So I am coming home from a 5 mile leisure ride with my wife...leisurely for me..not so much for her as she is just starting.

Turning into the driveway I turn my head in the direction of this odd, screeching/crunching sound...and behold...

A teenage kid riding a bicycle with no tires on it, steel rims right to road, and is completely casual about it. I have to wonder, what the hell is wrong with kids today? Is he going to grow up and drive a car with no tires, I know they already can't be bothered to wear pants that actually fit (numbers are confusing and all), but really? It has to be noisy, uncomfortable, and dangerous on that thing...

Is this some sort of newfangled trend?

I haven't ever seen anything like that. Something you expect from a 6 year old,but not from a teenager. I worn my first bike out.The ones with the hard rubber tires and no inner tube? I wore off the rubber in the back. I was so happy when my parents bought me a big boy bike! Maybe that teenage kid watched too many police chases on COPS,where the wheels fall off and the driver keeps going. idk.

Hard to say what might be wrong with that particular one, but my response would have been: meh, he isn't hurting anything or anyone so...whatever. Maybe he was riding towards a co-op to get a new set of wheels, or drop off the bike he just dumpster dove for and decided to have a little fun in the process. Maybe some other a-hole cut his tires while he was at work.

I know, it's hard not to jump to conclusions.

That is strange, no idea why someone would do that. Maybe he was pissed at mommy and daddy for not buying him tires and is destroying the bike to prove some sorta point. Some kids nowadays have an entitlement mentality that is sickening.

ONE kid makes a trend?

+1.

I am not sure how to respond to this; I asked if this was a new trend, as opposed to a declaration that I had discovered a new trend.

He may have been doing it just to be stupid. I've done that many times in my life. I've also launched myself off ramps landing on a gravel road, rode down the side of a hill just to see if I could make it, and tried to stand up on my seat with no hands. The guy riding on the rims looks like a genius compared to that.

Welcome to manhood. :-)

That's something that would warrant pulling your phone out to take a pic or video of to post up here.

I have been asking this question a lot lately. Especially after I moved from TX (oh how I miss it!) to California, and even more since I have moved to Northern Cali.

Yes, never pass up the opportunity to photograph bikes, especially if they are odd looking:

The wife and I are actually hoping to make that move to N. Cali from Texas ourselves.

...there are some really crazy people out there, but honestly when have you NOT needed an axe on a ride?

Motorist giving you issues about sharing the road, get the axe.
Dogs chasing you, get the axe.
Tree inconvienently planted in the middle of the road, get the axe.

Maybe he could not afford tires.

An axe comes in handy if you are camping and want to split wood. Last year we camped near a guy who was touring (albeit for a short distance) with a hatchet for just that purpose. I know there have been times when I wished I had one.

I knew kids riding their BMX bikes with no tires on the wheels, what, 30 years ago. It's hardly new. It's an amusing thing to do when you need new tires.

Yes, it'll destroy the rims, but we are talking kids here.

Who knows, have you seen any other kids doing it?

What I see a lot of round my way is people cycling with a helmet hung on their handlebars. Seems totally boneheaded to me - if you don't want to wear a helmet don't wear a helmet but to buy one and then not wear it (and advertise the fact you have it but aren't wearing it) seems utterly pointless.

[Speaking with cigar clinched in teeth]"Pull up yer britches and put some tars on that bike, young'un!" :-)

P.S.: That gets closer to reality for me every day! (I'm getting old)

I know I did that a few times when I was young in the late '60s / early '70s. Just one of many stupid things I did on a bicycle during my youth.

And remember that someone raised "these kids these days" and that age group is right around us. So if YOUR parents raised you right and that's why you aren't like the "kids these days" then where did you fail? My kids are a product of my house so what they do is a reflection of how I did.

My neighbors kids do that when they are tired of their current bike. Since they moved in they have been through 3 or 4 bikes each (2 kids, I think they are twins). I can't stand how crappy they treat everything they have and the apartment complex wonders why I keep my bikes inside or on the patio....

I've seen kids do that too. I've also seen plenty of adults of both sexes, many who do not look homeless, riding on flat or almost flat tires. I may have even seen adults riding with no tires, but my memory is a little foggy there. When I was a kid and didn't carry any tools, I used to ride home on flat tires too. I never rode without tires though.

I personally don't care what other people's kids do as long as they're not destroying other people's property, disrespecting people, abusing animals, doing drugs, or committing other crimes. After three separate incidents years ago where gangs of juvenile punks chased me on my recumbent in an attempt to steal it from me, I'm just grateful if kids leave adults alone. BTW, I got away every time.

If the sound of rims clanking along the asphalt was really and truly irritating for any moldy oldies within earshot, I would've done it. I still sigh from the memory of practising my camel call on a quiet cul de sac after hearing it in a movie when I was 10 or 11.

No clue if the tire free lifestyle will catch on. I like the current longboard riding trend I see around here. It's good to see kids playing outside.

I wonder if there is a sub forum here for the tire-less rim lifestyle?

LOL! I laughed when I heard the tire-less bikes clanking along too. Like you, I'd much rather see kids playing outside than locked up indoors playing video games, or getting in trouble with the wrong crowd.