Any chance some of you who are so rough on newbies could relax a little?

If the question is innocent, maybe the first person could tell them to search?

There just isn't any good reason to tell someone else that their bike is an ugly piece of junk, unless they just won't stop asking (and it really is...). Maybe with the innocent and nice newbies a few suggestions in place of bashing? The jerks though are totally fair game in my opinion


Just a few thoughts.

Today I had chocolate milk, orange juice, cranberry juice, water, and coffee with my breakfast.

^ gotta stay hydrated

life is too short to justify wasting money on garbage bikes

When I graduated from grad school, I was broke and owed a fortune. My first car cost me $40, and I drove it for a year. I would have ridden a dumpster find bike at that time, but luckily I had a slightly nicer bike, than a dumpster find. After many years in my profession, I can buy any bike I want.

We all start somewhere, and I just do not see the value in bashing someone else's bike (speaking of the innocent and nice newbies).

did you just justify wasting money on a garbage bike

Is it a waste if it is a couple hundred bucks, or less, and can be ridden?

If a guy posts up a bike he paid $100-200 bucks for, asking for feedback, he is really hoping to hear it was OK. And, if it rides, it is ok. A lot of folks need that first bike to understand how much fun SS or FG is to ride. Then, while they ride that into the ground they can save for a good bike, or at least a step up.

This is one of the reasons I don't participate in the Jackass thread. Too many times it is an excuse to call the owner a jackass and not the bike.

I try to remember that I really don't know anyone's situation or the hardships they've been through. Maybe the bike is all they got.


-Tim-

Eww, is that shrimp?

I think the chances of having your request honored are pretty good.
After it is all said and done, the men and women ( there are women here, aren't there?) who frequent the SS/FG
forum are a reasonable, thoughtful, and intelligent bunch. We just don't suffer fools or shills gladly.
And sometimes we can be a bit hasty to judge.
So...point taken.

I think that some folks have just reached their tolerance threshold for certain questions, forgetting that that question is a first for that individual. I understand the frustration, and I believe it should be saved for the jerks that occasionally drop it....

Yum, is that shrimp?

There's no reason to spend more than a couple hundred dollars on a fixed gear bike. It's missing the majority of the expensive components on a normal, geared bike.

I disagree. The frameset, wheelset and crankset represent the majority of the cost of any bicycle. It's pretty difficult to find a new quality bicycle for under $200.

Htfu

I would be more inclined to suggest that people build their first Fixed/SS themselves, either as a conversion or not, but with all the cheapest (but still ok) components they can get. This will teach them that it's really very easy to build one, and with a minimum of specialty tools. Then they know how each part went together, and how to properly service and take care of it. It also makes the process of upgrading each component a little more fun and easier, because you know how each part when in, so you know how to pull it and install the new one.

^ then wait for the tons of "what frame is best for $X/Is this a decent frame?" or "what's the best component/upgrade?" threads (which we already have). I understand the idea of building you own or fixing your own bike but its still out of the realm for a lot of people, especially for those who just want to start out/don't even know where to start out and end up with what most consider a crap bike, even if that's where most of us started out on.

My advice to the people new is this, whatever pile you got at the bargain bin; just ride it, enjoy it, and fix what you need as you go. if you got the coin buy something nice, learn you don't like it, then sell it cheap on ebay or whatever so people who appreciate it can get a good deal. That seems ot be how it generally goes

The 'protein-rice ratio' is getting better.

Trying to change it up every time.

Sheer, unbridled ignorance right here, folks.

Is there cheese in those things?
If so -- shrimp with cheese? What the hell?
If not -- burritos with no cheese? What the hell?

i have sex with bikes

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. Cheese with shellfish is "wrong" according to master chefs. Yada yada.

Make yourself some shrimp/scallop and queso blanco enchiladas and get back to me.

Blecchhh. I avoid shellfish and Tex Mex flavor combos, though well-played with the queso blanco. Crumbly, formed cheeses like that (or ricotta salata if you're doing Italian) are the exceptions to the fish and cheese rule.