It's happened......... I think am a bike snob

Stuey01

I commute shamelessly in MTB gear on a roadie.
At the weekend I'll don the lycra but there is no way I am walking through my office in it.

I have bought a roadie style helmet and a couple of proper jerseys but my baggies and spd shoes are staying put.

antfly

Entirely understandable.I wear overshorts and spd`s,even at the weekends.

always_tyred

If you are going to wear mtb gear on a road bike, its important to ride with your knees sticking out and spinning a completely rediculous little gear in order to complete the effect.

Stuey01

Always Tyred wrote:

If you are going to wear mtb gear on a road bike, its important to ride with your knees sticking out and spinning a completely rediculous little gear in order to complete the effect.

Duly noted. Should I drop my saddle right down as well?

Keiron Curtis

I think all you so called bike snobs have missed the point entirely, looking down on people who have found the joy of cycling/commuting is what I call naff. By the way I ride a BSO, as someone described the Carrera Subway, but I enjoy my commute on it, doing 40 miles a day, and have found it quite up to the job, after 4000 miles or so.

sarajoy

Nono, the carrera subway bikes are pretty good! Just Halfords are terrible at service for bikes.

The BSOs are the ones you see in Tesco, or in the REALLY cheap sports shops that contain no trainers worth actually running in... Bikes with gears made of cheese and frames of lead.

georgee

Then again I take absolute pleasure in crusing past some ejit on a £3k machine (yes you, bloke on the Idol the other week) on my bike which I originally bought from a jumble sale for a fiver.

Stuey01

Keiron Curtis wrote:

I think all you so called bike snobs have missed the point entirely, looking down on people who have found the joy of cycling/commuting is what I call naff. By the way I ride a BSO, as someone described the Carrera Subway, but I enjoy my commute on it, doing 40 miles a day, and have found it quite up to the job, after 4000 miles or so.

The Carrera Subway is not a BSO, it is a perfectly acceptable commuting machine.

davejx

I think this thread seems to have mutated from 'snobbery of cheap ill put together bikes' to pros and cons of MTBing on the road instead of using a 'proper' road bike..

no bad thing as i have stupid point to make about it, ive found commuting on my mid-range MTB excellent funa s there are a number of large drop-offs and sets of stairs to fly down (all, okay most, not on the public highway and rarely used by those funny folk who only use their legs to get around), and fun.. isnt that why we all cycle anyway..?

Stuey01

georgee wrote:

Then again I take absolute pleasure in crusing past some ejit on a £3k machine (yes you, bloke on the Idol the other week) on my bike which I originally bought from a jumble sale for a fiver.

Why is he an "ejit"? Because he is richer than you?

rhext

georgee wrote:

Then again I take absolute pleasure in crusing past some ejit on a £3k machine (yes you, bloke on the Idol the other week) on my bike which I originally bought from a jumble sale for a fiver.

If I could afford a £3K bike, I'd buy it for the pleasure of owning and using a top-quality machine. Would the fact that I couldn't ride such a machine at an average speed of 20MPH+ make me an ejit?

jedster

Would the fact that I couldn't ride such a machine at an average speed of 20MPH+ make me an ejit?

IMO not an ejit but, personally, I like to avoid being in the "all the gear and no idea" box - I think it's a pretty naff place to be. I reckon you would be squarely in that box.

J

antfly

How do you tell if someone who has all the gear has no idea? They could just be cruising themselves.There`s a bit of inverse snobbery going on now.

jedster

read his question again - there was no doubt about whether he could ride the bike at 20mph! You know whether you can make sensible use of a flash bike - all I was saying was that I would want to get reasonably fit and fast BEFORE riding about on some superbike.

antfly

georgee wrote:

Then again I take absolute pleasure in crusing past some ejit on a £3k machine (yes you, bloke on the Idol the other week) on my bike which I originally bought from a jumble sale for a fiver.

I was referring to this really.Anyway 20mph is a prety darn fast average over any sort of distance,there can`t be too many who can do that.

Christophe3967

Stuey01 wrote:

I commute shamelessly in MTB gear on a roadie.
At the weekend I'll don the lycra but there is no way I am walking through my office in it.

I feel a responsibility to provide my colleagues with a little humour in these difficult times. I can tell from the general sniggering and stifled snorts as I walk past their desks that I achieve this objective. Why do people find 'Assos' amusing :?

DonDaddyD

This thread is turning into a pile of contradictory bullsh*t

The truth is, you are all snobs or have, at somepoint, been a snob towards someone at some point.

If you have ever:

Looked down your nose or frowned at someone commuting on an expensive or cheap bike, you've been a snob.

Looked down your nose or frowned at someone wearing 'the wrong gear' (fair weather commuter) or all the gear ('all gear and no idea') irrespective of their riding ability, you've been a snob.

Looked down or frowned on someone for the type of bike they're riding (such as full suspension on the road), you've been a snob.

