"Parents suck..." No ****? Just be thankful you are not one. Logic has no business in parental decision making (aka hyper-worrying).

Also, well thought-out persuasive arguments are useless. No one listens to logic. It's a myth.

Naturally breeders reign supreme.

Times have changed. I was a little slow to get rid of training wheels at age 7, but once I did, I was allowed to ride up and down the street. About a year later, I was allowed to ride "around the block," a distance that was open to some interpretation. It wasn't long from that point that I was given free reign of the neighborhood. My parents and grandparents bought me my first LBS bike at age 15, and the following summer I got my first job at a nearby neighborhood hardware store. Might have been 4 miles from home at most. I had to cross a semi-major road to get there, but that was just a matter of being careful. I came up with the idea to ride to the store, and my parents were proud of me for thinking of it. By the time I turned 18, they would have let me ride just about anywhere I wanted to, but by that time I rarely took advantage. Cars were more cool even though I still rode the bike.

There's nothing wrong at your age with trying to have a reasoned discussion with your parents about this matter. But becoming defensive and confrontational isn't going to help. I'm not quite old enough to be your dad, but your route sounds no more dangerous than what I rode at your age.

If it hadn't been mentioned before... just throw your bike in the back (or on top) of whatever gas-guzzler they want you to drive. Park a few miles up the road from home and ride your bike. :P

If this is the most rebellious you become, your parents are extremely lucky.

Edit: I saw a similar suggestion mere posts above this one. That just reinforces that it's a good idea. Go for it.

PPM. Small (I make the 5th worker) company. They are off of Merchantile Rd. I would take Brandywine (my street) north to Olde 8 to New 8 to Harvard to Green to Merchantile. Aside from Brandywine, it's all 4 lanes and slow streets. And the ironic thing is that I did virtually the same route on my first ride with my new bike...:rolleyes:

I did pay for my own bicycle. And that was a three month project the convince them that I could use a new bike. And this is with me paying the whole way.....

And the ironic thing is that my dad rode his bike to work...10 miles each way on buisy highways (not freeways) when he was a teenager.....

That was different. That was uphill both ways, in the snow.

This is Randolf, Ohio we are talking about. In the summer, it's 90 degrees and the humidity is always right at 99%. And hills? To the people in Randolf, the hill is the little bunny bump that gets you over the freeway.

Hide your bicycle in the car and drive a mile away, park it, and complete your journey via bicycle. Keep the gas money until they have paid off the $100.00 they owe you from last year. Then have the bicycle commute talk with them. Perhaps take them in the car along your route to prove to them that the streets you will use are not full of fast cars and trucks. After that just use your bicycle.

If they refuse to let you bicycle to work then always get the gas money up front. Collect it daily in cash. Just say that because fuel prices are going up so regularly that you want to collect the money daily. Right now that might be about $8.00 per day depending on the vehicle. That way they will eventually be so annoyed with you asking for it that they might just give in and let you ride the bicycle.

Get the money the night before each ride to work. If they don't have the money then you can tell them that you will use the bicycle. You need to do this on bad weather days too. If you ask to use the car on those days then they will be able to say that since you are asking to use it then you shouldn't get gas money for work.

Good luck.

Well I can see why your parents are worried. Brandywine and Olde 8 are great, till you get up there near the 8/271 construction, where the drivers are just plain frustrated, in a hurry and impatient. It gets worse once you get to Harvard, Green and Merchantile...where you got all the rude, impatient pretty people who are in a hurry and yapping on their iPhones. I don't even like driving through there from 8 on up.

I'm not saying it isn't perfectly rideable, but there are other routes you could choose that might make your parents a little more comfortable. Google is your friend...scope out the different route choices then have your parents even go with you to check them out (after you have done so yourself) and you might just bring them around.

FYI, my first work commute was from Parma Hts to 14th & Euclid when I was just 13. Been riding to work ever since, in lots of different cities, towns and countries and I am still in one piece...if that helps.

Get off the interweb. Enjoy a great summer and dont get anyone pregnant. You should be out doing different chemicals and trying to get a body part wet. For real now stay off the net until you get to college.

Sometimes parents see something that you might not realize, like the 16 miles might be taking on too much with your job, socializing, and other time commitments, worried you'd lose weight, maybe you are accident prone, and many other things they might not have come out and said. As long as they don't come on as totally unreasonable, you can try to keep an open dialog, reminding them that you are an adult now and would like to make some of your own decisions. Congratulations on your choice to further your education. Heck, you're young and have your whole life ahead of you. You can get your exercise maybe another way. Good luck. ??Get a job closer in for the summer?

You think you have it bad? I'm 24 years old and I still get the sex talk every freaking month!

"Son, you may not have a girlfriend but it's time we talk about sex..."

:wtf:

I told my parents that I was going to buy a bike to commute on before the Spring semester got out and they freaked out telling me they don't want me to ride on the road, etc. They don't know about my new bike and they are ~2hr (120mi) away so they don't really have a say. It's not that I'm hiding it from them, it's just that I'm not going to openly tell them about it (if they ask I'll tell).

lol I'm 18 and I'm still not allowed to have a girlfriend.

Or rights.

