OK, I will be the dork and ask. Who and or what the heck is a Fred?
04-27-09, 12:35 PM
#201
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Downtown Detroit, Mi.
Posts: 781
Bikes: Surly LHT, 94 Cannondale track bike, 80's Cannondale track bike, 60's Raleigh 5 speed, 1888 Eldridge wood wheel track bike and my old 76 DG BMX from when I was a kid.
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
Surly you don't mean me, he he he.
04-27-09, 12:42 PM
#202
Unlisted member
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Chicagoland
Posts: 6,192
Bikes: Specialized Hardrock
Mentioned: 29 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1376 Post(s)
Liked 432 Times
in
297 Posts
Those are sweet looking bags, as is the seat bag. Love the looks of a cotton canvas bags with a Brooks, did you make the seat bag too? Any plans to in the future?
04-27-09, 01:35 PM
#203
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Downtown Detroit, Mi.
Posts: 781
Bikes: Surly LHT, 94 Cannondale track bike, 80's Cannondale track bike, 60's Raleigh 5 speed, 1888 Eldridge wood wheel track bike and my old 76 DG BMX from when I was a kid.
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
The seat bag is made by Frost River (darn good bag) in Duluth, Minnesota and yea, I have a saddle bag in the works as well as a bar bag! You can "click" on my profile for more info, Ron.
04-28-09, 06:51 AM
#204
multimodal commuter
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: NJ, NYC, LI
Posts: 19,808
Bikes: 1940s Fothergill, 1959 Allegro Special, 1963? Claud Butler Olympic Sprint, Lambert 'Clubman', 1974 Fuji "the Ace", 1976 Holdsworth 650b conversion rando bike, 1983 Trek 720 tourer, 1984 Counterpoint Opus II, 1993 Basso Gap, 2010 Downtube 8h, and...
Mentioned: 584 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1908 Post(s)
Liked 574 Times
in
339 Posts
See, I'm skeptical that this ever actually happens, except in the minds of some Freds. ... I don't think I've ever noticed anyone getting upset about being passed by me. This may be because I don't feel like I've achieved anything by passing another cyclist when we're not racing each other.
And are people seriously turning around to see the reaction of the cyclist they've just passed?
And are people seriously turning around to see the reaction of the cyclist they've just passed?
Still, it can happen... last summer, for example... this was in the rather rough Long Island town where I summer... I was riding my folding bike, with 16" wheels, along a busy road, when a bunch of kids on pseudo-BMX bikes came riding out of a convenience store parking lot. One of them yelled "Hey look at that guy!" and then over the cacophany of inarticulate yelling I heard some that sounded like "catch him!" I pretended to ignore them, but kept an eye on them in my helmet mirror... one or two of them actually gained on me for a little while, but over the next minute the yelling diminished and I saw the whole bunch of them spread out in the lane behind me, falling away one by one, until their pack was a hundred yards long. It was pretty funny.
All in my mind? Possibly, but I don't think so. But no, they were not roadies. They were idiot kids on toy bikes that didn't fit them. I don't believe they intended me any harm, but I was not going to find out.
04-28-09, 09:14 AM
#205
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Downtown Detroit, Mi.
Posts: 781
Bikes: Surly LHT, 94 Cannondale track bike, 80's Cannondale track bike, 60's Raleigh 5 speed, 1888 Eldridge wood wheel track bike and my old 76 DG BMX from when I was a kid.
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
I pretend not to hear unfriendly people from time to time. i click up a gear or two so I don't look like I am spinning my tail off and get out of town.
05-01-09, 08:44 PM
#207
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Downtown Detroit, Mi.
Posts: 781
Bikes: Surly LHT, 94 Cannondale track bike, 80's Cannondale track bike, 60's Raleigh 5 speed, 1888 Eldridge wood wheel track bike and my old 76 DG BMX from when I was a kid.
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
05-01-09, 08:46 PM
#208
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Downtown Detroit, Mi.
Posts: 781
Bikes: Surly LHT, 94 Cannondale track bike, 80's Cannondale track bike, 60's Raleigh 5 speed, 1888 Eldridge wood wheel track bike and my old 76 DG BMX from when I was a kid.
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
You know I can make you a totaly Fred crutch bag! 
05-01-09, 11:06 PM
#209
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Downtown Detroit, Mi.
Posts: 781
Bikes: Surly LHT, 94 Cannondale track bike, 80's Cannondale track bike, 60's Raleigh 5 speed, 1888 Eldridge wood wheel track bike and my old 76 DG BMX from when I was a kid.
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
I found this on a thread.
05-02-09, 08:56 AM
#210
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SW Ohio
Posts: 3,509
Bikes: 3 good used ones
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 83 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 2 Times
in
2 Posts
I'm getting better and moving around more easily. Sure do wish I'd have paid a little more attention to the road that night.
At least they didn't have to saw off the end of my thigh bone and graft in a fake head...bionics
05-02-09, 10:12 PM
#211
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Downtown Detroit, Mi.
