Feels like a stigma to what I ride..

[Arrowfoot]

As @Andy in Germany rightly said we tend to be tribal. Note the Brompton lot. Another is 29ers when it first became a trend. There are some misses as well and Gravel bikes falls into this. Not sure why.

Road bikes I guess are the dominant tribe in this era. You see them in groups in cafes, popular LBS etc. I have yet to see a group of hybrid riders sitting together in a cafe. Though Friday lot is a mixed bunch.

@KnittyNorah raises another interesting observation, the odd thing about one's bike draws attention and queries. Touring bikes gets the most attention imho. People genuinely want to know make, mode, panniers, wheels etc. There is a deep aspiration in many of us to tour the World on a bike.

 

[All uphill]

Just the fact that mine is a low-step-thru folder is enough to cause folk to stop me and ask about it; when I had my islabike I used to get folk asking me about the frame size too.
I think if the OP actually wants to be stopped and talked to/asked questions/greeted/get their ear bent, all they need to do is get a bike perceived as a little 'odd' by one or more segments of the cycling and/or other population, and job's a good'un.

Agreed!

 

[mudsticks]

As @Andy in Germany rightly said we tend to be tribal. Note the Brompton lot. Another is 29ers when it first became a trend. There are some misses as well and Gravel bikes falls into this. Not sure why.

Road bikes I guess are the dominant tribe in this era. You see them in groups in cafes, popular LBS etc. I have yet to see a group of hybrid riders sitting together in a cafe. Though Friday lot is a mixed bunch.

@KnittyNorah raises another interesting observation, the odd thing about one's bike draws attention and queries. Touring bikes gets the most attention imho. People genuinely want to know make, mode, panniers, wheels etc. There is a deep aspiration in many of us to tour the World on a bike.

Us hybrid riders are all the 'lone wolf' sorts I reckon

I find I get far more attention on the road, when fully panniered up, than when just out for a day ride..

Lots of where? when? and how? if parked up.

I even once got a casually tossed "I like your rig" appraisal, from a beardy bikepacker sort

 

[Reynard]

Well, this is the bike I ride the most @KnittyNorah - mainly because it just does it all, ever so competently. The rider is maybe a bit erm, less competent. I suppose I could change the tyres for something more capable of doing bad surfaces / mud than the Schwalbe Durano slicks, but that's what my frankenMTB is there for...

It's a bike that turns heads, because you don't see many of them around. Wiggins Chartres 26, btw, the original one, with 13" frame, disc brakes and 3x9 touring gearing. (The new one has v-brakes and only 1x9 and the dullest grey paint job you can imagine.) I usually ride with one pannier or a rack bag, because out here, there's always the opportunity for foraging.

 

[DRM]

You should see the looks I used to get on this thing:

View attachment 614002

(Long planks optional)

You’re going to have someones eye out with those planks! I think there’s a comedy sketch in there

 

[Rusty Nails]

Real roadies do not use tri-bars. Triathletes - who real roadies regard with contempt - use tri-bars.

I regard riders who regard other riders with contempt with utter contempt. I regard any rider who thinks of themselves as a "real" road rider with even utterer contempt.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Who else gives e bike riders the finger?

 

[Andy in Germany]

Have you ever met one of these people that you hold in utter contempt?

I mean actually met, and talked to, not just read about on the internet. Not just seen someone and thought they were looking at you a bit funny. Not just decided to pigeon hole someone on the basis of whether they wave to you or not.

Maybe you have. There are all kinds of people around. But speaking personally I have met very many cyclists of different kinds, who ride different machines and do different kinds of riding, and I have never come across any of these arrogant roadies, who scorn other cyclists, that people on here like to bellyache about.

I assumed @Rusty Nails was being a little ironic.

I think if the OP actually wants to be stopped and talked to/asked questions/greeted/get their ear bent, all they need to do is get a bike perceived as a little 'odd' by one or more segments of the cycling and/or other population, and job's a good'un.

I get this too: it's a useful conversation starter. I even got asked where I bought my touring bike, which was nice as I built it from an old MTB.

 

[All uphill]

Have you ever met one of these people that you hold in utter contempt?

I mean actually met, and talked to, not just read about on the internet. Not just seen someone and thought they were looking at you a bit funny. Not just decided to pigeon hole someone on the basis of whether they wave to you or not.

Maybe you have. There are all kinds of people around. But speaking personally I have met very many cyclists of different kinds, who ride different machines and do different kinds of riding, and I have never come across any of these arrogant roadies, who scorn other cyclists, that people on here like to bellyache about.

We must have read @rustynails message differently. I enjoyed the ironic humour.

 

[Rusty Nails]

Have you ever met one of these people that you hold in utter contempt?

I mean actually met, and talked to, not just read about on the internet. Not just seen someone and thought they were looking at you a bit funny. Not just decided to pigeon hole someone on the basis of whether they wave to you or not.

Maybe you have. There are all kinds of people around. But speaking personally I have met very many cyclists of different kinds, who ride different machines and do different kinds of riding, and I have never come across any of these arrogant roadies, who scorn other cyclists, that people on here like to bellyache about.

To clarify, I am talking about their attitudes not their bikes. If they don't have those attitudes, no problem.

As I said in another post I wave to no other cyclists, but am happy to acknowledge them in other ways, and do not worry if they do not acknowledge me first or in return. I know nothing of the attitudes and motivation of other cyclists I pass very briefly on the road, or the trails.

I have met several riders over the years, the last one earlier this year in a bike shop when I was admiring a Trek Emonda, who regard themselves as "real" road riders and somehow believe people who ride tourers, cheap bikes or gravel bikes for fun or exercise, especially when not wearing lycra or riding clipless are not "real" road riders. Luckily there are not too many like that, but they do exist and they are not exclusive to cycling with their equivalents existing in many pastimes/activities that use technical equipment that can inspire one-upmanship.

And yes, AiG and AllUphill, there was an element of irony and sarcasm in my response to another post.

 

[battered]

I get nuff respeck inner area when I ride my single speed. Which is funny because it's only a cheap bitsa hybrid with a 61" twiddly gear . I still avoid big hills, the long drag out of Bradford is a chore. It's OK though, because when you're on it you are at least leaving Bradford.

 

[TheDoctor]

I ride all sorts of bikes. Brompton, ebike, flat bar, road bike, 'bent, singlespeed, trike...
Sometimes I wave to people, sometimes they wave back. I'm really riding for my own reasons.

 

[Drago]

I ride all sorts of bikes. Brompton, ebike, flat bar, road bike, 'bent, singlespeed, trike...

All at once?

 

[TheDoctor]

All at once?

Oddly enough, no. Sold the 'bent a couple of years ago.

 

[Blue Hills]

Touring bikes gets the most attention imho. People genuinely want to know make, mode, panniers, wheels etc. There is a deep aspiration in many of us to tour the World on a bike.

Your first sentence surprises me a tad. Can I look forward to some approaches from "interesting" women? Don't remember any, but then the bikes I used for touring don't look like "traditional" tourers.
Last sentence strikes a chord - I think it explains the fair number of world touring bikes one sees for sale that barely got to the end of the street - folks had a dream that then got cancelled for some reason. I also sometimes people watch in London camping shops - in lunch hours it's not rare to see exec thrusting looking folk peering at expensive stoves, tents and assorted gubbins - I reckon they are often stressed near burnt out folk who seem to have it all dreaming of just heading off and sleeping in ditches - with the latest lightweight gear and tech of course.