DannoXYZ 

Heh, heh... I saw one street in San Francisco.. Taylor St. maybe. From the other side of the street, you can see both ends of the block and there was a Starbucks at each corner. Then right smack in front of you at the perfect center of the block, was ANOTHER Starbucks! I guess they don't care if people camp out, they just open up another one!

mirona

I'm '3rd-page-late' to this party, but there's always room for a good graphic:

Did someone call the WAHmbulance??

giantcfr1

Could be worse.
Those dang pesky bike riders who take up the parking space in front of Starbucks, and don't sit at the seats.
Steve

halfspeed

Where in my response did it say she was either?


[/QUOTE]

Pretending that differences in scale are irrelevant fools no one.

ovoleg

Jen is a b****, I concur 100%

Jen want's everything her way. Its so sad that the whole world cannot accomodate her needs

littledog

If any members of this group are reading this article, I ask you to
please be more mindful of your fellow Oak Parkers, the business that
Starbucks is losing, and the tourists that frequent our town.
Perhaps consider meeting at a member's house and having coffee and
breakfast there, or spending less time in the seating area.

Your fellow, caffeine-deprived Oak Parker,
Jennifer Klein[/QUOTE]

Gee Jennifer- are we the wrong color or something?

littledog looking in the mirror

aperkins

I drive an SUV. It gets 26 mpg, which is a whole lot better than most of the pickup trucks that so many people here in TX drive. Is it wonderful? No. And I will, eventually, get one that has better milage, as money permits (it will be a while). It gets better milage than many sedans, and many minivans. The reason I have it is so that we can carry all three of our dogs, our bikes, and a small trailer that has all our camping gear. Sometimes we even take friends to be social. A minivan might have worked as well, but I don't see how minivans are any less "=bad=", and we didn't happen to find one with the features (and lack of) that we wanted. My small SUV is not a status symbol or a fashion statement - it's a Saturn, not exactly a hot ride. It regularly passes the emmisions tests, so again, it is at least no worse than other vehicles. I have no idea why you think they're unhealthy - it takes me to parks I can't get to otherwise so I can bike and hike and camp.

Sorry for the rant. I usually avoid those threads as being too silly to waste my time on. (guess I'm just silly today) Sure some SUV's aren't great, but saying they're all bad is like saying all cyclists are elitist jerks just because you've met a few who are. If anyone comes up with a good reason to hate *all* SUV's, any more than it is reasonable to hate *all* gas-powered vehicles, let me know. In the meantime, I'll bike when I can, and drive when I can't.

And I don't drink coffee, either.

littledog

That sounds resonable to me about getting to safe places so you can ride your bike,hike and camp. So gas powered vehicles are good if used in moderation. I don't have a car to that but I wish I did. It would be a quality of life issue.

littledog

toomanybikes

I'm not --- so far ...............

lilHinault

Aperkins if I get into racing as planned in 06, I'm going to need a car. I've decided one of those old geeky toyota minivans is the ticket, 30+mpg and I can camp in the thing, but the plan also calls for not using it unless really needed. We're talking 3000 miles a year maybe. So, I can understand using a car/truck/suv on a limited basis. It takes a lot of discipline to do things by bike when you have a car too, I hope I can be good in that respect.

I have to speak up in favor of starbucks, in that yeah, they're corporte and all that, but where there's a Starbucks you know there's a place you can use the bathroom (excepting Inland Empire ones in socal) and hang out, relax, have a coffee or a tea or a glass of milk or even just water, they won't hassle you, and relax, cool out, take your coffee and dump half a cup of 1/2 and 1/2 in it, I see homless folks come in late at night and get a free coffee, some "day old" stuff, etc. They are kind of neighborhood watering holes.

duane041

Jen is a typical snob yuppie jagoff from the ritzy suburbs of Chicago. Notice that she refers to her "fellow Oak Parkers". Oh get over yourself. I guess a guy on a bike isn't allowed to drink coffee at 'her' Starbucks. Seeing that this is taking place in Oak Park, maybe if said cyclist were riding a Frank Lloyd Wrong-inspired bicycle it would be OK. Just drink your friggin coffee already.

duane041

I like them for the same reasons, too. Some of those big fluffy chairs are great for snoozing in.

