Neko-Kat

That's completely awesome. I had my nephew up for a visit a few weeks ago, he's 8. He wanted to race me all the time and when my significant other went out with us my nephew was stoked that the SO took his "road bike with speedometer." The nephew was more stoked when he learned how fast he was going, "Aunt Kat, I got all the way to 16 mph!"

Gordiep

I was riding on a MUP the other day, coming back from the library. I heard a pretty loud freewheel coming up behind me, look around, it's a full-kit roadie riding a brand new Serotta, full Dura-Ace, do-rag under the helmet, classic roadie Terminator glasses, etc.

He passes me kind of slowly (on a bike path, remember)-- I figure he's on recovery, or just getting off a long ride-- and I say, "Nice bike-- looks beautiful!" (I wasn't being facetious, I really like Serotta frames.)
He looks over, smiles and says, "Yeah-- it's great as long as you don't get hit by anything."
Then he slapped his ass a couple of times and zipped off.

???

non

I just have to try this.

blickblocks

Think he means because it's carbon?

pixel

while trackstanding at a light:

Random Girl on Bike: Is it worth it?
Me: Its ALWAYS worth it!

calculus

oh yeh one time this older bald guy yelled "TRACK BIKE! thats a ***** to ride!"...i wasn't thinking fast enough else i would have responded "its a conversion duuuuude"

jerrymcdougal

Ahahaha, THE SAME GUY, screamed THE SAME THING today. With a different tour group of course. I'm guessing the guy just wants to look cool in front of the freshman girls or something. This time I gave him a nod and a smile and giggled to myself.

oldsprinter

I had a guy ask me what gear my bike was in. He said he figured it was about 7th gear.

TedC

I was getting off my bike heading into a building at school, and a professor looks at my conversion junker and goes, "nice bike(in sarcastic tone) thats older than you, isnt it?"
me: "yeah...its an old '84 trek"
professor(looking at the freewheel: "Come on! its not even fixed!"

Boss Moniker

I posted this somewhere else.

Lady pulled over in front of me with her window rolled down, and as I passed her, she said something out the window, but because I was going pretty fast down a hill, all I heard was:

"----ey-----".

Moshiiii

I carry a police baton in my backpack just encase someone throws something at me. I got it at army navy for $30, well worth it.

Sizzle-Chest

i past a roady the other day who looked like he got lost during the tour de france. when he caught up to me at an intersection he said,

"you must work at a bike shop"

"is that an insult?"

"no, it's just that you're riding a fixie with sidi shoes. only a bike mechanic would do that."

skinnyland

Watch out for johnny law when you're carrying that. You don't want a concealed deadly weapon charge on your record.
Many jurisdictions view those types of instruments just as harshly as firearms. Even some places where it's legal to pack heat have laws (and steep penalties) against other types of weapons (knucks, ASP-style batons, etc.).

Sizzle-Chest

i need something like that. last year a guy tried to ram me on his bike and i had to swerve off the bike path into the road. i turned around and caught up to him to figure out what was going on and he skid stopped, threw down his bike and put up his dukes. i asked him what the fuk he was doing and he said don't get close to me! if only i had a baton to bludgen him . . .

blickblocks

I would call the police...sounds like a loose cannon.

caloso

We don't get any of that Hepburn-Grant witty repartee out here; mostly it's "Get off the road, *******!"

fliphandywork

I like!

kemmer

I've had a couple of "how are you doing that?" comments from cars or other cyclist while trackstanding or trying to ride backwards.

I was riding a road bike on my lunch break once and I pulled up to a long light next to an older gentleman. We made a little small talk and he asked if I was "working". I stopped to help guy fix a flat and he asked me if I worked for <messenger service> or <the other messenger service> when I mentioned that I was on my way home from work. Nobody has ever asked if I was "working" when I was riding my fixed gear.

