Hell yeah, deep dish pizza in Chi-town

I've only been in Chicago for a little while, and going to Chicago bike events for even shorter amount of time. When I'm around other riders here they tend to be really nice and accepting, though I have gotten **** for riding geared before, or riding Trek, being an ex-racer, or wearing cyling shoes. Nonetheless, I go out and have a good time on my geared bike because I love cycling and I can tell that the people around me do too, and don't really care about what it is that I ride. Sure, you get your *******s here and there, mainly because they are personally offended that someone else has their hobby. Chicago really is a great cycling city - can't wait for the summer!

minus the lake front path during fall/summer/spring

Sounds like SF. You have your deepdish, we have our burritos, you have Marcus, we have Travis...

you got the cheap imitation of Zacheries

Heh. the only pizza place I like in SF is little star.

Fireside Bowl's still around. It's no longer a venue, though (I never thought it was a particularly good one). It's a bowling alley again, although I haven't been for a year.

Aside from the general "people in Chicago are cool" sentiment (although it's true), the people that I've met around and/or through this forum run the whole spectrum. Plenty of Chicago BFFGSS dudes wear bike shoes and/or other bike-centric gear, but plenty don't. There are lots of really blinging track bikes, and many grimy conversions. We all ride together; when your beer spills, my thirst increases, brother. Cats have Pistas, others have Colnagos, much in between.

Of course, most of us are a bit old to be engaging in bitter street-corner hating anyway, which may have something to do with it.

I came in here not too long ago to research for a fixed trainer, and had absolutely *no* idea this culture existed. Coming from the roadie side of the tracks, I think whats going on here is pretty cool. Its new to me, so I don't have to see the negatives if I don't want to. I doubt I'll become a part of it, but now there's a cool frame on order, and a bunch of awesome parts starting to stack up in the corner.

I'm with you. Touring is next. Just like it was before, when touring was big in the 70-80s.

Ha! Northern California thinks it can make a burrito. That's just too precious.

Oh, and furthermore, ink, I think you summed things up quite nicely.

:beer:
I hope so.

Good post, Ink. I know I post in y'all's forum like a dick/troll sometimes, but having been an elitist skatepunk as an adolescent, and a self righteous punk rocker as a teen/young adult, I know how these things tend to go. You said it very well, and very diplomatically. Oh, and RAW rules! :beer:

yaaaawnn....whatever, dude, i was so listening to bad religion in the 80's ;)

Ink you have a point, but it is only half the story.

Skill will always be more important than a pretty bike. The guy kicking ass on a Pista will always be way cooler and more "in" than the guy who can barely ride his NJS rig down the hill and nobody will ever get mocked for long if they ride hard even if it's a "crappy conversion". It is your actions a lot more than your possessions that make you who you are and how people view you.

i ride a CRAPPY ASS conversion.
and i dont get ****, not once
does that mean i ride hard?
:D
say yes, i wanna be "in"!!!111

Pizzeria Orgasmica in S.F. makes a fine pizza, not the best ever, but fine none the less.

The exclusion scene is the worst I've ever seen it in S.F. It's like the hierarchy of "hipness" goes: homeless guy with a Huffy>mountain bike commuter>hybrid commuter> geared road biker> stock single speed rider> custom single speed> stock fixie> custom fixie> custom no brake fixie> Messenger.

I horrible, they even have their own nightclubs and bars. if you aren't "custom single speed" or above, you aren't allowed. The first thing I see in a fellow riders eyes when I go past is judgement. I just wanna ride and have fun, but a few bad eggs ruin it for everyone.

Maybe this thread shoulda died, but it is interesting. I like that SF heirarchy of hipness. It's all kind of funny. I think ink was pretty on. I got back into biking (after knocking teeth out) on a single speed, kid at work coaxed/teased me into going fixed, and fell in love. But, I also ride a road bike, wear spandex no less, and can't help but feel a little ashamed. But 65 miles in Half Moon Bay? F*ing amazing, and I'd love to do it fixed, but four mile climbs would suck.

I just put straight bars on my conversion to make it unique(they are kinda fun, but miss alternate positions). I build up a track frame this weekend. I wanna go brakeless, for aesthetic reasons. I want a better faster road bike too, cause why not? It seems most of us here spend a lot of time on bikes, and (too much) time here, not to mention school, work, partners, families...etc. Why? We are ***in obsessed, for one reason or another. And its great. Ride bikes, talk about bikes, talk about riding bikes, make your bike look cooler, learn to skid, do a century geared, do the Big Fix(rad)...whatever.

I well say, I wish I felt as much community on the Bay Area streets as I do here. Actually more here would be nice, too.

I dunno what bars and nightclubs you're talking about, but we're pretty inclusive in my circle of friends.. Most of the time I ride with a cinelli roadbike, a mercier conversion (ss not fg), a schwinn conversion, a cannondale track, and a guerciotti. and its fun. I'm amused that I'm only one step down from messenger though.

I love that "messenger" is at the top. Some of the messengers I know don't even really like bikes that much.

EDIT: It's like fat people dressing up like McDonald's employees because they assume the employees are into Big Macs as much as they are.

^^^^Exactly^^^^ ... I too felt a little weirded at first, but only because I remembered how agonizing it felt as a kid skateboarding; showing up a parks getting dissed by other kids who were *better*. When I was 12-20 years old the exclusiveness of that scene was tough. But you know what ... I skated my a ss off and earned my respect (ass stoooopid as it was at the time) ... but this sh it is nothing like that, sheesh (not anywhere near the vibe that skating was anyway) ... I started out on a serious (ebay purchased) track bike and definitely felt like an idiot simply because I had never even ridden a fixed gear before *ever*, let alone a full blown track bike. The best thing about it was that I took to it quickly with confidence. The short of it is I have never met better *more welcoming* people in my life than I have through BF's and people riding bikes; track, road or otherwise. MTC. EF THE HATERS!

edit: normally I stay away from these threads but today I'm feeling nice.

[QUOTE=marqueemoon
As good American consumers we will pimp out our bikes and hate on each other. It's how we express our individuality. ;)[/QUOTE]

in all seriousness, i don't see any "hate on" goin' on. we just enjoy some good-natured (for the most part) ***** givin'. it's a guy thing. some folks are just to sensitive. bottomline for me is that EVERYONE when they're ridin' a bike is a hero! :)

dap! :beer:

i mean "too" not "to" sensitive. i can spell (mostly).

the hippest messengers of them all are the the old dudes rocking orange kozmo bags who growl as they pedal their mountain rigs

:beer: :beer: :beer: