What makes a bike poser?
Long time reader, one-time poster (over five years ago now.... wow).
I got the cycling bug back in 2015, but that was never really the intention. I bought a road bike for practical reasons - exercise, commuting, and as a sort of alternative for meditation as I had a lot of stuff going on - but in the six years since then, I have cycled for leisure, fitness, fun, and enjoyment. I am a member of a club (although still do most of my cycling solo), and take a keen-ish interest in professional racing, watching and reading about it.
I know my way around a bike, I think: I can do a decent job of identifying problems, repairs and adjustments, replacing components when required, keeping the thing clean, etc (six years of scanning useful forums like this for info and help will do that!) but will happily go to my LBS when a bit nervous about bodging something. After five years of riding my first, and beloved, trusty aluminium do-it-all come rain or shine road bike, I treated myself to a low to mid-range carbon bike last year and also upgraded its stock wheels.
Now, I'm not sure why, but even after all this time and accumulated knowledge, and having never been as enthusiastic about anything, I seem to have some sort of cycling imposter syndrome. I get this strange feeling of sticking out like a sore thumb to other roadies I see/pass, or get the sense that I am viewed as a poser/outlier. So... what makes a poser a poser?
Comments
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I am a poser.
Expensive bike, expensive kit - rapidly waning fitness. Luckily i'm still thin.1 -
For me, a poser is someone who buys certain equipment or kit simply because they think it makes them look good, or because they want to tell people that they own the kit.
My "good" bike was replaced last year from a CAAD12 to a Tarmac SL6 with mechanical Ultegra gears and discs. Did I need the carbon frame? No, do I need Ultegra? No 105 would be just as good - but I like the bike and I enjoy riding it.
I ride with people who are faster/slower, older/younger, and have more/less expensive bikes but none of us really cares.2 -
Sky gear and a pot belly with knees poking a mile out to the side going along on their expensive carbon bike at 10mph.2
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I've seen him ^ round here. Does it have to be a Pinarello?1
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Anyone with all the fancy gear cycling slower than you are
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Sounds about right. I think we all justify these things to ourselves in different ways, but ultimately, they're toys.singleton said:My "good" bike was replaced last year from a CAAD12 to a Tarmac SL6 with mechanical Ultegra gears and discs. Did I need the carbon frame? No, do I need Ultegra? No 105 would be just as good - but I like the bike and I enjoy riding it.
On reflection, the "outsider" feeling is, most likely, simply a by-product of riding solo most of the time and of a tendency to assume that everyone else knows what they're doing.
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There is a certain breed of poser who buys the expensive bike and all the kit, but never seems to actually cycle very much apart from a short ride to a cafe where other cyclists go, and hang out there all day.
at the end of the day, a cyclist is just anyone using a cycle, so there's no need to feel inadequate about your bike, what you wear or your knowledge. I just hope you enjoy being out on a bike!1 -
Rapha or equiv - La Passione, Dopey Millar, etc or local bike club "race team" clothes but its not really a race team as you don't get selected, you just pay the extra tenner for the clothes from the below
Buys off the shelf top of the range bike with di2 from shop that also sells coffee and a lifestyle and pays full whack for a "pro bike fit"
Takes it all too seriously, never smiles and only ever rides with people in their "race team"
Has never fought for hours with a stupid front mech to make it work. Or adjusted anything or would even begin to understand how to
Patronises you about bikes
Is generally slow but thinks they are fast
.The camera down the willy isn't anything like as bad as it sounds.
