
Thread Starter
 
Straightblock's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Central California
Posts: 679
Mentioned: 20 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 143 Post(s)
Liked 653 Times in 175 Posts
Why do some people think it's ok

to toss their punctured tubes on the side of the road?

OK, so this isn't really a C & V topic, but I started road riding in the 70s when "ecology" was as much of a buzz word as "green" is today. I always though of bicycling as a clean activity, but nowadays it's almost impossible to go on a rural ride without seeing tubes, CO2 cartridges, foil gel wrappers, etc littering the shoulder of the road. I picked up 2 tubes on a 40 mile ride yesterday, and in the last few years I'd bet I've picked up at least 50 & either carried them to the next trash can or home to patch & use on project bikes.
Straightblock is offline  
Old 02-08-09, 10:42 PM
  #2  
Decrepit Member
 
Scooper's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Santa Rosa, California
Posts: 10,489

Bikes: Waterford 953 RS-22, several Paramounts

Mentioned: 71 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 634 Post(s)
Liked 68 Times in 57 Posts
I agree; littering is criminal.
__________________
- Stan

my bikes

Science doesn't care what you believe.
Scooper is offline  
Old 02-08-09, 10:57 PM
  #3  
Senior Member
 
DavidW56's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Metro Detroit
Posts: 1,240
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 2 Times in 2 Posts
This might begin to tie in with the "what's the strangest thing you've seen discarded by the side of the road while you were riding your bike?" thread. I've never seen bike paraphernalia as you describe, only the usual roadside refuse. But then, I've never ridden a bike off-road.
DavidW56 is offline  
Old 02-08-09, 11:03 PM
  #4  
Fast Old Guy
Thread Starter
 
Straightblock's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Central California
Posts: 679
Mentioned: 20 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 143 Post(s)
Liked 653 Times in 175 Posts
Originally Posted by DavidW56
I've never seen bike paraphernalia as you describe, only the usual roadside refuse. But then, I've never ridden a bike off-road.
I'm seeing this on road rides. Sometimes I see tubes tossed right in someone's driveway. Just another reason for people to be intolerant of bicycles.
Straightblock is offline  
Old 02-08-09, 11:11 PM
  #5  
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 2,756
Mentioned: 8 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 83 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 12 Times in 11 Posts
I guess these type of people would be, jerks.

Can't say I've ever seen any bike related stuff on the roads where I live, but I see plenty of litter. And it's common to see big dumps like TV's and appliances on some of the lightly traveled mountain roads. Wadda you goin' do the world's full of dummy's that do stuff like that.

As for discarded road tubes, pick them up and repair them. That's like finding five bucks!
Otis is offline  
Old 02-08-09, 11:23 PM
  #6  
Uber Goober
 
StephenH's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Dallas area, Texas
Posts: 11,758
Mentioned: 3 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 190 Post(s)
Liked 41 Times in 32 Posts
The only place where I've seen this was on the Hotter-n-Hell 100, where about 11,999 riders were in front of me. I probably spotted a dozen tubes by the side of the road.

Why to do this- probably the biggest factor is it's hard to put tubes back where an empty one came from. You carry that dinky little seat-bag and can't fit a half-deflated tube back in it. That doesn't excuse it, but I can understand it.
__________________
"be careful this rando stuff is addictive and dan's the 'pusher'."
StephenH is offline  
Old 02-08-09, 11:27 PM
  #7  
Great State of Varmint
 
Panthers007's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Dante's Third Ring
Posts: 7,476
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 15 Times in 15 Posts
When I was attending UBI (United Bicycle Institute) in Ashland, Oregon in 1984, I borrowed UBI's best bike (they loaned you a bike if you didn't trust the airlines to take care of it) and struck out for California. The roads in Oregon were clean and I saw very little litter of any description.

When I crossed into California - it changed dramatically. There was discarded everything along the roads. TV sets, dryers, cases of beer (empty) cans...just yuck! I wheeled the Univega I'd absconded with and headed back to Ashland. I wished I'd taken a camera.

The prevalence in one place, but not another, can be attributed to the social mindset of the people who live there. Apparently people in Oregon actually care for their environment and don't want to be the first one to screw it up. California seems to tell it's citizens that they live in a black-topped garbage can. Where I live now I see the same thing. In Vermont there is very little roadside trash. We don't allow billboards advertising ANYTHING by the side of our roads and highways. But go south into Massachusetts - open-air trash can. They had a saying in Oregon:

Don't Californicate Oregon.
Panthers007 is offline  
Old 02-08-09, 11:37 PM
  #8  
low end rider
 
riva's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 793

Bikes: 80's. hoarder.

Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 56 Post(s)
Liked 43 Times in 37 Posts
There's jerks who ride bikes.. there's jerks who live in oregon. Maybe not as many per capita as non-bikers and californians.. but still come on. Never seen tubes here in socal or I'd probably pick em up and patch em like was said!
riva is offline  
Old 02-09-09, 12:35 AM
  #9  
Great State of Varmint
 
Panthers007's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Dante's Third Ring
Posts: 7,476
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 15 Times in 15 Posts
Well I'm from Massachusetts. I know the mindset living there engenders. I mean - one night around 11:00pm a station wagon came up my long driveway. The gate fell open. And a dead dishwasher was shoved out. While these geniuses looked right at me. I took down their license-plate and called the cops. They were infected, too. The cop refused to take a report. Told me to go throw it someplace else!

Some areas have different rules - unwritten. My experience with the border area of CA & OR served as a stark reminder. That was when I started to wonder the same thing as the OP poised. Why? And the above is my condensed version of an answer.

It's great you might pick up trash. I hope that extends beyond "slightly-used" bicycle parts.

Happy Trails! <Riiiiip! SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS______>
Panthers007 is offline  
Old 02-09-09, 05:20 AM
  #10  
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 162
Mentioned: 2 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 51 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 2 Times in 2 Posts
One morning on my way to work on the bike at the end of our street I saw a cardboard box with a door cutout, pet water bottle, and lettuce inside. I rode by thinking it was trash. As the day went on I kept thinking about it and finally decided someone had abandoned their pet ?? beside the road. On my way home I surveyed the area and found a small black bunny in the bushes. He wasn't too afraid of me but I couldn't catch him. I went home and got a blanket and was able to get him captured. He was mighty thirsty and hungry but otherwise ok. Since we had cats at the time he went to a friend who raised rabbits.
CO_Steve is offline  
Old 02-09-09, 12:14 PM
  #11  
Great State of Varmint
 
Panthers007's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Dante's Third Ring
Posts: 7,476
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 15 Times in 15 Posts
Yep - typical. Some dunce dropped/threw a box of puppies out of their car and onto a friend's lawn. And sped away. We found the little woofies good homes - wishing we'd run into the morons who did this.
Panthers007 is offline  
Old 02-09-09, 01:01 PM
  #12  
www.theheadbadge.com
 
cudak888's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Southern Florida
Posts: 28,487

Bikes: https://www.theheadbadge.com

Mentioned: 121 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2395 Post(s)
Liked 4,337 Times in 2,070 Posts
Originally Posted by Panthers007
I took down their license-plate and called the cops. They were infected, too. The cop refused to take a report. Told me to go throw it someplace else!
Ahh - a location where vigilante justice is encouraged, eh? For a moment, I thought I was in A&S.

-Kurt
__________________












cudak888 is offline  
Old 02-09-09, 01:03 PM
  #13  
Dropped
 
JunkYardBike's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Northwestern NJ
Posts: 6,232
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 19 Post(s)
Liked 20 Times in 17 Posts
Originally Posted by Straightblock
foil gel wrappers
Weight weenies!...do you know how many fractions of a gram a foil wrapper weighs?!?!?
JunkYardBike is offline  
Old 02-09-09, 02:57 PM
  #14  
Senior Member
 
vincev's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Crown Point,Indiana
Posts: 620
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Same people that leave their childrens diapers in a parking lot,throw litter out of their four wheel transportation.
vincev is offline  
Old 02-09-09, 03:54 PM
  #15  
cowboy, steel horse, etc
 
LesterOfPuppets's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: The hot spot.
Posts: 44,706

Bikes: everywhere

Mentioned: 71 Post(s)
Tagged: 1 Thread(s)
Quoted: 12574 Post(s)
Liked 7,462 Times in 3,950 Posts
It's called training for the pro peloton. How ya gonna win the Tour de France if you don't know how to huck **** off to the side of the road?

Last edited by LesterOfPuppets; 02-09-09 at 04:22 PM.
LesterOfPuppets is online now  
Old 02-09-09, 04:10 PM
  #16  
Ride on...
 
KJColumbo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Honey Brook, PA
Posts: 84

Bikes: Just starting my collection.

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Puncture a tube, wrap it around you old school style (over one shoulder, under the other arm) and deal with it. Foil from gels/bars, put it in your pocket. Not that hard. I hate people who litter!
KJColumbo is offline  
Old 02-09-09, 04:35 PM
  #17  
Great State of Varmint
 
Panthers007's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Dante's Third Ring
Posts: 7,476
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 15 Times in 15 Posts
When they die, I'm sure their relatives will be of like mind. And dispose of the corpse on the roadside somewhere...<THUD!> Vrooooooooooooooooooooom!
Panthers007 is offline  
Old 02-09-09, 05:30 PM
  #18  
Old Fogy
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Murray, Utah
Posts: 1,225
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 1 Time in 1 Post
One of my pet peeves is cigarette butts. It seems as though the whole world is going to be covered with cigarette butts, those and little plastic air soft pellets! I have seen cops, mailmen, even firemen toss their lit butts out of the window.
waldowales is offline  
Old 02-09-09, 11:14 PM
  #19  
Senior Member
 
vincev's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Crown Point,Indiana
Posts: 620
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
I do know someone who got a $150 ticket for throwing a cigarette butt out their window.Not me I dont smoke.
vincev is offline  
Old 02-10-09, 12:05 AM
  #20  
Senior Member
 
javal's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Örebro, Sweden
Posts: 1,318

Bikes: Monark sportser 1970, Monark sportser 1970ish, Monark folder, Mustand 1985, Monark Tempo 1999, Monark 318 1975, Crescent 319 1979, Crescent 325 c:a 1965, Crescent Starren 2002 (hybrid/sport), Nordstjernan 1960`s cruiser.