I get lots of funny questions/comments on my tall bike but my favorite all time comment was when I was riding my swing bike (it hinges at the rear). I was cruising through the park with the front wheel off to one side and a guy shouted "your bike is broken!" I almost crashed I was laughing so hard.

kemmer

I almost forgot the best one! One time some friends and I turned off of the road and onto the sidewalk (our stop was a half block down). This tuff guy type was walking backwards talking to his lady friends and weaving all over the place. One of the girls told him to look where he was going (because we were waiting to see what the hell he was going to do) and he got all butt-hurt and said "you're supposed to stay off the sidewalk". I though the universe might collapse on itself, unable to handle the utter improbability of a tuff guy type knowing that bikes belong in the street.

oktokrewl

the usual things I hear are:

I want you to ride me like you ride that bike..

or

Can I get a ride?..

or

Can I use your bike/can I just go around the block with your bike/let me ride your bike etc..
(from random people I dont know who will obviously steal my bike..)

but the best thing so far was when me and some people were busting our @$$es trying to make it to the last train of the night in downtown LA.. I am the slowest of our friends so was the last person of our group and as we pass a group of prostitutes and their pimp, the girlies yell out to me that they wanna get with me, that we will have fun times together etc.. etc.., and their pimp says he's gunna get me as one of his ladies, as he throws a blanket out into the street trying to catch me like a fish in a net..

that was an awesome night.. and we made it to the train with like a minute to spare..

skinnyland

Swing bike, eh? Those are cool. Got any pics? I've never seen one in person. How does the rear-end mechanism work?

oktokrewl

it's like the bike has 2 forks.. a front and a rear fork, and you can steer with both of them..

joeyfrench

My favorite: Redneck couple on a moped. The woman rides past me on the back of the moped and yells,"Maybe you should get on the ****ing sidewalk!" as they pass me, kinda right in my ear, only to stop like ten feet away at a red light (5:00 traffic). So, I pull up next to them and ask, what are you doing, yelling and what have you (with more curse words, but laughing cause it's a kinda ******** situation). So she starts screaming again, but her man up front is not having it, and just looks straight ahead like "What is this crazy ***** getting me into here" (I am not a small guy, and I look really sweaty and crazy, giggling). So as she's screaming at me, I just reach down to my water bottle and give her a soak. Then I put it in the holder, and the guy like takes off like terrified. I get back up to speed, but ahead in the distance a few minutes later I see that the traffic is stopped, but this time the light is green. When I got up there, I saw what was blocking traffic: This couple are like dragging their moped off the road after it broke down/wrecked/whatever in the intersection. Oh man, did I have a field day!

"Maybe you should get on the ****ing sidewalk!!!"

Joey French

Gordiep

This is the best thread ever.

The MUP I mentioned earlier runs right to my school, and thus gets a lot of traffic from a variety of riders. On another occasion, riding home from the library, I was waiting at a stoplight to cross and a lady on a step-through Trek 'fitness bike' (with the whole suspension seatpost, adjustable stem, etc) rolls up with books strapped all over the bike, wearing a helmet cocked to one side of her head and clearly a size too large. All her kit looks pretty new and shiny. A serious afternoon rainstorm had just blown through and the ground was pretty wet. The path has a decent incline approaching the stoplight, and she's huffing and wobbling, and when she comes abreast of me asks,

"Hey-- does the water, like, make it harder to pedal?"
ME: "Well...it can...a little bit, make for increased resistance."
HER: "That must be it, then. This pedaling is, like, work!"

She was on the largest chainring and (you guessed it) the smallest sprocket, going up a 3% grade. I love that she was keeping after it, though.

fetch

hahahahaha omfg

on topic kinda: i like it when you're trackstanding at a light, and the car behind you... kind paranoid. reverses and lets you have like 5' of space, then you bust the backward circles like a mad man muuuuaaahahahahahah. makes me feel like im in a benny hill video.

and once while trackstanding on a hill my buddy rolls up with his car, its a standard transmission one. and its a mempty road and pull his car up next to me like at an angle with the wheels turned, rocking back and fourth like he was trackstanding the car. i feel off my bike from the laughter/randomness

edit: man come to think of it. from now on if explaining trackstanding to ppl i'll just say its like keeping a standard trans car in place without using the brake, just cluth/gas. @_@