I noticed last week in a posting about the new Raleigh fixed gear that one user commented about how this bike would finally make all those Pista riders seem "hardcore." I have to ask a few questions about this coveted "hardcoreness." What makes one a "hardcore" fixed gear rider? Do I have to peel all of the stickers off of my bike? Do I have to slather it with overpriced Campy parts so that I wil have better performance manuevering through city traffic or can I just wear a Campy cyclist's cap? Is being a bike messenger a prerequisite for being "hardcore?" What about the time I spend actually riding my bike as compared to the time I spend on the internet posting pictures of it in forums for other "hardcore-ers" to see? Is there a formula for this? I know that by saving my money and going to my local bike shop to buy a bike I will never enter "hardcore" Valhalla so what kind of dumpsters tend to contain "hardcore" bikes? Oh, I know, I bet I just have to buy some time trial bars and remove the brakes!? I bet that'd do it!!! Someone please help me as clearly I have no idea what loving the bicycle is all about.

Dude! Did you have a bad weekend or something? Don't sweat it man! Those who need to classify who is and isn't "hardcore" either are insecure themselves, or need a new hobby...

Just ride, and enjoy!

No, you'll have to use track drops or a flipped'n'chopped drop bar to be hardcore. And ride a bike that has never had brakes

(I'm so un-hardcore that currently I only have a geared MTB. And the SS/fixie I'm building now will have *warning: potentially disturbing mateial* two brakes and fenders. BTW, I have the frame now: Hungarian-made Schwinn aluminium road frame, lovely straight cro-mo fork. Vertical drops, so please keep fingers crossed for chain length.)

In the light of that, what the hell is the "senior member" note doing under my nick? Not age (23) or length of forum membership (forty-odd days, >100 posts)? Nor rhat it bothers me

Like bikeophile said....dont sweat it. RIDE RIDE RIDE!
To me hardcore is riding when you cant or shouldnt, i.e. broken ankle, leg, collar bone, anything that you exert when riding. Thats hardcore. Stupid, yes. Hardcore, oh definitely!

you gotta get streetwise and ride a track bike on the street, here's picture of "the first track bike built for the streets"
https://osbmx.com/o*****/schwinn.jpg

Hardcore is carrying a pie in your stashpocket while balancing a pancake on your head!

LOL!! That was great!! Now I know.

and now i'm hungry.

false. hardcore is somehow making it all the way home with a frame bungeed to your pack, then pulling into your narrow driveway and leaving a nice scratch down the side of your roommate's car.

You should have stashed a pie in your stash pocket. Then you'd have something to eat. Clearly you have much to learn about the hardness of your core, grasshopper.

-sam

I have actually found campy stuff in the dumpster, though it was Valentino level, nothing special. But campy none the less.

"hard core" is to bikers as "cool" is to highschool kids. in both cases, its not worth worrying about. do you really want people who take this stuff seriously to like you?

... man, i sound like my dad.

Your dad's hard core

Exactly. And they won't like you, they'll hate you for being equal to / "better than" them. The competition never ends. Some people will always be obsessed with creating an in and an out group. I just got in to being a roadie as well, and lemme tell you there are some real tools out there that make the posing in the fixie community seem 2nd grade. People shell out mountains of cash for unjustifiably ridiculous doo-dads, this sort of painful fetishization of gear that's WAY out of proportion. What a scene.

Unless it's a doo-dad that matches my jersey. Hmmm. It's on sale...

I can't tell who is trying harder to impress someone, the guy who made the original comment, or the guy who posted this thread.

You'll be hardcore when you're watching a porno staring your sister.

I think you might be!!!