Cyclaholic

hi ******,

pretty ordinary first post, but the answer to your first question is yes you do deserve all the scorn you get for shoving all that junk down your throat

tell you what, you go open your own restaurant and then you can impose whatever rules you want untill then if starbucs decide to allow cyclists or anyone else to sit at their tables then just deal with it or take it up with starbucks. better still take your fat ass and your suv elsewhere so we can enjoy our coffee in peace

Cyclaholic

dont be surprised to see a lot more threads going anti-suv. simply because of how wastefull suv's are, and how ignorant most suv drivers are.... not unlike the woman in the op's article

Placid Casual

Starbucks isn't a restaurant. It's a coffee shop. And in the sorts of coffee shops after which Starbucks is modeled, lingering, within reason, is allowed and encouraged. That's common knowledge. But I suppose common knowledge is not common at your house.

MasterSezFaster

Don’t know if anyone else mentioned this but the part that I find very funny, "Other customers who would also like to enjoy the outdoors and the nice weather..."

Yeah that’s how to enjoy the "outdoors and nice weather".


Well, if you have a "real" reason for owning an SUV then no problem. But (like most SUV owners) if you are one of those drivers that own an SUV, uses it to drive every where, complains about the high price of gas, does not fully concentrate when driving (talking on the phone, watching DVDs, etc.) Then yes, you deserve our scorn.

If you were fat, complained about it all the time and did not think it was "because of you" then yes, you deserve our scorn.

If you did not share our enthusiasm for our sport no problem but if you ridiculed us, 3itched and complained about us, then again, yes you deserve our scorn.

heckflosse

I'd retaliate but my head hurts thinking down to your level

heckflosse

Firstly, thank you for not having a problem with those who you approve to having a 'real' use for 4x4s. Should we seek your permission each week or should we wait for you to notify us of when we're allowed to use our vehicles your lordship?

Secondly, I've heard more anti-SUV whiners complaining about the price of fuel than 4x4 drivers. To be honest I haven't a clue how much I'm spending, I don't care! None of my family are starving and only recently I've swapped a gas guzzling SUV for a even more gas guzzling sports car, but it's not a 4x4 so must be okay

I presume by your post that it's only unacceptable to not fully concentrate when driving (talking on the phone, watching DVDs, etc.) whilst driving a 4x4. All those car drivers must be fine if you give your say so. Also I have both a IAM drivers certificate and a Police class 2 driving licence, should I have handed these back when I bought a 4x4?

Have to go, I’ve got to fill my tank up.
Have you seen the cost of the stuff? Looks like we'll be eating dog biscuits again

Paniolo

ROTFLMAO bike forum posters ranting about someone telling them what to do in a free country lurches off topic to dictate what vehicles people can purchase! Classic stuff ...

MasterSezFaster

I shall grant you the right to drive what ever vehicle you wish. If you do not use the vehicle for it's intended purpose I will still make fun of you but you may own what ever you like

No, it is unacceptable to not fully concentrate on/in ANY vehicle. I just pointed it towards the SUV crowed. They seem to slack off more then some one in a compact or midrange car because they feel safer (personal experiences watching friends drive and I do make comments to them as well).

The more classes you are allowed to drive the more training you have so no need to give the others back.

Oh yeah, my only four wheeled vehicle is a 4x4. With the after market tank it cost me 125$ to fill up. We/I do not use it unless we need to though, i.e. towing our horses, dirt bikes, our friends boat or perhaps a quick romp through the desert . We do not complain about the price of gas either.

MasterSezFaster

I was not telling anyone what they should do or get, just pointing out that I will let them know my thoughts. I gave permision to heckflosse because he asked for it .

heckflosse

The original Land Rover was designed to allow agricultural land owners to have a vehicle which they could drive around on public roads but if needed be taken off-road. It was never ment to replace traditional tractors or other farm machinery, so one could argue that that it's intended purpose was a road vehicle.
Thankfully it turned out to be far better than expected allowing it to do things like this

scarry

If I'm on a ride and stop for a cup o joe, I'm not prone to linger because as they say, "daylight's burning", and I would like to resume my ride.

I'm sure if she asked friendly like, people would invite her to sit down. I would.

But then she would have to listen to how many miles I've ridden and plan to ride that day.

Bekologist

Some random thoughts

My favorite offroader is the Peugoet (Citroen?) country car with the fabric roof-

I know a guy that is spending 70 bucks 4 times a week to fill his uber pickup truck- what an idiot!

And I purposely point fingers and laugh at every hummer driver I see in the city.

Wasteful americans should be ashamed of themselves regardless the kind of dog bisquits they serve for dinner.

Anyone whos hanging at charbucks deserves ridicule, bicyclists included.

DieselDan

Insert the racial slur of your choice in place of "cyclists" or "bikers" and see what happens.