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Never experienced this in any aspect. Road waste and litter belongs to the motorized population, but it seems extremely ignorant if one cant bring the old tube back home...how can one not!?
javal is offline  
Old 02-10-09, 12:43 AM
  #21  
Bottecchia fan
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Colorado Springs, CO
Posts: 3,520

Bikes: 1959 Bottecchia Milano-Sanremo (frame), 1966 Bottecchia Professional (frame), 1971 Bottecchia Professional (frame), 1973 Bottecchia Gran Turismo, 1974 Bottecchia Special, 1977 Bottecchia Special (frame), 1974 Peugeot UO-8

Mentioned: 2 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 33 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 10 Times in 8 Posts
Can't say I've generally seen that in Colorado. I did once pass one of those half shoe cover things for cool weather and thought maybe I'd pick it up but I didn't. Then I got several miles down the road and there was the other damn shoe cover. I could've had the danged set!
__________________
1959 Bottecchia Milano-Sanremo(frame), 1966 Bottecchia Professional (frame), 1971 Bottecchia Professional (frame),
1973 Bottecchia Gran Turismo, 1974 Bottecchia Special, 1977 Bottecchia Special (frame),
1974 Peugeot UO-8, 1988 Panasonic PT-3500, 2002 Bianchi Veloce, 2004 Bianchi Pista
Kommisar89 is offline  
Old 02-10-09, 12:59 AM
  #22  
www.theheadbadge.com
 
cudak888's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Southern Florida
Posts: 28,487

Bikes: https://www.theheadbadge.com

Mentioned: 121 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2395 Post(s)
Liked 4,337 Times in 2,070 Posts
Santeria around here. Dead chickens, rotting bananas, etc.

-Kurt
__________________












cudak888 is offline  
Old 02-10-09, 01:12 AM
  #23  
Randomhead
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Happy Valley, Pennsylvania
Posts: 24,335
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4 Post(s)
Liked 3,643 Times in 2,485 Posts
Originally Posted by Kommisar89
Can't say I've generally seen that in Colorado. I did once pass one of those half shoe cover things for cool weather and thought maybe I'd pick it up but I didn't. Then I got several miles down the road and there was the other damn shoe cover. I could've had the danged set!
Similar thing happened to me on a rather brutal ride. I'm almost home, and see a nice full fingered cycling glove by the road at the top of a hill. I am wiped out, so I am not going to stop for one glove. Get to the bottom of the hill, and see the other one. I'm too wiped out to go back and get the other one, so I left that one too.
unterhausen is offline  
Old 02-10-09, 02:26 AM
  #24  
Rustbelt Rider
 
mkeller234's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Canton, OH
Posts: 9,125

Bikes: 1990 Trek 1420 - 1978 Raleigh Professional - 1973 Schwinn Collegiate - 1974 Schwinn Suburban

Mentioned: 20 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 258 Post(s)
Liked 369 Times in 175 Posts
Originally Posted by waldowales
One of my pet peeves is cigarette butts. It seems as though the whole world is going to be covered with cigarette butts, those and little plastic air soft pellets! I have seen cops, mailmen, even firemen toss their lit butts out of the window.
+1 thats a huge pet peeve of mine. My wife is a smoker and she flicks them out the window too. I grumble at her and remind her that the car has an ash tray, then she reminds me that she keeps change in it
__________________
|^^^^^^^^^^^^^^| ||
|......GO.BROWNS........| ||'|";, ___.
|_..._..._______===|=||_|__|..., ] -
"(@)'(@)"""''"**|(@)(@)*****''(@)
mkeller234 is offline  
Old 02-10-09, 04:46 AM
  #25  
Freewheel Medic
 
pastorbobnlnh's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: An Island on the Coast of GA!
Posts: 12,869

Bikes: Snazzy* Schwinns, Classy Cannondales & a Super Pro Aero Lotus (* Ed.)

Mentioned: 139 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1442 Post(s)
Liked 2,164 Times in 952 Posts
Originally Posted by Panthers007
...In Vermont there is very little roadside trash. We don't allow billboards advertising ANYTHING by the side of our roads and highways. But go south into Massachusetts - open-air trash can....
I hope some of our MASS C&Vers don't spot this little zing.

They might stop heading north and depositing their vacation dollars in our Gardens of Eden. If we Northern New Englanders did not have our kind and generous Southern New Englanders, dropping their dollars and their occasional litter, we might have to petition Quebec for annexation!
__________________
Bob
Enjoying the GA coast all year long!

Thanks for visiting my website: www.freewheelspa.com





pastorbobnlnh is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.