duke_of_hazard

That is a good analogy. The barriers to entry for cycling are so low that anybody can do it. As a result you have a huge majority of uneducated and uninformed participants in the activity. On the other hand, playing a musical instrument, takes a little bit of skill. As a result most musicians can agree on basic techniques. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for cycling.

I-Like-To-Bike

Probably 99.9% of cyclists who are no longer using training wheels, are satisfied with their current technique or can figure out for themselves what they might wish to do differently. Then there is the 0.1% clique who feel it is their mission to instruct/inform the other 99.9% cyclists of their lack of education and/or incompetence in proper cycling technique.

Jim from Boston

I found Bike Forums when it was casually mentioned on another, non-cycling comic-strip related blog. I was already a long time cyclist so I was immediately drawn in. I don't necessarily seek specific information, but I've picked up a lot of ideas and advice that have changed my riding style and performance. It's especially appreciated since I ride solo. It has been gratifying to hear that other cyclists have pondered so many topics as have I.

It seem Boston has a large BF contingent, but I haven't met personally any subscribers, though I've enjoyed corresponding with some. I do mention the Forums to riders I've met, but I 'm not aware of any that have become active. Two college friends of my son though are familiar with this site; one is a fixed gear rider who posts, and one a college bike racer in a Rocky Mountain state who lurks.

z415

A little bit of a redirect. I was just granted an account activation to another forums for this subject (cyclingforms.something) that I registered for in DECEMBER of LAST YEAR. I opened a thread, complained, told the mods to delete me, and referred them to here if they were interested. How in the world do they have more members?!?!?! 7 months of activation is ridiculous. The FL Fixed forum with probably one mod/admin took a two day turnaround.

Back on track, I found BF when Googling a very specific bike question and I suppose someone had the same problem.

I know a handful of people that are members on here, but not active members.

I think BF has the most active members of any cycling related forums.

Panthers007

Z415:

I got the same - also tried in December. That forum is full of kids from Arabic nations. No good forums that aren't packed with 12 & 13 year olds. So forth. I suggest you take a look - then ask to be banned. Move on. I'll bet it's a Homeland Security honeypot.

z415

I actually went through and lurked and saw that I could contribute, especially in a mechanical sense so I decided to join. On here, the dumb answers have seemed to tone down so I felt I could help elsewheres, but seven months is ridiculous.

I made a thread complaining and asking to be deleted as a member or if vBulletin won't work that way then to permaban me. Not that it is necessary. The site is blocked for me now, of my own accord.

Now I just found out I have to spam block them from email because apparently replies are notified in email form Someone saying his request took 12 months or something. How quiant - it clearly says in the user feedback forum to 'POST IF YOU CANNOT REGISTER', yet you can't post if you can't register..... Its like asking me to go to college without applying.

Panthers007

Yes! We ARE on the same page here! I had all those problems, too. I thinks it's run by an 8 year old in Dubai. What a pack of ding-dongs!

I-Like-To-Bike

What list are you two talking about?

z415

List?

I was speaking of an alternate bike related forum that I find sub par to here.

RubenX 

I googled for a bike problem and ended up here... been here since.

I-Like-To-Bike

Does it have a name?

Wordbiker

At times it appears that 99.9% of the cyclists already here don't have a clue about the wealth of information that is available in this forum...at least judging by the number of questions that are asked over and over and are already answered in the stickies or by a simple search.

DX Rider

Same here.

I know a couple of people who are BF members and also live near me. Despite the well stated shortcomings of this forum, which is true of almost every forum, I like being able to talk with people who share a common interest, biking.

I like baseball and if anyone thinks the member base on this forum is bad, than try logging onto to Yankees or Red Sox forum sometime. They just both suck. Red Sox fans hassling Yankees fans, Yankees fans hassling Red Sox fans, the hositilty driven drama gets old. It's rare that people even bother to discuss baseball.

no motor?

I went there for a little while, and found there wasn't much content there. But there was a lot of spam, and the members seemed to be mostly European. I don't plan on going back.

z415

Yes.

bkrownd

Most people I tell about BF don't seem too interested. Some people just aren't into internet forums at all.