Complained about elitism because people have or are willing to spend more money than you. Or complained about people buying cheap products/bikes because thy can't afford premium prices, you've been a snob.

I've done it and I don't deny it. Doing so however, doesn't make it alright or OK either. Fact is a person buys what they can afford and the decision is their own, its not really mine or anyone elses right to judge. But we are entitled to our oppinions. That's my default (setting) thoughts on the matter.

antfly

That`s a long post.Snobbery is just part of the human condition,basically.

lost_in_thought

antfly wrote:

That`s a long post.Snobbery is just part of the human condition,basically.

For DDD, that's a short post. And he puts it very well, it might be worth using more words in future!

Kieran_Burns

My name is Kieran and I am snob.



Has anyone got a drink?

antfly

lost_in_thought wrote:

antfly wrote:

That`s a long post.Snobbery is just part of the human condition,basically.

For DDD, that's a short post. And he puts it very well, it might be worth using more words in future!

Nah,less is more.Things to do,people to see,bikes to ride.

lost_in_thought

Kieran_Burns wrote:

My name is Kieran and I am snob.



Has anyone got a drink?

Dom Perignon or Newky Brown?

elPedro666

Bike snobbery is fun - I got totally razzed by some dude in a tracksuit on a heap'o'shit plastic-pedal Halfords special the other day. TWICE. Totally kicked my lycra-clad ass, on over a grands worth of 22lb rigid bike that *should* outclimb anything else on the trail...


It's all good fun - even if I'm the inverted butt of it...

DonDaddyD

Bike snobbery is fun - I got totally razzed by some dude in a tracksuit on a heap'o'shoot plastic-pedal Halfords special the other day. TWICE. Totally kicked my lycra-clad ass, on over a grands worth of 22lb rigid bike that *should* outclimb anything else on the trail...


It's all good fun - even if I'm the inverted butt of it...

And this is where we start getting in the Spirit of SCR.

We almost expect that an expensive bike be ridden like the clappers and when on the more expensive bike we ride like the clappers in the hope that we aren't overtaken by something that's 10% of the price of my bike.

I cannot account for who is and who isn't faster than me. But if someone should pass me on a bike made from old tank parts, I bid them a Chapeau! Then sprint my a*se off to catch them back up and promptly overtake. If I can't "Chapeau!" again!

rhext

jedster wrote:

Would the fact that I couldn't ride such a machine at an average speed of 20MPH+ make me an ejit?

IMO not an ejit but, personally, I like to avoid being in the "all the gear and no idea" box - I think it's a pretty naff place to be. I reckon you would be squarely in that box.

J

Really? Despite the fact I cover 100+ miles per week? Despite the fact that I might be in the middle of a 60-mile day-trip? Not everyone who owns a really good bike wants to race on it!

Mind you, I guess this is the essence of the 'bike snob' thing isn't it: assuming you're better than someone else on the basis of a glimpse of how they're dressed, what they're riding and how fast they're riding it!

Although to be fair, I wouldn't be caught dead on a £3k+ carbon racer. A nice titanium audax machine or tourer on the other hand.....

Porgy

I sense snobbery from some other cyclists. I think it's becasue I don;t wear expensive gear and my bikes looks a bit rough, and it's not a trendy make.

It might be my imagination - but after reading this thread I doubt it.

Stone Glider

@Porgy ; no, it's not your imagination, just universal paranoia ala Douglas Adams.

Greg T

Porgy wrote:

I sense snobbery from some other cyclists. I think it's becasue I don;t wear expensive gear and my bikes looks a bit rough, and it's not a trendy make.

It might be my imagination - but after reading this thread I doubt it.

It's worse than that Porgy - there's a whole hidden forum on here where we talk about you behind your back. They'd do it to me too but I block out their mind rays with my tinfoil wrapped crash hat.

I do not judge anyone*



* Not really true **
** REALLY Judgemental actually***
*** What's with them straight bars then?

il_principe

georgee wrote:

Then again I take absolute pleasure in crusing past some ejit on a £3k machine (yes you, bloke on the Idol the other week) on my bike which I originally bought from a jumble sale for a fiver.

Odd post. You don't know what the bloke on the £3ker is up to, could be recovery ride, could be tootling back from LBS, could be near the endpoint of a 100 miler, could be resting in between intervals etc etc. Now if he was clearly trying to put some pace on, give you a bit of a race and failing, then, yeah, perhaps you can sneer, but since when did people have to buy anything commensurate with their ability? You're in no position to judge others on how they spend their cash, or to begrudge them their purchase. Should a beginner/poor runner not buy £150 nike trainers? An amateur golfer not buy high end clubs? A sunday league footie player not buy "Rooney's" boots etc? People can spend their money how they please.*

*of course in SCR mode a pricey bike kinda paints a target on ya back!

elPedro666

Straight bars are lighter and generally better than bendy ones because I say so.
Also, bar ends are cool.
End of off-topic.

(if moderators would delete any more posts on this off-topic conversation that would be really appreciated...)