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Phew. I was worried when I saw Di2 mentioned. I bought a frame and bits and built it all up myself. My winter bike is similarly built up by me. I don't own rapha (other than a pair of core bibs from 4 years ago) but I do have some bike club kit which I'm planning on giving back to the club to distribute to anyone who needs it and fits it now that I've left said club. Although it is useful for the turbo I guess. Otherwise its Ale/Torm/Castelli/Assos style stuff. I always say hello to other cycling types.MattFalle said:Rapha or equiv - La Passione, Dopey Millar, etc or local bike club "race team" clothes but its not really a race team as you don't get selected, you just pay the extra tenner for the clothes from the below
Buys off the shelf top of the range bike with di2 from shop that also sells coffee and a lifestyle and pays full whack for a "pro bike fit"
Takes it all too seriously, never smiles and only ever rides with people in their "race team"
Has never fought for hours with a stupid front mech to make it work. Or adjusted anything or would even begin to understand how to
Patronises you about bikes
Is generally slow but thinks they are fast
I'm very aware that I'm an absolute poser who goes nowhere near fast enough to justify any of the kit I own. And I care not because I like riding my bike.1 -
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Yes, I know. When I read it back it sounds like absolute gold-plated bollocks.imposter2.0 said:
If you ride a bike, you are a cyclist. I suppose what I was getting at is that road cycling, for better or for worse, seems a tad snobby at times, and it is easy to feel as though you're "doing it wrong".
EDIT: Just clocked your username. Sigh. It's been one of those days.1 -
This is me all over, except I didn't pay for a bike fit.MattFalle said:Rapha or equiv - La Passione, Dopey Millar, etc or local bike club "race team" clothes but its not really a race team as you don't get selected, you just pay the extra tenner for the clothes from the below
Buys off the shelf top of the range bike with di2 from shop that also sells coffee and a lifestyle and pays full whack for a "pro bike fit"
Takes it all too seriously, never smiles and only ever rides with people in their "race team"
Has never fought for hours with a stupid front mech to make it work. Or adjusted anything or would even begin to understand how to
Patronises you about bikes
Is generally slow but thinks they are fast
Used to think I was fast, but now know I am slow.
Sadly I have no cycling friends so noone to smile at in my race team, so I have started stooping to the new low of waving at strangers.0 -
MattFalle said:
Rapha or equiv - La Passione, Dopey Millar, etc or local bike club "race team" clothes but its not really a race team as you don't get selected, you just pay the extra tenner for the clothes from the below
Buys off the shelf top of the range bike with di2 from shop that also sells coffee and a lifestyle and pays full whack for a "pro bike fit"
Takes it all too seriously, never smiles and only ever rides with people in their "race team"
Has never fought for hours with a stupid front mech to make it work. Or adjusted anything or would even begin to understand how to
Patronises you about bikes
Is generally slow but thinks they are fast
I get 2/12. Phew! 🤣
Some clothes and I am slow.The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
I am not sure. You have no chance.Veronese68 wrote:PB is the most sensible person on here.0 -
How about just ride your bike and enjoy yourself we all make I own choices some will be different from others but overall we are cyclists.
Now are you sure you're not the snobby one.So Far!0 -
You're absolutely right on the first point, but in future please address me using "Sir".loltoride said:How about just ride your bike and enjoy yourself we all make I own choices some will be different from others but overall we are cyclists.
Now are you sure you're not the snobby one.1 -
Anyone on road bike is a poser. More so if they post on a bicycle forum. The ones with large post counts being the worst kind as they are probably now too old and too fat to look good on an actual bike, so virtual posing. The very worst are the banned rejoined posers that just can't help themselves, let alone anyone else.2
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This. There is nothing wrong with eithe rhaving enough money to buy what you want or riding slowly. Otherise you are singling out a lot if affluent older people.elbowloh said:There is a certain breed of poser who buys the expensive bike and all the kit, but never seems to actually cycle very much apart from a short ride to a cafe where other cyclists go, and hang out there all day.
at the end of the day, a cyclist is just anyone using a cycle, so there's no need to feel inadequate about your bike, what you wear or your knowledge. I just hope you enjoy being out on a bike!
Spending loads just to hang it on the wall and stand next to it once a year wearing Rapha when the tour of britain goes past smacks of being a poser though.0 -
I have two views on this depending on how charitable I'm feeling.
Richmond Park is full of posers that cart their bike there on the roof of their Audi/BMW/Merc and then ride around in their pristine Wapha kit.
Alternatively, there are just people out enjoying riding their bikes, who gives a hoot about anything else.0 -
Nah, not a poser at all.
