Walter S

Did you?

loky1179

You have nicknames in your head for all the bike commuters you pass almost every day going the other way. "Hipster Girl", "Middle Aged Carbon Fiber Dude", "The 40 Year Old Virgin", "Dude with Fenders that Rides Very Fast".

I wonder what nickname they tag on me - maybe "Clueless Old Dude"?

Motolegs

There is this guy I named "Close Encounters" because he is lit up like a UFO. I stood stunned at an intersection watching him pass by. Thought he WAS one for a second.

Best part? Seen him more than once. Can confirm he's not a grey. (although he could be in a neat disguise!) Friendly dude too, but is probably packing too many lights..

Around here, with the dearth of bike commuters, what he's doing is nearly heroic.

downwinded

Good one!

hueyhoolihan

yes i did.

excellent bike commutes are hard to find, and it (the pre office move one gave me an opportunity to ride about half a mile on the ramp at the old Mather military airfield in Rancho Cordova, near Sacramento where there were cool old planes) was excellent. jobs, OTOH, were a dime a dozen and easy to come by, at least at the paltry rate i was willing to work for.

RubeRad

I'm sure my nickname is "bucket guy"

cyccommute 

That's nothin'! I've been riding to the same work place for 35 years anywhere from 3 to 5 days a week all year around and still get that question 3 to 5 times a week.

scoatw

When you're replacing your third set of rims due to worn brake surface.

Wittyname

Two of the ladies in the front office at my building refer to me this way. Pretty sure they don't actually know my name

TGT1

When you still reflexively veer around the pothole that was there for years, but they fixed six months ago.

cyccommute 

You are braking way too much I've only worn out the brake surfaces on 2 sets of rims in 35 years of riding and those weren't even on my commuter bike. Don't slow down and you won't wear out rims

wolfchild

If you never out rims then your roads must be sparkling clean...Over here we get a lot of salt and abrasive grit during winter/spring and that stuff can eat through rims in as little as two seasons.

downwinded

I can only offer one word of advice. Disc brakes.

I-Like-To-Bike

Coaster brake. Never worn out a rim in 60 years of riding including 30 years of commuting.

cyccommute 

No, the roads in my area aren't sparkling clean. Up until about 10 years ago, highway departments in Colorado used sand and salt on the roads, exclusively throughout the winter. We had piles of sand along the edges of the road from October (sometimes September) until June. I've ridden through at least 25 winters of that kind of condition and still haven't worn out more than a 2 rims. I also have ridden mountain bikes off-road for most of those 35 years all year round and still haven't worn out more than those 2 rims. The two rims I've worn out were actually mountain bike rims.

It's all in how you use the rims and brakes. I brake effectively and sparingly. I don't drag brakes from the top of a mountain to the bottom nor down smaller hills. I brake hard when I need to and get off the brakes as soon as possible in all bicycling situations. My brakes have never overheated despite riding mountain bikes in mountains, road bikes in mountains and touring bikes with camping loads in mountains.

HardyWeinberg

I rattled the homeless guy's shopping cart this morning to see if he survived the night (20F now with the sun up, would have been in the teens a few hours earlier). He could speak anyway.

jrickards

+1

When you have to bring razor blades home because your stock is at work.

noglider 

These responses are great! This thread is fun.

RidingMatthew

when you are excited about some new panniers you ordered for Christmas! @noglider i agree a fun thread

caloso

You're going to a fancy event on the weekend but have to swing by the office because all your dress shoes are in a filing cabinet in your office.

Phil_gretz

^this. Exactly...

RoderWrench

Perfect one! I've got "Lynskey", who passes me on a Helix @ 23+mph, sometimes twice in one ride, "Elbows", a jogger lady who oddly runs in a knuckles down, elbows out position and "Curmudgeon", an old guy that once scolded me for passing him on the MUP without saying, "On your left."

Not sure what they call me, maybe "Bikes", because I commute on 4 different bikes.

Gresp15C

... when you drive to work and discover that a construction project has changed your route.

scoatw

Pretty hard to mount a coaster brake on a geared hub. Single speed ain't my style.

I'm still in 'the contemplating that' stage in my life. Still sticking with the rim brakes for now.

I put over 8k on a set of Velocity Aeroheats before the one split on me. The second set were Rhyno Lites that I got over 13f on those before I replaced them with the same current pair. I just do normal year round riding, nothing special. It's not like I ride with one hand squeezing the brake lever. Just normal wear and tear. Until now, I thought that that was normal. I've been riding since 83. Back then I just did recreational riding on weekends and such. Maybe avg 1000 miles. Since 07 I've been doing year round commuting in all kinds of weather. Avg about 5k a year. I figured riding in slop, snow and everything else puts excessive wear and tear on the rims. Maybe I'm wrong. But I don't think I do anything out of the ordinary than anyone else.

I-Like-To-Bike

No, it is not hard. I've been using 3 speed IGH w/coaster brakes since the late '50s; and seven speed IGH/coaster brakes for the last 15 years. Note that the purple Ragazzi has over 50,000 all weather miles on the original rims.