Posts: 781
Bikes: Surly LHT, 94 Cannondale track bike, 80's Cannondale track bike, 60's Raleigh 5 speed, 1888 Eldridge wood wheel track bike and my old 76 DG BMX from when I was a kid.
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
In about a week, I should be able to put my shoe on in less than 3 or 4 minutes.
I'm getting better and moving around more easily. Sure do wish I'd have paid a little more attention to the road that night.
At least they didn't have to saw off the end of my thigh bone and graft in a fake head...bionics
I'm getting better and moving around more easily. Sure do wish I'd have paid a little more attention to the road that night.
At least they didn't have to saw off the end of my thigh bone and graft in a fake head...bionics
You sound like you are doing good and taking it all in stride. I dont know what I would do. I would prob go crazy.
05-02-09, 10:54 PM
#212
aka Timi
The word "fred" means "peace" in swedish
... so maybe the world would be a better place if we were all Freds!
... so maybe the world would be a better place if we were all Freds!
05-03-09, 07:46 AM
#213
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Downtown Detroit, Mi.
Posts: 781
Bikes: Surly LHT, 94 Cannondale track bike, 80's Cannondale track bike, 60's Raleigh 5 speed, 1888 Eldridge wood wheel track bike and my old 76 DG BMX from when I was a kid.
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
You are from Gothenburg Sweden. Wow, what's that like? It is silly to ask I know but I just picture this sort of comical, somber bike commute past castles filled with bats
05-03-09, 09:51 AM
#214
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SW Ohio
Posts: 3,509
Bikes: 3 good used ones
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 83 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 2 Times
in
2 Posts
Other'n that: just getting up and around on crutches leads to a pretty good workout. I about exhaust myself just by moving from the house to the yard. That and taking showers or actually leaving and going to the store is more than enough activity to keep me from getting bored.
BTW: It looks like, on the pix of the bike, that you have normal flat pedals.
Dude, if I hadn't been in cleated shoes, I'd be walking around like nothing happened right now. It was in that split second where my feet were trapped in the pedal that made all the difference. That is how my leg got hung out there to dry.
05-03-09, 12:22 PM
#215
aka Timi
I won't try to dispel your image of my commute... but anytime you're over this way I'll show you the "full medieval bat-tour" 
06-10-09, 09:24 AM
#216
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Downtown Detroit, Mi.
Posts: 781
Bikes: Surly LHT, 94 Cannondale track bike, 80's Cannondale track bike, 60's Raleigh 5 speed, 1888 Eldridge wood wheel track bike and my old 76 DG BMX from when I was a kid.
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
So what will a Fred commuter do with 6 days off???
Take a solo camping trip on his bike! At last I get to blaze out of town and spend some time in the woods and percolate coffee (AKA, MUD) over an open fire. I will take some Fred pictures
Take a solo camping trip on his bike! At last I get to blaze out of town and spend some time in the woods and percolate coffee (AKA, MUD) over an open fire. I will take some Fred pictures
06-10-09, 05:36 PM
#217
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Atlanta
Posts: 2,978
Bikes: Cannondale T700s and a few others
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 2 Times
in
2 Posts
I had wanted to do the BRAG this week but didn't have the cash and still need some light weight camping gear including a tent or Hennessy hammock.
So where do you head in MI?
06-10-09, 06:31 PM
#218
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Downtown Detroit, Mi.
Posts: 781
Bikes: Surly LHT, 94 Cannondale track bike, 80's Cannondale track bike, 60's Raleigh 5 speed, 1888 Eldridge wood wheel track bike and my old 76 DG BMX from when I was a kid.
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
So if you go to crooked lake, Mi. look me up and I will brew you the best cup of coffee in camp and we can trade tales of cycling around the fire like rusty old farts
06-10-09, 07:04 PM
#219
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Atlanta
Posts: 2,978
Bikes: Cannondale T700s and a few others
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 2 Times
in
2 Posts
It is only 3 to 5 hours out but I am going to Crooked lake just the other side of Pinckney. I like to base camp, or set up one camp that I like for a number of days rather than see how far I can get. I use a 3 man tent I have for this sort of thing and I take a lot of gear. I am going (by bike) down to Virginia at the end of October though.
So if you go to crooked lake, Mi. look me up and I will brew you the best cup of coffee in camp and we can trade tales of cycling around the fire like rusty old farts
So if you go to crooked lake, Mi. look me up and I will brew you the best cup of coffee in camp and we can trade tales of cycling around the fire like rusty old farts
Funny but I sold a TREK 720 to a guy down here that heads up to MI ever couple years and tours the western coast up to UP. Got me missing the place.
06-10-09, 07:34 PM
#221
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Downtown Detroit, Mi.
Posts: 781
Bikes: Surly LHT, 94 Cannondale track bike, 80's Cannondale track bike, 60's Raleigh 5 speed, 1888 Eldridge wood wheel track bike and my old 76 DG BMX from when I was a kid.