It don't matter, I'm making my own money anyway.

Parents just dont understand

Ugh

Gettn jiggy wit it

They'll come around.

About 4-5 months ago I told them (22 at the moment, btw) I was looking at getting my own place (I love my current roommate, we just are going in different directions), selling the car and riding the bike. I went through about 2-3 months about how stupid it was, how I could just live at home (20-25 miles to work, compared to 2-3 from the new place) and so on. Then they went 180 and support me.

I also have considered a motorcycle in the past and got the "over my dead body" speech from my mother the RN. 8 months later I bring it up again, since the new job I have applied for requires some in city travel that may be difficult bike. This time I get the "What about the weather?".

Just give it time...

Damn you guys have some square parents. You all need to get foot loose.

Best idea yet :thumb: Wanton disrespect for parents takes form in a healthy way. They will get it. I have a 20 year old son, and if he wants to ride his bike, he's welcome to. He would of course get the straight parenting talk regarding safety and the view of cyclists from a motorist's point of view.

I used to ride my bike 5 miles each way to Jr. High in the 70's. Times sure have changed.

But mine are clipped in!

+1 stash the bike in the car idea. +1 Hassleing the parents for gas. Big picture, your parents will NEVER respect you as a man if you can't make your own decisions.++

I'm not going to tell you to rebel, I'm just going to mention that it's an important part of growing up.

Maybe you can map an alternate, although confusing and longer, route. I recommend maps.google.com for it's smashing interface and incredible ease of installation (there isn't any).

I know how you feel. My parents are very over protective and I am 19. Once you get to college and you find that there is no way they know the things you are doing, you will have more courage to defy them and do your own thing whenever you go back home.

Tell them you are moving out on your own, if they don't want you to ride the bike.

you're 18 now and part of growing up is making your own decisions. if you want to ride, then ride. also they should see that their kid is thinking for himself.
if you're on 25mph roads you're just going to have to ride faster then aren't you.

in grade school we lived <1 mile from school and i wasn't allowed to ride my bike there. in hs i had to ride the bus b/c driving was too dangerous. 11pm curfew bc partying was dangerous. got the bike talk in college too.

this life-long suppression has amplified my need to rebel and be defiant.

????
WTF
I started riding my bike to school when I was 8 or 9.

Ask them to drive you.

:roflmao2: At 24 I was working on kid #3! (married BTW:thumb: _ )

Dude..... I don't know what to tell you.... As a son I want to say "Just F'in do it!".... As a Dad..... Hell, if my son (any of the three :D) was 18yo and being financially responsible enough to realize that driving is a waste of $ I'd be dang proud that he would have gotten the message that young in life..... Of course I'm also the RN (student) who wants to take his kids on a cross country Motorcycle trip when the each turn 16! :thumb:

Ah frack it! Just do it! Tell em' Billy Bob said so! :innocent:

I'm surprised that everyone kind of missed the main point of the OP's rant.

Nobody has asked a few important questions here: Who is paying for college? Who pays the health insurance? Do you pay rent when you live at home? Are you dependant on your parents? Do you love and respect your parents as much as they love you?

Telling the boy to purposely be defiant may not be the battle he wants to choose. You've only got a few months of non-adult freedom remaining, you've made it this far. You can ride all you want in college and then after college if you still choose to.

But for now, obey your parents, while trying to explain you are trying to save money for when you go to college.

mcsteve makes a valid point. Your only 18 yrs old and probably rely on your parents for a lot of things. Only when you get older and can start providing for yourself can you start to make your own choices with or without your parents consent. Once you get out from under their roof it's essentially your life and you make your own choices on how to live and what to do.

All the parents can hope for is that they raised you correctly. So for now I'd comply. My parents were fairly strict on me when i was young. Some of the same stuff you described about your own parents. Curfews, studying after school, no staying over at a friends or even my cousins house. Now I don't even talk to them anymore because of some things. But I can do that because I have a job and support myself in every aspect of my life.

Well, first a parents job is to worry. I have a 4 yr old I worry about all the time, and I only hope as she get's older I can master the art of letting go and trusting her own judgment gracefully. Second, a kid's job is to be annoyed by their parents worrying. When I was 20 I lived alone and worked the graveyard shift. My Dad would call me everytime it snowed to ask me if I had to work, and grill me on the route I was gonna take to get there, what to do if the car got stuck, how to shift to maintain the best control of the car, etc., etc., etc......

Lastly, after suffering through years of listening to my Dad freak out about cars etc ("You're gonna get flattened like a GO***D** PANCAKE if you don't stay away from that road!"), and riding in a car with him when he insisted on going 5mph under the speed limit I finally discovered the real reason. In his youth my career truck driving father was a maniac! Drove fast everwhere, took chances, and generally scared himself strait. I suppose the reason he worried so much is that he learned from his recklessness, and did not want me to take similiar chances with more devastating results.

Your parents love you, and they probably know that when they were younger their judgment was not always the best. That could be a source of their concern. In any event all you can do is attempt to convince them (in a reasonable and non-argumentative way) that you are taking safety measures. That and don't tell them about any close calls......:rolleyes::):)

Good luck!

Tamara