naisme

I know this probably sounds like it is an episode for the Twillight Zone or I am smoking some funny tobbacco, but I have this bike that just has a strange energy about it. I don't know that a bike has a soul or not, nor do I really care, except I would liek to get a long with this bike, but there is just something about it that I don't like. I ride it, I've ridden it for a couple weeks in France, used it as a commuter here in the States, but there is just something about this bike that I avoid it if I can. I have other bikes that I am completely into, they perform for me like nobodies business. Some of these are ones I pulled out of the alley and built up into a fixed gear, but I have a one of these that is sort of like the one I'm talking about, it just doesn't groove me. I just seem to clash with this bike, but I use it, so I really can't just dump it, I do have $ invested in it, it's my touring bike, and need to get straight with it, cause I don't want to get out on a tour and have the bike clash with me the whole way.
Can you get a exorsism for a bike's spirit? Am I just crazy and in need of some professional help? Do inaimate objects have souls?

recursive

No, inanimate objects do not have souls. There's some debate whether animate ones do.

However, it sounds like your bike is haunted. Call the ghost busters.

jeff-o

Ghost in the machine.

joeprim

What are you talking about? You didn't give specifics. Could it be fit or gear spacing?

Joe

Applehead57

I was never on the same plane as my Fuji Newest.
It always sent bad feelings into my sitting muscle.
I'm hoping to hit it off with my new Gunnar Road Sport.

recursive

Am I on drugs or something? What's going on?

Doctor Morbius

Well, there's your problem. Your bike probably picked up some bad mojo over there. Who's bike woudln't? Sounds like you may have been a tad touched as well, but this thread was about your bike.

Anthony King

Trick, circular question. The root, "anima" is Greek for soul. So inanimate = no soul.

Only amongst the illiterate. See above.


Perhaps your bike isn't as inanimate as you think. It moves, doesn't it? OK, OK, it moves with your help, but think about it, you move with its help, too. Scary man, I know.
Is the bike new? Perhaps it did something bad before you had it and has been cursed since. If new--perhaps a just pink-slipped factory worker placed a spell on it before he took a powder. Consult various priests and shamen for diagnosis. Or bring your bike in to roadside psychic with a neon palm reading sign in the window. Ask her if what she can tell you about the bike by reading its bottom broacket grease. Incantations can be sung over the bike, spirits vacated, auras clensed, etc. etc.

Or maybe it is just the gearing.

If it gives you the heeby-jeebies so much, post some pics and we'll take it off your hands. We'll lowball you, of course.

jim-bob

Sometimes bikes just don't work out. I've had a few that I just never got along with.

skanking biker

Are you sure your washed the b.o. out of your clothes?

recursive

Ooh, direct hit!

pharnabazos

[QUOTE=Anthony King]Trick, circular question. The root, "anima" is Greek for soul. So inanimate = no soul.

anima=latin, psuche^=greek

Dougmt

Oddly enough I feel the same way about GT bikes... I don't know what it is, but there is just something about them.... I have no experience with them of course, never ridden one, only seen a few, but I cannot stand them.
D

Doctor Morbius

Even pre-Pacific Cycles buyout GT's??? Sacrilege!

PWRDbyTRD

give me the bike

christie133

Um, I'm sure someone somewhere would perform an exorcism for you. But I kind of understand. I got hit pretty badly on one of my bikes. I still have the (albeit bashed up) frame, but I can't even bring it in my house. I leave it in the back of my car. It's definately got some bad mojo.

I say sell it and get a new one. No reason to ride a bike you don't like.

classic1

Get rid of it. Don't stay together for the sake of the kids. It will only end messily and in tears if you don't do something about it now.

No exorcism will help in this circumstance.

EnigManiac

Bikes are like women (for men): sometimes the ride just isn't what you thought it would be. And while French girls are often wonderful, perhaps it's just too worldly for you.

I suggest selling it to Stephen King. It'll be featrured in a hardcover by Christmas.

Blackberry

Ever been to France?

Prosody

Find someone who wears long, flowing, flowered skirts, who has changed her name to Willow (doesn't work if her parents named her Willow), and who owns an assortment of crystals to which she attributes some kind of power. Maybe she can take care of your bike.

fastedddie

Protect yourself and the rest of the world. You do not know what you're dealing with. Ship it to me immediately. I am experienced with this phenomenon and will place it in a location where it can not harm anyone.

jonnyweale

Same deal with my new mountain bike - I wore out my old frame, so I bought a new similar but higher quality frame and transferred all the parts over. My old bike was awesome, man, I loved that bike.

My new bike flat out sucks, every time I ride it I feel like it's trying to deliberately spite me, I think it's possessed or something.

Waxbytes

Did you ride thru doggie do? Check the tires and underside of the frame.

eubi

Well, there are a lot of funny, witty people posting here!

But as for your question, I think you can get a bike that just doesn't fit for some reason. I'm talking hard stuff, like frame geometry, saddle, stiffness, whatever. (no ethereial stuff, leave the crystals and Enya music at home.) Bikes are expensive, so try to find the problem and fix it.

Otherwise, it's time for a new bike. Make sure the new one fits better.

Portis

Interesting topic. While I don't think bikes have souls, i think there are some intangibles that seem to make one bike preferred over another. I have two basically identical Trek 4300's that i ride every day. I have ridden each of them almost exactly the same amount of miles, a little over 4000 miles each in the last 16 months.

They are the same frame size with almost exactly the same components. One is an 03 and one is an 04. The 04 i bought new and the 03 i picked up on ebay. For some reason, I always prefer to ride the 03 that i bought on ebay. It isn't in nearly as good of shape, yet riding it just seems more natural. I have NEVER had a spill on it. While the 04 has dumped me on my arse, head and just about everything else. I have had 3 pretty significant crashes on it. Meanwhile, like i said i have never had a crash on the other bike although i probably even ride it a little more and it is supposed to be an identical bike.

The frames spec out the same and i have Brooks saddles on both. Yet the older bike just seems more natural when i ride it. I feel like if given a choice I would likely get rid of my newer, nicer 04 if i had to. Wierd.