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
Maybe I can make it back up that way one day and take you up on that. Been about 7 years since I been up there. Since my Grandmother passed don't have much reason to head up but I would like to Visit my Aunt that lives off Joy Rd or my other Aunt that Lives off Ann Arbor Trail about halfway between Livonia and Ann Arbor.
Funny but I sold a TREK 720 to a guy down here that heads up to MI ever couple years and tours the western coast up to UP. Got me missing the place.
Funny but I sold a TREK 720 to a guy down here that heads up to MI ever couple years and tours the western coast up to UP. Got me missing the place.
The western coast up to the UP would be a great tour!!! Yea, I love this place! I am luky.
06-10-09, 11:53 PM
#222
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Downtown Detroit, Mi.
Posts: 781
Bikes: Surly LHT, 94 Cannondale track bike, 80's Cannondale track bike, 60's Raleigh 5 speed, 1888 Eldridge wood wheel track bike and my old 76 DG BMX from when I was a kid.
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
This is my 6'4" Fred friend with a size 14 1/2 foot.
He lived on that cannondale for over 4 years in the 1980's and I love talking to him over coffee.
10-18-11, 10:51 AM
#223
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Greencastle, PA
Posts: 255
Bikes: 2010 Jamis Aurora, 2005 Trek 7500
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
10-18-11, 02:23 PM
#224
Member
Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 29
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
Getting back to defining a Fred. I see multiple layers, all of which could be a Fred.
1. The Fred that is all about his business. Call him, "Earnest Fred". He follows routines, sticks to the rules, doesn't make waves, not too flashy, probably wouldn't turn many heads at the single's club. But, he is fit and will easily blow away a roadie when pushed. Earnest Fred has a car and usually a house with wife and kids. He mostly rides because it is his only real escape.
2. The Fred that doesn't have or no longer has a drivers license. Call him "Off-the-Grid Fred". He may be someone who got popped for a DUI, but he has learned a valuable lesson. Or he may be the guy who really doesn't want the hassle of a car. His ride is all about function. Off-the-Grid Fred is as close to Uni-bomber material as a person can go without the FBI beginning to dig into his schtit.
3. The Fred that's all about chill'n. Call him "A-Little-Bud-in-the-Pocket Fred". He's the guy who takes a little puff before hitting the road, and maybe another a few minutes after. For him it's all about the zing. A-Little-Bud-in-the-Pocket Fred is never in a hurry. He is the rider who is always smiling while his head is rolling from side to side, a little like Stevie Wonder.
4. The Fred that scares people. He is not only off-the-grid, but he is also outside the range of what passes for normal. Call him "Creepy Fred". Creepy Fred scares children and young women equally. He bathes rather infrequently, if at all. Alcohol is his constant companion, whether it’s an open bottle in his pocket of simply just stale schtit on his breath. This dude is worse than an ice cream truck driver.
Other Freds?
1. The Fred that is all about his business. Call him, "Earnest Fred". He follows routines, sticks to the rules, doesn't make waves, not too flashy, probably wouldn't turn many heads at the single's club. But, he is fit and will easily blow away a roadie when pushed. Earnest Fred has a car and usually a house with wife and kids. He mostly rides because it is his only real escape.
2. The Fred that doesn't have or no longer has a drivers license. Call him "Off-the-Grid Fred". He may be someone who got popped for a DUI, but he has learned a valuable lesson. Or he may be the guy who really doesn't want the hassle of a car. His ride is all about function. Off-the-Grid Fred is as close to Uni-bomber material as a person can go without the FBI beginning to dig into his schtit.
3. The Fred that's all about chill'n. Call him "A-Little-Bud-in-the-Pocket Fred". He's the guy who takes a little puff before hitting the road, and maybe another a few minutes after. For him it's all about the zing. A-Little-Bud-in-the-Pocket Fred is never in a hurry. He is the rider who is always smiling while his head is rolling from side to side, a little like Stevie Wonder.
4. The Fred that scares people. He is not only off-the-grid, but he is also outside the range of what passes for normal. Call him "Creepy Fred". Creepy Fred scares children and young women equally. He bathes rather infrequently, if at all. Alcohol is his constant companion, whether it’s an open bottle in his pocket of simply just stale schtit on his breath. This dude is worse than an ice cream truck driver.
Other Freds?
10-18-11, 05:00 PM
#225
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 23,208
Mentioned: 89 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 18883 Post(s)
Liked 10,646 Times
in
6,054 Posts
See, I'm skeptical that this ever actually happens, except in the minds of some Freds. I think most people don't care if you pass them, and that this anger or whatever is just the Fredly Fred projecting what he assumes the other cyclist is feeling. They want to feel superior about passing someone, and if the person being passed doesn't care, then that invalidates the feeling of superiority. (Moreover, I think this all stems from an inferiority complex that some cyclists have.)