Shouts of "I love your bike"

[palinurus]

I had another odd one today. I was riding down the cyclepath in the town, this kid coming the other way shouts, "you haven't got any brakes, you dickhead!".

Wha?

I was riding this

 

[palinurus]

And at the weekend when I was towing the trailer through the park- same bike- another kid said "sick bike".

No way is that bike sick. It's got a mudguards and friggin' bar-end mirror.

 

[palinurus]

There's an outside chance he was being sarcastic of course.

 

[marc-triker]

i'd stopped at the side of the road when i was passed by 2 DF's 1 shouted at me 2 get a real bike and the other said something about wheelchairs...... about 15minuites later i had the pleasure of wizzing passed them with the trice n trailer. 2day i saw the 2 cyclists and they both made a point of speaking to me and saying that they are sorry for shouting at me and asked if they are only for the disabled or could they buy 1...

the other thing i've noticed alot is walkers will open gates for me but give dirty looks when they see me later at the tea room walking around. i've even had an elderly lady say i should be ashamed of myself pretending to be disabled. i had a carer out with me at the time luckily coz i didn't know what to say 2 her. my T.S. was not as well controlled then as it is now.

 

[Riding in Circles]

I had one the other day, "are you disabled", me, "yes I have no legs", them, "ok". I could see them looking at my feet on the pedals and their brain really struggling to make sense of things, I despair at peoples intelligence or lack of at times.

 

[ComedyPilot]

I had one the other day, "are you disabled", me, "yes I have no legs", them, "ok". I could see them looking at my feet on the pedals and their brain really struggling to make sense of things, I despair at peoples intelligence or lack of at times.

t'is very murky at their end of the 'gene-pool', it might have affected their vision!

 

[Auntie Helen]

Weirdly I've never had anyone ask me if I'm disabled - and I am! I've also always found other cyclists very courteous although random pedestrians can shout various things which can get a bit irritating after a while.

 

[BentMikey]

Riding past a pub in Beckenham, one guy shouted to me lucky saddle. Funny thing that, I was on a seat, and I guess he must have been gay. I was still flattered.

 

[Auntie Helen]

Sadly I never get chaps shouting things like that at me either. All round a disappointment for me as a girlie - I'm clearly seriously lacking!

 

[LLB]

Thanks for highlighting the important flag-horse problem. I shall be out on my trike for the first time this weekend and there are plenty of horses about in rural Suffolk, and I had not thought of how animals might react. In France recently my 'bent seemed to make horses in fields rather curious, with them staring fixedly as I cycled past - but it isn't a lowracer, and could resemble a conventional bike to a short-sighted horse.

We do have a difficulty in Newmarket with racehorses, because they are particularly highly strung. They are taken through the centre of town to the gallops, and many of them are not schooled with respect to traffic as ordinary horses usually are. I can well remember the pandemonium caused one day by a carrier bag stuck in a hedge; it caused mass panic among a whole string of racehorses crossing a busy road.

Given that a fair percentage of the public think that all trike users are disabled in some way, I wonder how many people feel ashamed of their laughs and catcalls when, and if, they later reflect on their actions.

These horses are 2-5 years old (they are mostly knackered at 5). Realistically no one would expect a 2 year old child with far more intelligence to have any roadsense, so it is a lot to ask of a horse of this age.

Carrier bags blowing around would scare most horses, but they can be conditioned (trained) to realise them for what they are. The older ones have usually figured it out, but it takes a while for the penny to drop.

 

[peter_streetmachineGT]

Yeah, I'll never tire of all the "cool bike" comments. But what can I say? They're 100% right!

 

[redflightuk]

I like all the comment's i get when i'm out & about. Waves and smiles from motorists and loads of room, some cars are almost climbing the banks the other side of the road. I don't have the kmx any more, i've got a trice qnt now with a radical trailer and when i go into town shopping all i hear is "i want one of those" or "is it comfortable"
I've only had one person say that they thought those things were for disabled peep's,as i was coming out of the village shop. He then went on to say he'd seen loads of bikes like it in Australia. On the horse topic as you can see i have my own. When i first bought the kmx to the yard they all freeked (some more than other's) any way we soon worked out it was the flag more than the stupid human lying on his back and moving his feet. Now they're used to the trike i can ride up to the stable door and they reach down to see if i've got any food. When i'm out and i see other's i'm slowing down and watching the horses reactions, most of the time we have no problems. One rider the other day comforted her horse with a pat on the neck and said to him "it's ok i'ts only a recumbent".

 

[squeaker]

When i first bought the kmx to the yard they all freeked (some more than other's) any way we soon worked out it was the flag more than the stupid human lying on his back and moving his feet.

IME horses can still freak without the flag (I don't use one on my Grasshopper). Mind you, humans can react in stupid / silly ways too

 

[BentMikey]

Funnily enough two girls were laughing at me yesterday, I just told them to have a salad.

 

[Amanda P]

Unfortunately, a few months back I think Mrs Uncle Phil and I caused an accident on recumbents.

We were cycling along, one behind the other, on a bit of dual carriageway that runs into Monks Cross shopping park. A driver overtook us, and as she did so, slowed down to have a good look. A motorcyclist used the remaining space in the outside lane to pass her, and as he passed, she decided she'd seen enough of us and moved fully into the outside lane, colliding with him.

He braked and paddled frantically at the ground with his feet, and despite bouncing off the side of the car several times, managed to stay upright. All the panels on the right hand side of the car were dented, and the motorbike had various broken bits of fairing. Also its left hand side alloy footpeg snapped off. No-one was hurt, and the driver and motorcyclist seemed to sort themselves out reasonably amicably. We waited in case they wanted our details as witnesses (they did, but no-one's ever contacted us about it since).

They were both to blame, I think. But none of it would have happened if we'd been riding "normal bikes" that didn't make people stare! And two of them together seems to square the "stare with open mouth factor" rather than just double it.