General: Why all the hate?

So, not to take the dirty hippie perspective, but why does everyone hate on everyone else? Shouldn't we all just be happy that others share our interest in cycling?

Am I wrong?

It's easy to be an ass when you're hiding behind a keyboard basically...

I see Wal*Mart specials unlocked out in the open and no one wants to steal em, just a hint hahah!

I'm stoked to live and ride in a town like Salem cuz the "fixie crowd" here is so small that we're all super jazzed to meet anyone new who's on a bike. It's a pretty chill/ excepting environment. It's probably just cuz we're all a bunch of dirty Oregon hippies but that's fine with me. As far as all the hate on velospace I agree with mastronaut, everybody's a tough guy AND coincidentally a bike genious when they're at home in front of their computers.

Rule 1. Don't be a jerk.
Note to Rule 1. velospace is not a place for you to vent about how much you hate bikes, how much you hate certain bikes, how much you hate people who ride certain bikes, how much you wish people who rode certain bikes were dead, and etcetera. If you attempt to use velospace for purposes like these you will be banned.

and

Posted By: mastronautIt's easy to be an ass when you're hiding behind a keyboard basically...

I think there are times when being a jerk is warranted, because the Jerkee deserves what the Jerker is disshing out, if that makes sense. But if some dude is going around saying everyone's bikes are gay and that everyone is gay lolololololol, then something needs to be done. You did and continue to do a great job on the sit, greg.

tact aside, i do wonder the average age of some of the users on this forum. it seems like the threads are usually in some form just some way to talk bad about one another. a few of the people on here may have debated with me here or there but in the end, we all ride bikes and thats great. its sad that we have to start these threads just to talk smack. who cares if someone wears hats, or rides deep vs or aero spokes. at least they are riding right? get over it!

Both spacerokkid & upthemaaiden make a lot of sense to me. Check this out for a good chuckle...!

http://velospace.org/node/19212

and all of us are shittier riders than we'd like to think we are.

Posted By: stinky peteBoth spacerokkid & upthemaaiden make a lot of sense to me. Check this out for a good chuckle...!

http://velospace.org/node/19212

That's exactly what I'm talking about, and old schwinn turned into a single speed. Made for 27", replaced with 700c wheels, That's just like my old bike except I had a 48cm with a foot of seat post. I even made a pair of bars like that when I didn't want to pay for bullhorns.

The quality of a community isn't set by the worst among it, but by the best among it.

velospace is a goldmine of quality photos, information, and discussions. Because it happens to be on the internet and lightly moderated there will be people who troll and hate, but thats par for the course. I'd like to think the content outshines the garbage by a long shot

Don't waste your time trying to convert haters.

Right on, Tangsuto.

If someone hasn't figured out that being negative makes them look defensive and clueless, they're gonna have to work that out on their own.

Meantime:

http://velospace.org/node/19212

Sweet.

Posted By: mastronautSarcasm doesn't transfer well over a cold computer, which most of my comments consist of.
If we hung out together I'm sure we'd have a good time for the most part hehe....

So true... It would be nice I bet!

My take on it:

The people who were riding bikes before it became hip are going to be annoyed by those who started after. Cycling has a weird sort of appeal/cult following and you cant help but get the feeling that most of the new comers just dont get it. With that said, I'm still psyched when I see anyone on a bike no matter how absurd they seem to be. I always do the head nod/wave/ask how its going/etc and I'm noticing that less and less people are responding positively or at all to it.

My asshole tendencies start showing when people try to promote one type of cycling over another. When I hear joe hipster at the cafe making fun of a roadie, or mountain bikers saying some shit about people on the street its so lame.

A smile is your best weapon. There are some signs that everything is going to be ok. San Jose bike party in particular makes me think that all sorts of riders can get along, well... all of us but that one drunkard who keeps screaming and crashing into people.

> The people who were riding bikes before it became hip are going to be annoyed by those who started after.

Like hell.

Bicycles aren't a fad. They've been one of the most heavily used forms of transportation for over a century. No one's been cycling for a century, so we're all new to it.

Myself, I'm in my 30s and only wasn't riding for a couple of years after a faceplant that made me reluctant to get back in the saddle at 19. But here I am.

I love helping people who are just figuring it out. I might get a chance to ride with them. Maybe bomb down a hill or ride around the valley with our heads down and the wind whistling through our spandex. Maybe just share a stoplight and admire the bike the other guy's made.

No, this cyclist of 30+ years loves the people just figuring it out and the frame builders with chainwheel tattoos equally. He just doesn't like douchebags.

Posted By: Aaron C

Posted By: Joshua A.C. NewmanMaybe bomb down a hill or ride around the valley with our heads down and the wind whistling through our spandex. Maybe just share a stoplight and admire the bike the other guy's made.

this sounds like the plot to an excellent homo-erotic soft core bike porn

I don't think that helped C.

Feel the love...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkv8krkrRNM&feature=related

Posted By: gregWhy all the love?

Celebrate the things we love in life - I have a feeling that bikes are up near the top of the list for all of us.

+1

HAHAHAHA I LUV THIS SITE!
ITS BETTER THEN MYSPACE ..
DDDDDDDRAMAAAAA

Posted By: Joshua A.C. Newman>
No, this cyclist of 30+ years loves the people just figuring it out and the frame builders with chainwheel tattoos equally. He just doesn't like douchebags.

