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-   -   Is Bicycle commuting Hip? (https://www.bikeforums.net/commuting/911893-bicycle-commuting-hip.html)

cooker 09-11-13 02:52 PM

Pepper makes my head sweat. It's so noticeable I even wondered if the increased blood flow it causes to my scalp might mean capsaicin from pepper could be used to treat or prevent male baldness. I looked into it and found that there has been some research of that, but it didn't go anywhere

fietsbob 09-11-13 02:54 PM

Or, being a model in a photo shoot for a Catalog, is it Hip?

asmac 09-11-13 04:32 PM


Originally Posted by ShartRate (Post 16047727)
If you are instead like me, and you are fat, wear bike shorts and an athletic shirt from Target, and have a Trek hybrid that you commute on and carry your crap in panniers and wear a dorky helmet and can't ride anywhere without becoming drenched in sweat, then no you are not hip.

You stole my post.

Spld cyclist 09-11-13 06:37 PM

The other evening I was riding past a little park where some kind of fair or festival was going on. It was getting dark and I had my helmet headlight on. I've always considered having a headlight on my helmet to be the very paramount of bike commuter dorkiness, but I'm old enough not to care anymore. Anyway, there was a group of teenage girls sitting at a picnic table near the street. They looked at me and one of them called out "nice headlight" with (I'm 99% sure) no trace of irony in her voice. I got to bask in the glow of teenage girl approval for a minute, which isn't something that has happened in many a year. :o Now I need to know, does this make me hip?

zacster 09-11-13 07:02 PM


Originally Posted by ShartRate (Post 16047727)
If you are a hip person and dress hip and have a hip bag and a hip bike and you can ride to work without becoming a sweaty mess, sure bike commuting can be hip.

If you are instead like me, and you are fat, wear bike shorts and an athletic shirt from Target, and have a Trek hybrid that you commute on and carry your crap in panniers and wear a dorky helmet and can't ride anywhere without becoming drenched in sweat, then no you are not hip.

OMG, that's exactly me. Trek 7000, Target synthetic shirt, bike shorts, a rack and a Knog pannier. I wear the same helmet that I use on my road bike though, not dorky. And my mantra is "Steady, not sweaty".

But I actually ride a road bike when I'm not commuting, I'm faster than almost everyone else, I'm almost 60 but don't look much over 40, and I live in the hippest place on the planet (Brooklyn). I'm also not that fat, just a little overweight and I've lost 10 pound in the past 6 weeks from riding.

Ray R 09-12-13 09:36 AM

It's only "hep" if you declaim poetry, listen to Bird Parker and John Coltrane, and read Kerouac, Burroughs, and Ginsberg. Otherwise, it's just fashion.

Rick@OCRR 09-12-13 10:11 AM

On one hand, I am so not concerned with what may or may not be hip.

While on the other hand, I do try to do everything I can to keep from being Fredly. Two sides to every coin and all that.

Rick / OCRR

fietsbob 09-12-13 10:51 AM

Are hip joint replacements hip? ... :50:

cyka37 09-12-13 10:56 AM


Originally Posted by ShartRate (Post 16047727)
If you are a hip person and dress hip and have a hip bag and a hip bike and you can ride to work without becoming a sweaty mess, sure bike commuting can be hip.

If you are instead like me, and you are fat, wear bike shorts and an athletic shirt from Target, and have a Trek hybrid that you commute on and carry your crap in panniers and wear a dorky helmet and can't ride anywhere without becoming drenched in sweat, then no you are not hip.

OMG! I thought that was funny, but it's hip...if you thinks so, doesn't matter what anyone else thinks.

cooker 09-12-13 11:30 AM


Originally Posted by fietsbob (Post 16058284)
Are hip joint replacements hip? ... :50:

Well, those particular joint replacements are hip(s).

no motor? 09-12-13 11:34 AM


Originally Posted by Ray R (Post 16058004)
It's only "hep" if you declaim poetry, listen to Bird Parker and John Coltrane, and read Kerouac, Burroughs, and Ginsberg. Otherwise, it's just fashion.

Well, that's me and I'm sure not considered hip by most standards. Especially with not one, but two helmet lights.

