Finished a ride yesterday and met a couple of mates who were camping with their nippers.

Mate picks my bike up and goes off round campsite – seat is too high, so he undoes QR, despite it being a dropper post. OK, only a minor annoyance, the post is covered in mud and grit and I now have to find the exact ride height point again – I can live with it.

Next, his 4yr old son is on the handlebars, his legs squashing my hydraulic hoses at funny angles – it’s ok, I tell myself, let it go.

Son is off the bike and decides he wants another go – proceeds to try and climb on the bike via my brand new X-Fusion forks – i.e. foot around the seals/stanchion/area to get a leg up. I make a comment and get told I’m over-reacting!!!!

Really, is it me? He’s a biker too.

I’d barely touch anyone else’s bike without asking for permission!

Your bike, your choice.

Yes and no!

I think your worrying about stuff too much, but then as a friend he should know your precious about these things and respect that, it’s your bike after-all.

No, you aren’t over reacting, that’s really rude. The bike belongs to you and anyone borrowing it should be treating it at least as well as you treat it, which is not the same thing as how they treat their own bike.
That goes double if they didn’t ask before picking it up.

Bang out of order. I would have thumped him. 😉

Actually it’s bloody rude. 😐

They didn’t ask before borrowing? I’d be annoyed, but mostly by the lack of manners.

Defo rude and they need to be told it annoyed you. I too wouldn’t touch another’s bike unless I was given a genuine “yeah, it’s ok”

Parents fault… not the kids fault… however at the same time if your bike cant take a little bit of gentle abuse by a child, its not going to stand up to a hammering on a trail.

Or you should of just gone and dived on their tent…..

allways ask before riding someone elses bike.

When people ask the question “am I being precious” the answer normally is YES ! But not in this case, your mate was bang out of order. I wouldn’t dream of messing with the seat post or let my kids clamber over someone elses bike.

Mate? I would of told him exactly what I thought!

Yes you are being precious, if your bike can handle jumps and drops and being thrown around a singletrack it can handle a toddler climbing on it.

On the other hand, you mate clearly doesn’t understand how much you love your bike 😆

Your bike your rules.

I’d tell my mate to go make love to himself if he told me to be ok with something that obviously bothered me. He should count himself lucky he has a mate willing to lend him an expensive bike for a pootle.

Given you’re the one who has to bear the expense of expensive kit getting wrecked I think that’s poor to treat your bike like that.

It does amaze me how little ability some people have to understand that other people’s standards are different to their own – and that’s their right… nothing worse than someone making a mess of your stuff and then when you complain, they tell you to chill…

He’s the sort of mate who I could punch really hard and get away with it – probably get one back twice as hard mind. On that basis, I can also tell him he’s a tool. I lost my rag a bit, he snipped back, 10 seconds later we’d moved on.

I’m not dwelling on it now tbh, just brought it up as a topic of conversation.

I do get the proverbial tiddle taken though for being such a darling about my bike – but then I also get comments about how nice my 5yr old (and 15yr old) bikes look – they don’t just get thrown in the back of vans! That said, they have heel scuffs on the chainstays, rock dings on the downtubes and general battle scars – I’m fine with them, it’s an MTB!

Kids climbing on forks though – no way!

Always treat another’s bike with the same respect that you would afford their privates innit..

Something like that anyway

Next time you get in his car put your feet on the dash and start retuning his stereo and fiddling with all the controls..
Then ask him how it feels…

…seat is too high, so he undoes QR, despite it being a dropper post…
…He’s a biker too.

Does he call you precious?
This sounds like he’s doing it to get a rise out of you. 😉

I run back to front brakes for this exact reason. If youve asked and i let you ride my bike ill pre warn you. If not ill egg you on to do a big skid. 👿

Disrespectful

Ditto the majority response, he should treat it how you treat it, not how he treats his own. Doesn’t matter how rugged mtbs are, I ride my bikes as they were intended and if I crash and damage em fine, but unnecessary damage (from storage, transporting or numpty mates) p1sses me off and is easily avoided. I always get compliments on the standard of my stuff (someone recently thought my 9 yr old R1 was new-old stock) because I look after it. Bizarrely my stuff lasts a long time and always functions perfectly, funny that!

Next time you get in his car, do so by standing on the seat.

If your like me & spend hard earned cash on let’s face it expensive gear you want to look after it and make it last as long as possible. Yes we all have accidents…part and partial of what we enjoy, if you damage something using as intended easily acceptable but the last thing you want is scratched stanchions from so avoidable idiot act…tell him & his kid not to touch!

Now, touching a motorbike. That is a whole different territory …

Have a go on his wife. An eye for an eye…

I’d have gone mad. It’s fine if people treat their own stuff badly but not other peoples. I can understand a lot of people who have kids are use to them climbing on things and on occasions damaging stuff, but they should still respect other peoples stuff.

I once watched a mate drag their bike out their car boot with absolutely no care, (it was only a very cheap bike but still..) the bars swung round and levers chipped the frame. top and down tubes dragged on the boot latch leaving huge scratches on the frame.

A few of my mates have kids but they accept my rule of no kids in my car/garage/office.

I’m not dwelling on it now tbh, just brought it up as a topic of conversation.

Well, just enough that you had to tell the world…

Well, just enough that you had to tell the world…

Nope, just enough to see what a few dozen folk on STW thought about it….

Put bricks in sack.
Put child in sack.
Close sack with ziptie.
Throw sack into river.
Kill parents of child.
Sorted.

Find a child (preferably one you know) and get them to jump up and down on their car. When they kick off, suggest that maybe they should stop being so precious.

If it were my bike I probably would have trampled on the child.

I find it much easier to weigh 4 or 5 stone less than my non cycling friends so that when I get asked to lend them a bike I tell them that
a) it’ll involve shock set up, and
b) they’re above the weight limit of any of my bikes.

Nah – youre not being overprotective …

He was just being disrespectful and thoughtless.

Nips off for a bimble around fine…
Messes with the post ??? Hmmm – ok…
Treats it like a toy for his brats ?
Taking the pisssss 😈