While I haven't been riding for thirty years, I have been riding for more than half my life. And I agree. Most of the people my age (18) don't know dick about bikes in general, and those that doride don't respect anything with a brake, or, god forbid, multiple speeds. This is of course a sweeping generalization, but those who have such closed minds about cycling are the ones whom I dislike. I think Pista Concepts are beautiful bikes, but it pains me to see an all white one with bars cut down narrower than the seat post is long with Corima carbon wheels being ridden by someone who doesn't apreciate it. I think it's the appreciation of the cycling sport in all it's forms is what makes a true cyclist. There is this guy who I see running all over on this crappy old Giant with panniers and one of those riser stems, you know the drill. His bike is so dirty, you can barely tell it's a Giant. But this dude is a beast, it's incredible how fast he is. I can appreciate that. I can appreciate the time and skill that goes into a custom lugged frame. I appreciate the skill of the Taiwanese TIG welders. The welds on a Kilo TT aren't bad! I appreciate old Campy, new Campy, old Shimano, New Shimano. I Totally dig old time trial frames. Carbon fiber is totally awesome. I'd be just as content riding dirt jumps, commuting, or just cruising down the trail on a nice day.

I just think it's the "FUCK BRAKES" knuckle tattoo fixies only crowd that act like shitholes to anyone riding anything non-NJS are the people that deserve the hate. These are the fad followers. And it's not as if one of those traits individually make them a bad person, it's just those that give cyclists a bad name by getting drunk, crashing their bikes, fighting with drivers, all that shit. It pisses me off. If we want cycling to be a legitimate form of transport, then we have to act like it, all of us. It's the people that give young bike riders a bad name that deserve my hate, because I ride a fixed gear, then that means that I too must have no regard for safety or the law.


Whew, a tangent. Sorry, but there is misdirected hate, and people that deserve it.

Posted By: RideEveryday

Posted By: Joshua A.C. Newman>
No, this cyclist of 30+ years loves the people just figuring it out and the frame builders with chainwheel tattoos equally. He just doesn't like douchebags.

While I haven't been riding for thirty years, I have been riding for more than half my life. And I agree. Most of the people my age (18) don't know dick about bikes in general, and those that doride don't respect anything with a brake, or, god forbid, multiple speeds. This is of course a sweeping generalization, but those who have such closed minds about cycling are the ones whom I dislike. I think Pista Concepts are beautiful bikes, but it pains me to see an all white one with bars cut down narrower than the seat post is long with Corima carbon wheels being ridden by someone who doesn't apreciate it. I think it's the appreciation of the cycling sport in all it's forms is what makes a true cyclist. There is this guy who I see running all over on this crappy old Giant with panniers and one of those riser stems, you know the drill. His bike is so dirty, you can barely tell it's a Giant. But this dude is a beast, it's incredible how fast he is. I can appreciate that. I can appreciate the time and skill that goes into a custom lugged frame. I appreciate the skill of the Taiwanese TIG welders. The welds on a Kilo TT aren't bad! I appreciate old Campy, new Campy, old Shimano, New Shimano. I Totally dig old time trial frames. Carbon fiber is totally awesome. I'd be just as content riding dirt jumps, commuting, or just cruising down the trail on a nice day.

I just think it's the "FUCK BRAKES" knuckle tattoo fixies only crowd that act like shitholes to anyone riding anything non-NJS are the people that deserve the hate. These are the fad followers. And it's not as if one of those traits individually make them a bad person, it's just those that give cyclists a bad name by getting drunk, crashing their bikes, fighting with drivers, all that shit. It pisses me off. If we want cycling to be a legitimate form of transport, then we have to act like it, all of us. It's the people that give young bike riders a bad name that deserve my hate, because I ride a fixed gear, then that means that I too must have no regard for safety or the law.


Whew, a tangent. Sorry, but there is misdirected hate, and people that deserve it.

You sir are a great guy! Let's get a beer!

so, does that mean we're supposed to accept people who wear spandex? I'm still unclear on the spandex

Are we still allowed to grab their butts as we pass, or is that considered sexual harrassment?

Grab those asses.

I learned to "ride" in Spain; an American on a Spanish team, I've ridden all over the world, put 70,000 miles on commuting in Washington state. I'm a cyclist, (roadie, tourist, mountain) a motorcyclist and a cager. One thing I learned is that the world is much closer by cycling. I've been slowly getting my bikes back together this spring and want to get back to riding. I live in the middle of Iowa on a gravel road and commute 140 miles a day, so getting some riding in is a task these days. I'm in IT and electronics. Reading these forums is nothing like the cycling that I knew and loved. You guys talk about single speeds and fixed gearing where I only know of these on indoor tracks. In the last number of years the makes have changed, the brands have changed and most of my old reliable manufacturers have been purchased or tramped by the bigger guys.. I'm not even sure what NJS is..
I do know one thing though, and that is that I can appreciate the art of cycling and bicycles. I love the pureness that cycling can be and even though I know a lot about it, some of this new stuff just makes me wonder. The idea of fashion over function (like tennis shoes with dbl straps on toe clips) blows my mind.. I like my 18 speed 1/2 step alpine geared Suntour shifted Bridgestone T700 with racks, panniers and fenders. The day comes that I get tromped by someone on a single or fixed during 300 mile randonee will be the day that I'll feel old, but just as good to be out there spinning. Give me a dirty look when you blow by sprinting and I'll just smile and wave when I pass you back in the long haul and then you can just try to keep up.