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Arch

Married to Night Train
Location
Salford, UK
I was sitting by the road in Sutton upon Derwent, trying to stop my feet hurting (of which more in another thread), when a chap ambled by and started asking the usual questions:

"are you as comfortable in that as you look?"
"How far have you come?"
"Has it got gears?"

etc, etc. He was slightly annoying, as he was one of those people who ask you a question and then cut you off half way through the answer with another, but hey ho.

Then he came up with a new one:

"Are those solid tyres, or do they have tubes in?"
"Oh, they have tubes, they're just normal tyr..."
"So you could get a puncture?"
"yes, I could, but at least on the front it's easy to get the..."
"So do you carry all the stuff you need to fix a puncture, in your bags?"
"Oh, ye..."
"Good for you!"

I'm not sure if there was a 'gosh, well done, a practical girl!' subtext or not....

Still, the solid tyres is a new assumption....
 
Sounds as though you met a right self-taught genius there. I had one walk past my trike one day, as I approached it, and he remarked to his offensive wife, "Oh look, that bike's fallen to bits. No it's not it's a special." Sadly, now that we have care in the community and no asylums, these folk are everywhere.
 
OP
OP
Arch

Arch

Married to Night Train
Location
Salford, UK
User3143 said:
These people actually annoy me - and I don't know why.

I either tell them it's none of their business or in broken English try and explain that I'm from a foreigh land. If you to ask a cyclist some questions then try and sound sincere and not like some nosey old bugger.

I think it depends what mood I'm, and how much they actually listen. The ones that annoy me are the ones, a bit like this chap, who don't seem to acutally listen, they just keep asking the questions...

Our conversation ended when, me having mentioned France earlier on, he said "So where are you going to in France..." and then cut me off halfway through an answer with "Well, it's been lovely talking to you" and walked off!:ohmy:

However, I had a nice chattette with a couple on a tandem at the start of the day - saw them ahead, caught them, overtook with a hello, and then a few miles further on, they popped out of a junction ahead of me, having taken a shorter cut. They were training up for a big 100k ride in the summer (Great Yorkshire ride perhaps?), and aiming to get to the Balloon Tree cafe (10 miles out of York) and back that day. I don't think they'd done much distance before.

Moments after I left them behind, I was overtaken by a lady on an electric bike, never caught her up, as we turned uphill at that point. But it was a bit like a scene from "What if the world was all cyclists....?"
 

arallsopp

Post of The Year 2009 winner
Location
Bromley, Kent
I still remember my first 'proper' bike. It didn't have pneumatics, but favoured what looked like a length of the grounding strip you used to see hanging off the back of cars wrapped around the wheel. I'd guess it was either glued or nailed on. Worked a treat, and obviously never punctured.

I rode that bike for about 3 years, as a hand-me-down from a friendly neighbour, who'd seen each of his 3 kids ride it, having picked it up second hand from somewhere else. I expect its still going strong. ;)

When I finally outgrew it, I was very sad to see it go. The lure of a new racer was too strong though :sad:

For some reason, my bents seem to shake bystanders sufficiently that they feel obligated to check their eyes are working.

He: "This is a recumbent?"
Me: "Yes"
He: "It has two wheels."
Me: "Yes"
He: "It is good."
Me: "Er, thanks."

:ohmy:
 

Fiona N

Veteran
In the same vein as Arch's questionner, I still get a bit antsy when people peer at the Windcheetah and ask where the motor is :sad: Funnily enough, no one has asked that about the Speedmachine. Maybe the Windcheetah looks just too comfy to be human-powered :biggrin:


P.S> Went for a ride on the SpM yesterday - something I'd deliberately not done - and found out again just how great it is so I might not be selling it after all ;)
 
OP
OP
Arch

Arch

Married to Night Train
Location
Salford, UK
Perhaps the best comments came from kids at a tryout show looking at a Thorax tadpole trike:

"ooh, you steer it with your hands!" (um, as opposed to your ears....?)

and

"it's got brakes and everything!" (probably unlike any of their own BSOs)

A chap I got talking too (well, couldn't get away from) at an Audax asked about how many of the components were custom - I think he assumed it must be specially built from the ground up, as opposed to using mostly standard components, albeit on an unusual frame...

Ah well, think of me in a week, when I'll be fielding these sort of questions in halting French!
 

PalmerSperry

Well-Known Member
Location
Aberdeenshire
Many years ago (2006 I think) I was commuting home from work on my Grasshopper. I was stopped at a set of traffic lights (by Jessops at the end of Coppergate for those who care) when I saw a flash of light out of the corner of my eye. Having no idea what could've caused it I turned my head to discover a bunch of, presumably, Japanese tourists with quite a collection of still & video cameras pointed in my direction! Quite possibly there's a Japanese blog and/or photosite somewhere with a title of "A strange bicycle we saw in York"???

The other recumbent event I can recall also occured with the Grasshopper. I was on the train from Bridlington to Hull with it. A guy got on at some station, and insisted that it would have to be slower than a normal bike because it had smaller wheels. Somehow my explanation that it had a bigger chainring seemed to go right over his head, as he merely repeated his statement.
 

PalmerSperry

Well-Known Member
Location
Aberdeenshire
Fiona N said:
In the same vein as Arch's questionner, I still get a bit antsy when people peer at the Windcheetah and ask where the motor is :wacko: Funnily enough, no one has asked that about the Speedmachine. Maybe the Windcheetah looks just too comfy to be human-powered :wacko:

Interesting, because I once had someone ask me if the large sprocket where the suspension pivot is on a Grasshopper (which, IIRC, the Speedmachine also has?) was an electric motor.
 

GuyY

New Member
I had a lorry driver after dropping some stuff off at work in the morning, lean out the window and ask "What's the point in that?". Well I'm too polite to just say "F..off you brainless w&%$&^er" so in my best patronising voice..."Do you mean why do I ride one of these rather than a normal bike?", "err.....yeah" , "well I knackered my prostate".....the pause that followed suggested a correct application of academic sounding patronising voice and too much information. I felt better for that.
 
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