However, I do provide an important service for the cycling community (round here anyway) by giving them a model of how it’s possible to look really good on a properly sorted bicycle. There are limited examples available otherwise, and the only reason I ride slowly is to give them more time to absorb the details they’d otherwise miss, such as correct relationship between sock length and shorts, how even the suntan should be, and whether the sunglasses frame colour matches the headset top cap and bidon.
Mechanical details like alignment of tyre logo to valve position, cable end ferrule crimping pattern and even bar tape wrapping accuracy are only (sadly) noticed by a very few of the more astute observers when I’ve stopped somewhere.
Nonetheless I know the service is appreciated as I get a lot of waves of thanks as I pass.
Or at least I think that’s what they are.Open One+ BMC TE29 Seven 622SL On One Scandal Cervelo RS5 -
Nothing wrong with any of those - let's not confuse posing with OCD....Wheelspinner said:
Mechanical details like alignment of tyre logo to valve position, cable end ferrule crimping pattern and even bar tape wrapping accuracy are only (sadly) noticed by a very few of the more astute observers when I’ve stopped somewhere.0 -
Indeed, a poser to me is someone who would go to a bike shop to get anything done on their bike beyond fitting new tyres. (And that's clincher tyres, they'd never do tubeless or tubs themselves)singleton said:
Nothing wrong with any of those - let's not confuse posing with OCD....Wheelspinner said:
Mechanical details like alignment of tyre logo to valve position, cable end ferrule crimping pattern and even bar tape wrapping accuracy are only (sadly) noticed by a very few of the more astute observers when I’ve stopped somewhere.
They'd never spend hours meticulously lining up bartape when wrapping it so that the wrap is spot on.0 -
For me, its the guy with all the gear who doesnt wave back, say hello as he is passing me, whatever. head is down looking at the uber-cockpit, the carbon wheels are humming and the uber gruppo turning. Aero helmet etc. We all like a nice bike blinged out. Some of you were on about fixing your bike which a poser wouldnt do but in a post I've made about an Enve frame I noticed this and thought tinkering in your garage is coming to an end in some case
Speaking of the headset, Enve has partnered with Chris King to create a special setup just for the Custom Road. Dubbed the AeroSet, it features a large-diameter upper bearing (basically the same thing you’d normally find for the lower bearing) to create enough space for the lines to pass through without resorting to a goofy non-round steerer tube shape. Wire and hose guides are built into the just-for-Enve upper bearing cover and headset spacers, and the whole thing is profiled to visually match the Custom Road frame.
As with most internal routing configurations like this, replacing the upper headset bearing will require a whole lot of extra work since all of the lines have to be disconnected and then reconnected (and in the case of the hydraulic hoses, with new fittings and a fresh bleed), but that’s par for the course these days. Unfortunately for the serviceability minded, that ship has sailed.0 -
Posing for photos?
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Taking a selfie on a group ride?singleton said:Posing for photos?
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Extensive use of personal grooming products
Not quite clean shaven
Fresh kit washed by mum for every ride
1000 yard stare - what you can't see you can't greet
Bike bought in a cafe0 -
Got to prove you used the bike somehow...First.Aspect said:
Taking a selfie on a group ride?singleton said:Posing for photos?
Suck the gut in and smile.1 -
The most egregious example that springs to mind is attitude that whatever you're riding is inferior somehow, and that they see themselves as the arbiters of what is good and holy.
Personally, I couldn't give less of a shit what you ride. If it's a shonky old beater you ride no-less than 100 miles in record times, every ride year round, or your £20k superbike you do 10 miles a month on. If you got the money, spend it how you like.
If you cast aspersions on people's rides as they aren't spendy enough, or somehow break the "rules" of cycling, you're probably a grade-A poser yourself, regardless of your ability or wealth.Boo-yah mofo
Sick to the power of rad
Fix it 'till it's broke0 -
Anyone in breach of the RULES deserves nothing less than to have aspersions cast at them.0
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I agree with you Chaz. I'd also say though there's a different kind of poser who feels that you have to somehow 'earn' the right to ride a fancy bike, for example you need to be riding 20mph average solo rides before you are allowed to buy the fancy S Works bike.
They don't believe that you're free to spend your money on what makes you happy.0
