space_robots

Just out of curiosity, how old are you and how old do you think this guy was? I'm 23 and I'm having a hard time imagining a random other person making fun of me or my bike while I'm riding. But hey, maybe I just don't live in SF.

the pope

+ 1000

redcurrycelt

I rode a chrome Pista for a good year through the mean, Prada-clogged streets of SF and never caught a lick of static. I guess it's just the luck of the draw.

Generally, folks in SF are quite open-minded and nice, but there's always a few bad apples in every barrel.

A band from NYC came to a club night I was at a few months ago to play punky rocky **** and just before the first song, bellows:

"YEEAHHH, you ****in' cool kids, you're so ****in' cool with your ****in' chrome BIANCHI PISTAS and your ****in' cool hair and your black clothes, YEAHHHH, so cool.. NOW SHUT UP AND HEAR THIS **** YOU STUPID ****ING *****S!"

..the Pista is an icon, I guess.

But anyway, I think it's safe to ride them again because they've gone from fetishized to over-it and now they've transished back to being simply nice, reasonably priced bikes without much stigma (around here).

Matthew A Brown

Mad haiku appreciation over here.

shawnrock@gmail

Happened to my friend last night- he's 28.

46x17

Somebody SAID something!!!!??!? Man, you got off easy. There was this kid that smacked in the face and driven into the bay with sticks and stones just for having a brake on a custom piece. Another person was tared and feathered and sent back to Marin just for having a conversion!! How dare you even complain at the site of such atrocities! How dare you not comply with the fashion police's rules and regulations???!!?!?!? It is people like you that are the problem 'bout time you wake up and realize!

Happy 6.6.06!

onetwentyeight 

i just get **** for riding track bikes, period. Hipster jabs and all that. Theres a lot of stigmas attached to it lately. Whatever, at least im out riding, unlike the **** talkers..

46x17

you hipster!

srsly

i bought my 06 chrome pista before i even came to this forum, or heard anything about hipsters riding track bikes (and i live in seattle, go figure). so when i came on here and started seeing all that waffle i got nervous about riding it around my old neighborhood; U-District, one of the larger hipster hives. i'd like to say i don't give a f*ck about what strangers say but on some days it just gets to ya. and i gotta say the only thing i ever hear from anyone is "sweet bike." this usually comes from some middle aged roadie on an older bianchi. i've only seen two other chrome pistas in town, so maybe we're not saturated yet?

onetwentyeight 

46x17 - i guess i should have mentioned that the only people who have called me a hipster for having a track bike were hipsters.

you ****ing hipster.

mattface 

Oh yeah? well the only people who've ever called me a ***ster for calling them a ***ster were ***sters!

Take that ***ster! (yes you've just been called a ***ster for calling someone a ***ster for calling YOU a ***ster. this could go on and on...)

46x17

but now you just called me a hipster?!!?!

this is confusing

evanyc

haha please share what band this was

onetwentyeight 

steelduck

Err, No I am not. It might be a language thing, as I am Finnish and english is not my native language. What I meant was that world is full of stupid people saying stupid things and you should not worry about that + I think Pista is a better looking bike than most of the custom bikes I see. Including my EAI....

eddiebrannan

this is my first negative track bike experience

Captain Monkey

i started off on a pista about 5 yrs ago. i have slowly been upgrading. while the upgrade was in the process i was one of those pricks. i use to talk down to cats about there machine. at the time i bought my pista there was only about two other cats with the same bike so i was cool enough to talk my sh@t. anyway, with time and age came experience and some sort of intelligence. i should find everyone i said something to and apologize for my sillyness. since that probably wont happen then to you i say sorry. no one should be talked down to cause of there machine. who am i or anyone to say what one can and cannot afford? how does anyone know if someone is just starting off and the pista isn't a bad start-off bike? anyway, the best remedy is to just tell yourself "no worries". as long as your being true to yourself who cares what anyone thinks. sure its annoying but, as i learned, they will soon feel the guilt. at least you have that. good luck on your fix and welcome. peace.

paslay

Realize what? Look around and be observant...half the riders have front brakes, your probably the A-hole from last night! Thanks for the postive reassurance EVERYONE that I made a good buy and a new hobby for myself! You all RULE!

sloppy robot

when i went to pretentious art school in s.f. mid-nineties.. id get made fun of for just riding a bike...so at least its improving to only specific bikes! s.f. is a rough little village.. small price to pay for how beautiful it is

46x17

oh mercy, that went wrong. I was joking. should have added that smiley face. didn't mean to hurt your feelings.

I am in connecticut for the week so it wasn't me last night.

you made a great buy and found a great hobby and you rule!

paslay

Yeah I actually did go look for him, really out of my character to do that but I wanted to say something to him. I've found lately in SF that the attitude has increased a lot. I've been here for 5 years and my patience for attiude is diminishing by the year. If it's not bikers it's the waitress or service person that is constantly engaging me and others with attitude, mostly the younger types though. PEOPLE, if you hate yourself or your situation in life, your only gonna make it worse for yourself when you look back at how you were in the past. Their was one reply in this posting from a guy who I found admirable for admitting he was one of those dudes at one time. Wow...

papalok

don't pistas come stock without brakes and a fat unremovable sticker that says "no brakes?"
with a brake that's ironic, and irony is dope in my book.
ride the **** out of that whip.

sfcrossrider

I ride my road bike wearing jeans and a t-shirt. The cats on road bikes give me ***** for not wearing "bike clothes", and the hipsters give me ***** for having gears. My answer... RIDE THE FU(K OUT OF BOTH OF EM!!! I L O V E making some prick on a carbon Trek puke on his Lance gear trying to keep my wheel in a group ride, almost as much as I love droping hipster scum in traffic. Power b!tches. It's in the legs and lungs not the bike.

46x17

Stop expecting attitude from everyone you see and you will stop getting it. Most people are really nice in SF.

paslay

That's the most ridiculous thing to say, no one can be that much of a tripper. It's actually quite simple, I give every stranger I encounter the benefit of the doubt that they are intelligent, trustworthy secure people when I first encounter them. If they're not, I don't waste my time being friendly, I used to, but have had it. I think that's fair.