RoadGuy

I usually have a loaner bike available, if someone I trust wants to borrow a bike.

I don't load my personal bike anymore.

One time that I did, was a reason that I no longer do. My neighbor needed a couple of bikes for her daughter and her to ride on a school outing. My ex-wife (then wife) agreed to loan our bikes to them. At the time, we only had one bike each, they were recently purchased and worth close to $1000 each (back in the mid-1980s). I check the pressure in the tires, and cautioned the 16 year old daughter about how expensive the bikes were, and not to leave them outside or unattended even for a minute. 30 minutes later, as I drove off, away from my house I spotted the two bikes laying, unattended on the front lawn of the neighbor's house.

Two years ago, my son came to me and asked me if I still had his mountain bike. It was in the garage for 15 years. yes, I still had it, as I was hoping that he would pick riding back up one day. He told me that he wanted to try road bike riding. I told him to try riding his mountain bike for a month, and if he still wanted to try a road bike, I'd loan him one of mine. My son in law dropped my son's bike at his house, at the same time that he took my daughter's mountin bike to their house along with one of my mountian bikes to ride himself.

Unknown to me, my son took my mountain bike and his went to his sister's house. Less than a month later, one of my son's room mates borrowed my bike from my son and was riding it regularly to work, since his car was broken, and he didn't have the money to fix it. My bike was stolen from the place that the room mate worked, and here it is almost two years later, and the room mate still doesn't have the money to replace the stolen bike.

Don;t loan what you can't afford to lose, because the odds are that the Borrower will not have the money/or the will to see that the item is replaced is it's damaged, lost, or stolen.

Rowan

The advantage I have on all my bikes is that they have Brooks saddles. The casual observer cannot comprehend that they are comfortable; riding my bikes becomes the furthest things from their mind.

There are two people I would trust to ride an expensive bike. Machka, but then her sizing is different to me, and that scenario is unlikely. The other is a guy I have spent a long time riding with and who is excellent at riding and building bikes (as frames).

I have occasionally ridden other people's bikes (I think it would take less than one hand). But they felt so foreign to me because of various issues -- sizing being the main one.

indyfabz

Life has its little rewards.

kbarch

I know the thread title only mentions colleagues and acquaintances, but the original post suggested a rather close group consisting of people who typically share things.

These stories of folks lending their bikes only to suffer some loss are sad. Hasn't anyone else ENJOYED lending their bike or having someone lend one to them? Hasn't anyone loaned a bike to a friend for that friend to win a race or participate in some challenging event on it? I have no stories with bicycles, but one of the most memorable and enjoyable occasions I had in my five or so years as a motorcyclist was when I let a friend ride my Aprilia RSV-R, while I rode his Ducati Sport Classic. He was a much better rider than I, so he had his bike set up fairly aggressively and got a thrill from the relatively beastly power of my bike, while I was amazed at how perfectly poised and skilled I felt on his bike. Good times....

700

You could explain that part of the expense of the bicycle is a custom fitting that is more extensive than the tailoring I got on my last tuxedo. Just because the post and stem and bars are held on with bolts does not mean they should be reset for multiple users like car seats.

FLvector

Remember, the OP ordered a $5,000 carbon road bike and hasn't even ridden it himself yet. He's not even talking about good friends that know how to ride and truly appreciate the value of the bike and how susceptible the components are to damage. For many of those he works with, they aren't likely to appreciate the difference between this new bike and a low end Walmart bike for a few hundred dollars. Some of his more seasoned colleagues that do know the difference should appreciate the value and go to the local bike shop and demo the bike if possible. Spinning his new bike around the parking lot isn't going to give them an appreciation for the quality.

There's are big difference between loaning a dirt bike since they're designed to take some serious abuse over and over, then pick it up and ride again. I loaned a good friend my Yamaha 360 enduro many years ago while I was away doing a project for about a year. He put some serious miles on it, road it to work, etc, but took good care of it. I was happy it was being used. But there's no comparison to this analogy. Same thing with a backup road bike you loan to a friend. If it gets damaged, no biggie. Something brand new? If it gets damaged by me, fine. Damaged by someone I loaned it to? They better fix it. Everyone is entitled to their own approach to their personal items.

borgey007

You understand what I'm asking and you also express well how I feel!

Ice41000

Absolutely not.

Absolutely.

anotherbrian

I borrowed a few year old S-Works Tarmac with full DA9000 from a "friend" for three weeks. I know him from many years of riding, though no deeper than that (I still think that's pretty significant though, at least enough to judge how someone who treat his things). While there were no conditions placed on the loan, I was fully ready to replace it if I had to.