RMak 09-12-13 06:33 PM


Originally Posted by Mr. Hairy Legs (Post 16045161)
It's hip for those of us who do it. For others, it's dorky and weird.

That's so true! People thought I was crazy for riding to work. Then again, I did ride to work during snow storms (changed tires of course) and through the rain. Of course I was prepared for this. Had weatherproof gear and proper tires. When you're serious, you're seriously weird. :lol:

puckett129 09-12-13 06:40 PM

If you have to ask, well...





Originally Posted by alan s (Post 16047915)
I just smirked, and rode on.

I hope you smirked ironically.

zacster 09-12-13 08:43 PM


Originally Posted by Spld cyclist (Post 16056337)
The other evening I was riding past a little park where some kind of fair or festival was going on. It was getting dark and I had my helmet headlight on. I've always considered having a headlight on my helmet to be the very paramount of bike commuter dorkiness, but I'm old enough not to care anymore. Anyway, there was a group of teenage girls sitting at a picnic table near the street. They looked at me and one of them called out "nice headlight" with (I'm 99% sure) no trace of irony in her voice. I got to bask in the glow of teenage girl approval for a minute, which isn't something that has happened in many a year. :o Now I need to know, does this make me hip?

Uh, like no. I live with teenage twin girls and there isn't anything I or anybody my age can do to be hip. Maybe, just maybe, since you aren't "DAD", you'll get half a point.

zacster 09-12-13 08:46 PM

I think I'm going to change the TREK logo on my bike to spell FRED instead. It won't take much. Cut the left tail off the T and put it in the middle, turn the angles on the K around. Or maybe TREK just spells FRED anyway.

I'm such a FRED that I couldn't do this on my Macbook.

Spld cyclist 09-12-13 09:30 PM


Originally Posted by zacster (Post 16060181)
Uh, like no. I live with teenage twin girls and there isn't anything I or anybody my age can do to be hip. Maybe, just maybe, since you aren't "DAD", you'll get half a point.

You're right. Just asking the question proves how fundamentally and irredeemably unhip I am....:D

Maybe I'll shoot for "Fred." I can likely manage that....

JanMM 09-13-13 08:07 PM


Originally Posted by Ray R (Post 16058004)
It's only "hep" if you declaim poetry, listen to Bird Parker and John Coltrane, and read Kerouac, Burroughs, and Ginsberg. Otherwise, it's just fashion.

No! Not hip but real beat, man..........................

Pedaleur 09-14-13 04:21 AM


Originally Posted by Barrettscv (Post 16046279)
I'm older and a Manager. It's not considered hip with 99% of my peers, and I could care less.

I'm older and also in a leadership role. I'm not considered hip by anyone.

xtrajack 09-14-13 06:49 AM

Given a choice between being "hip" or of being "Fredly", I am solidly in the Fredly camp.
I can't remember the last time that I really cared what others thought of me. Might be an age thing.

noglider 09-14-13 09:59 AM


Originally Posted by zacster (Post 16060188)
I think I'm going to change the TREK logo on my bike to spell FRED instead. It won't take much. Cut the left tail off the T and put it in the middle, turn the angles on the K around. Or maybe TREK just spells FRED anyway.

I'm such a FRED that I couldn't do this on my Macbook.

I have a couple of frames that are logo-less already and a third which is about to be logo-less. You just gave me an idea. There might be more than one FRED sighting in NYC soon.

noglider 09-14-13 10:02 AM

As to hipness, yes and no. Yes, a lot of hip people are doing it, but not everyone doing it is hip. It is also hip because the rate of increase in people doing it is extremely high. From every year to the next in the last five or so years, you see more. I think the rate of increase (the third derivative of this curve) may be higher now!

On the Hudson River Greenway, there are tons of very fit people riding very skillfully, but there are also wobbly people who clearly haven't ridden much in recent years until now. There are also some very flat and flabby people. They can't have been doing this for long, and it melts my heart to see them, faster than it's melting their fat.

gna 09-17-13 11:35 AM


Originally Posted by Ray R (Post 16058004)
It's only "hep" if you declaim poetry, listen to Bird Parker and John Coltrane, and read Kerouac, Burroughs, and Ginsberg. Otherwise, it's just fashion.

I'm hip to your hep.


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