Look,

In response to a lot of trash talking that has been going on around here recently:

There's really no wrong reason to like something, there's no wrong reason to have a good time, there's no wrong reason to get healthy and there's no wrong reason to make friends. So definitely, there's nothing wrong with your bike.

You wanna call someone a poseur? Let's talk about me. You know what finally got me into fixed gear bikes? That messenger movie about Alfred Bobe Jr in NY and that fixed gear 101 booklet. I'm not gonna lie about it. Both of these came for free with issues of Vice magazine. It just really seemed like something that a lot of people were getting into, which usually to me signals that something is a lot of fun. I should also mention that I've been really into mountain biking and road biking before this, so another bike was something to get stoked about for sure.

So I messed around with the idea of a conversion for a while, but it looked like it was gonna be pretty costly. I've been into Bianchi bicycles since my first road bike back in 97. I was really into the 2006 pista with that sweet sweet puke green color, but the 05 one was on sale and in stock in my size, so whaddya know, that's what I roll.

Didn't know much about track riding or track bikes, so it was a bit of a gamble, there was a possibility it wasn't gonna be much fun. But I really feel like I came up a winner. The first weekend I had it, I took it down to the Hellyer velodrome in San Jose, had a super good time there. Then I realized how much fun this bike was to ride around on the street. The extra vigilance required to ride a fixed gear bike w/o a brake really focuses my mind and gets me in this wonderfully fired up state that doesn't always happen on my road bike. Not to mention the exhiliration produced by the tight, aggressive geometry of the pista.

So whaddya know, I'm having a super good time over here, I'm probably not endangering anyone, and certainly not having fun at anyone elses expense. So there you go. Some people around here might say I bough into a lifestyle. Well, I was fortunate enough to afford that bicycle and successive swapping out of parts. That bicycle has definitely altered my lifestyle, i.e. I'm healthier, I've met a bunch of cool people around these parts, I travel around different places where I previously might have driven. I'm getting really into track racing having just joined up with a team based out of an oakland bike shop. So yeah, I got a pretty sweet deal on a lifestyle upgrade for an initial investment of around $500. Not a bad deal in my book considering what it's got me.

Some people might judge me uncool for some of this, but it's not gonna change how much fun I have on a daily basis. I just really wish people would stop trying to make other people feel bad for liking what they like and having fun doing what they do. I know it's just a bunch of useless ****-talking on an internet forum, but it's indicative of how people behave in the real world, and it's something that I really wish there was less of.

**** Off Jackass

+1

+1 to you sir (Mouton is my homie)

very nicely put, spor.

That was f*kin' beautiful.

Unless it's a cute girl trackstanding.

The b*tchiness of recent posts reminds me of an old adage. Perhaps you need to get some........................riding time in. Clearly the increased amount of whining is a direct result of too much keyboard time and not enough seat time.

Now, go get some.

You have enslaved robots for your biking pleasure. I hope you're happy

your not uncool for living it ... just babbling on like an moron!

shut up and ride!!!!!!!!!!
or grab a wrench--- hell help me fix my cadence sensor!!!

man... what is your deal?

we get it you are a "biker" ok who thinks what? not cool? who's the hell?

you have confused me young Jedi!

Bull****!!!! You endangered my PRIDE, and your FUN was DIRECTLY at my expense when you blasted by me in the Sprint tourney!!!

Keep on keeping on!!!
Great thread, totally spot on.

I got into fixed gear riding to try to help me learn how to spin, and thus keep me driven to keep riding. I am still overweight but having a blast riding Hellyer, and on the street on my fixies.

I DEFINATELY did not get into it for the scene...

you assume that because you like something for good reasons that anyone does. if you'd purchased this bike just to look cool when you ride it half a mile to your favourite bar every night then that would be a bad reason to get into it.

you are very idealistic, in practice and in theory. i appreciate that in ways that i can't really express over the internet. it's a special thing that is difficult to cultivate, and i seriously admire that in you. your idealism in practice is awesome. frankly i don't care HOW you got into riding, but i do care about WHY. your why's are fair enough (well, except the 'it seemed popular, so it must be fun. tv is popular dude. popularity is a wretched litmus test.) i think your idealism in theory (aka, that everyone sees things in the positive light that you do, and everyone is actually having fun on their bikes the way you do) actually betrays it in practice. it belittles the amazing gift you have to be genuinely free of pretense and socially applied pressures to 'be cool' by saying that people who are buying bikes just to fit in, or manipulating relationships and other's feelings just to stick their dick in, and what not are just as genuine in their actions as you. i wish you were right when you said that there is no wrong reason to like something, but unfortunately that is not true.

Why do you care so much what other people do with their lives?
If someone buys a bike to be cool and only rides it to their favorite bar, so what?
How does that have any impact on your existance?
I'm seriously asking.

I like wasting bandwidth.

to answer this to my satisfaction (and yours most likely) would take forever, and i don't think my boss likes me typing around on bumbikes in the first place. trying to condense this is difficult, but it seems there is a serious bankruptcy of sincerity in our country. (i'm sure this is in others too, but i cannot speak to this since since i'm not familiar enough to do so with any intellectual honesty.) i genuinely believe that every act of untruth affects someone or something in some way which is predominantly negative lest the receptor of the stimulus of untruth is conciously aware of the untruth of the act. i believe that this concept traverses not just direct verbal or written communication, but also our expressions through actions, including but not at all limited to our choices in material acquisitions and how we choose to display these materials to others.


that's a seriously condensed creedish type of version. i understand that it doesn't go so far as to demonstrate all the whys and wherehows that have lead me to believe this, but you simply asked why. so on faith, please accept that this is why. whether you accept why as your belief is up to you, but i'm being completely honest, and for once, not ironic at all.

In other words, ironic injokes are the muthafugginjam!

Is it possible to 'ignore' certain usernames on bikeforums? Cause that's nice. Then we can ignore the one or two names that always show up with something negative to type.

I can see some of that and maybe even [cough][cough] respect [cough] it.
But I really do think that you are wasting a lot time focusing on perceived faults in other people's choices and material acquisitions.
I mean, a kid posts a thread asking what color bike to get and you go off on him. This kid didn't seek you out, you saught him out. You're searching the internet for products that you object to. I think you just need to ignore this stuff, live your life how you see fit and extend that same courtesy to others.
You aren't changing people's minds, you're just antagonizing them, which may or may not be your goal.

God, I hope I don't regret engaging this.

https://www.bikeforums.net/profile.ph...ignore&u=52844

Click that.

Fixed gear bikes are a positive sub-culture. i think it's really hard to find positive movements, so it confounds me how positive things always become decadent and ******** by the same people who get into them.

then again, it seems like alot of the trash talkers on this forum are always one here. damn i gotta get one of those track bikes with a laptop on the nitto stem.

yes,
+1

ryan ingersoll.. you should try and read some old vomitron posts ...he does what youre trying to do...but successffully... all your points get lost in your verbal diarrhea.. i know you think its deep.. but its not.. its too many words that dont need to be used.. succinct.. thats a good word for you..now go rewrite that **** without the thesaurus and convey a point successfully for once.

edit: holy ****.. i cant believe i spelled succinct with s's.. im not even hung over

+1

plenty of wrong reasons to like something...even biking.

Examples:
I like biking cuz it makes jacking old ladys' purses easier.
I like selling crack to kids cuz I get paid.

that said, I dig what your saying Spor.

Peace.