I'd similarly lend someone I considered as avid any of my "secondary" bikes to borrow for a week+, or one of my primaries for a ride or two (no adjusting beyond saddle height).

I _won't_ lend to family after two of our bikes came back with their paint chipped to hell after being transported on a trunk rack that let them bang together. 20 year old+ bike without a scratch came back looking like a beater ... that's not going to happen again.

Vicegrip

Cars, trucks, bikes, motorcycles, hand guns, shotguns, car trailers, non gas powered tools of mine have been load out over the years. All came back as loaned when promised. Many things came back full of what they use up such as gas.
The good will came back as well in many ways. I have some hand and electric power tools, a road and a flat bar bike that are considered "loaners"
The only thing I am reluctant to loan out are my high end gas powered tools such as my Sthil chain saws. They have the propensity to harm or be harmed by the untrained user. I come with the chainsaw and do the felling and bucking, they get to do the real work.

It is just stuff. it is the people in your life that count.

Machka 

But here's my question .... why on earth would your acquaintances even ask to ride the bicycle? Are they really that rude?

coppercook62

No

anotherbrian

What is so rude about asking?

Machka 

Maybe it was the way I was brought up, but you simply don't ask to try other people's stuff ... especially if whatever it is happens to be new and/or expensive ... and most especially if you aren't all that close to the person.

That's right up there with questions like, "How much do you weigh?", "How much do you make?" and "What political party did you vote for in the last election?"

Fortunately most people I've encountered know this, and no one has ever asked me if they can try something new I purchased.


The polite thing to do is to let the person enjoy their recent acquisition in peace.

Doug28450

Only if I have bike insurance.

Monkey D.Luffy

Can I borrow your girlfriend a while? "Nope."

kbarch

One shouldn't question another person's willingness to give something, especially if it's personal. Unless the offer has been made, it's presumptuous, or fresh, akin to making a pass. But I don't think that was the situation described in the original post; sharing bikes was an established practice, so asking to borrow the new bike wasn't quite as rude as it would have been otherwise.

Seattle Forrest

It's not "just" a bike. It's the only cardio exercise machine most of us have available. If most of us lost the bike, we'd have to run.

caloso

To me it would be like asking to borrow someone's pants.

anotherbrian

I don't see it as any different than asking to borrow an egg, a cup of flour, or a lawnmower. As long as it is returned in the condition (or better) that it was borrowed. And I'm a materialistic guy who doesn't like to let go of his things.

I think presumptuous would be if the ask'er was offended by the request being denied.

Personally, I wouldn't be offended if someone asked to try/borrow my newest bike (and people know I have a dozen bikes) ... I'd politely decline though ("new bike smell", "I'm going to be the first to put a scratch on it"), and suggest a shop they could go to if they were really interested in trying one, or one of my old beaters if they simply needed to go get a pack of smokes or a doner (I don't know anyone who smokes though, and there isn't a Turkish restaurant in 30mi+ from here).

banerjek

This.

Simply asking shows such a level of boneheadedness and cluelessness that it's unlikely they can be trusted. If you're curious about someone's new stuff, you don't just ask them if you can have it. You talk to them because you're interested in them and their gear. And if the vibe is right, they might say, "hey, want to take it for a spin?" at which point you can say you'd love to.

A lot of people won't make that offer unless they think you know what they're doing and even then a lot won't. And there's nothing wrong with that.

RPK79

I might let my wife ride my bike. Maybe...

redfooj

Surely in your life you've never asked a friend with a truck to help you move and they've helped or simply lent you the truck ?

DaveWC

Some people don't seem to understand. Let's say that at some point in the life of a bike or a significant component, it's going to fail. Not from user negligence, it just has a point at which it will fail for whatever reason, crack in the road, temperature of the day, age of bike etc. That day might be years from now or today. When you lend your bike to a friend you take the risk that that day is today & your bike will seriously be damaged through no fault of your friend. But you won't know what the cause was, your friend will absolutely say that he/she was JRA, and you'll be left with a damaged bike. For those that say that they'd lend their bike on the condition that their friend return it in the same condition, you've potentially just screwed your friend as it might have been "that day" and your friend did nothing wrong. And for those that accept the bike in broken condition, you'll always suspect that you were just taken.

It's a no-win situation if the bike is damaged. If they pay, they're pissed as they don't think it was their fault. If they don't pay, you're pissed. If the bike comes back in great condition, you win. But realize that you roll the dice & risk both the friendship & the bike.

indyfabz

No. I don't think I know more than three or four people who even own trucks.