Why must people bash other people who ride different bikes to them?
Why do some people decide that the type of bike they ride is better than the type of bike someone else rides?
Why can’t everyone just enjoy riding bikes?

Narrow minded, and they like to sound clever.

it’s the human condtion, though, isn’t it?

create ‘them’ and ‘us’ in everything that we do and then fear the ‘them’.

because people are comfortable with what they know and are afraid of change or something different that is potentially offensive to their sensibilities.

deep down in their subconscious changing their opinion of something where the opinion is based on no direct experience is basically admitting they are wrong.
nobody wants to admit they are wrong do they?

or as my late grandfather would say “afraid they might like it”
or as i say “just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean it’s wrong”

What peterpoddy and Mr smith said…
Spot on. IT’s all bike just enjoy it

Unless it’s frigging road biking 😉

We mountain bikers are rugged individualists. We are not swayed by fashion or marketing. Our equipment choices are the result of technical understanding and the desire to push the boundaries of our demanding sport. Mountainbiking is a manly pursuit, to which women, homosexuals and arts students are unsuited. It is free of pretension and affectation and represents a uniquely authentic culture of risk-taking, live-on-the-edge vibrancy and innovation.

We mountainbikers enjoy riding our bikes more than other so-called cycclist precisely because we do it out of the childlike, innocent joy that comes from finding something truly worthy and pursuing it unselfconsciously.

Unlike roadies, who ride bicycles to suppress their bizarre deviant sexual urges, various classes of touring bike rider who are just angry and frustrated walkers with bicycles, unlike hipsters in their sisters’ jeans who only ride bicycles because it’s fashionable, we do it purely because it is so much damn fun and we are so damn great at it. And you expect us not to put other people right about how pathetic they are???!!

😉

last weekend i found myself mentally objecting to the number of numpty/weekend/once a year riders out on the roads.
nodding their way along in the sunshine, pi$$ing off the motorists.

for all the good i see in more people cycling, all i could see was those motorists transferring their rage to monday rushour, when there would only be me for them to cut up.

selfish, pathetic, wrong, i know – least im honest eh?

BD, i want that lot etched on my commuter

i actualy got laughed at for riding a DH bike arround cannock, then proceeded to chase down the holier than thou cotic/dialled/on-one twits and overtook them.

DH bikes, they’r just like hardtails, but faster. You dont need one to ride arround cannock, but you do want to ride one!

BigDummy – that’s very good. 🙂

Narrow minded and afraid of change. I think I agree.

I’m also starting to see why people get defensive and feel the need to have a go at other people and their bikes… Thisisnotaspoon, I ride a dialled holeshot, (amongst other things) and now you have had a pop, I’m feeling the need to have a pop back. I could do, but I won’t. I’m now wondering if people poke fun at other peoples bikes because they feel inadequate about themselves, their riding, and thier bikes?

It’s easy to pidgeon-hole things isn’t it?

Soobalias, You have more right to ride/have fun than someone who rides less than you? Odd?

Do people who drive less have less of a right to drive, too?

It depends, fixie hate is acceptable. Jumping red lights or riding dangerously with no brakes ruins any reputation cyclists have. That’s not saying all riders of fixie’s ride like that, but as soon as you’re on the road riding a bike without brakes you’re a liability.

what about BMX’s without brakes are they a liability too?

people seem quite happy to lump all fixed riders together assuming they all ride brakeless while wearing their sisters jeans. but this is a recent phenomenon. people have been riding fixed on the road for over a century.

it has nothing to do with rights…

i just have to deal with the consequences of other riders (unintentional) bad etiquette.

I would much rather the cars were off the roads

what about BMX’s without brakes are they a liability too?

Yes, if used on the road/pavement.

I did state not all fixie riders are like that, but they are a type of bike that often has no brakes.

i wasnt having a pop at hardtail riders (i dont actualy own any full sussers)

just saying that that particular 5″ travel steel hardtail at cannock clique (of which normaly im a member) decided to mock my choice of bike for that lap. Laughing at it and commenting to each other about how unsuitable it was.

Solomanda, do all fixie riders jump red lights? Do fixie riders jump red lights more than any other type of bike rider, or do you just notice it more because you dislike fixies?

Bikes shouldn’t be on pavements, or riden through red lights. I don’t think anyone want’s to be tarred with the “all cyclists jump red lights” brush. I don’t expect fixie riders don’t want to be either.

Ok, exclude the jump red lights issue. They shouldn’t be on the road without brakes. They deserve abuse, shame the police don’t have the resources to enforce it.

Fixie riders with brakes are fine.

Solomanda, do all fixie riders jump red lights?

Of course – it’s cos they can’t stop properly.

See? I was right. People are trying to sound clever again….

😉

most of it is banter, some of it is opinion
you can’t stop either, it’s a sport of extremes

[pedant mode]

If you want to be accurate, a fixed wheel bike always has one legal brake, what you mean to say is that a fixed wheel bike should not be on the road if it doesn’t also have a brake on the front wheel.

[/pedant mode]

all bikes are great, except fixies, which (away from the track), are about as much fun as a poo sandwich.

Suppose it’s how you see yourself. I cycle, I ride bikes, be it MTB’s or road, it’s alll the same.

i actualy got laughed at for riding a DH bike arround cannock, then proceeded to chase down the holier than thou cotic/dialled/on-one twits and overtook them.

DH bikes, they’r just like hardtails, but faster. You dont need one to ride arround cannock, but you do want to ride one!

this isn’t actually true is it? a real DH bike is an utter pig to pedal. i can walk faster than a V10 in the car park.

fixies are about as much fun as a poo sandwich

some people like that kind of thing though

deviants

BD has it!

😉

there is a lot of inadequacy in mountain biking that’s true. summed up by the (small) willy waving that unfortunately goes with it. Its just the way it is these days what with all the new product coming out and the price of it people lose sight of the fact that it’s all about (for the majority) going out and having fun and getting fit along the way. I come from a skating background and for us it was all about supporting and encouraging eachother to push our own personal boundaries on a plank of wood with wheels on it and everyone was completely cool about that and because we all had basically the same set up there was no opportunity to take the piss out of someone else’s choice of board. either you had a double kick, a turbo 2 or a longboard but it was rare to see any of the latter. so in that sense it was all about the skating. I have met some real w*nkers through mountain biking recently; thoroughly bitter and nasty little men who get a real kick out of little acts of one-upmanship. my mates older brother for example on his full carbon FS epic complaining he could have finished the ride sooner if it wasnt for so-and-so….. burns my ears and recently got sick of it and said something and due to his very fragile temprament he threatened to “wrap my bike around my head you sill little c***”. i never met anyone like that through skateboarding only thoughtful respectful people most of who are now my closest friends. its making me question wether i want to be part of this mountain biking clique or not.

because all bikes are great…

apart from yours.

Actually, I think Bomberman is right. There’s a lot of kit involved and a lot of people for whom kit is the most important part. Other similar ‘sports’ have much less kit buying opportunities and, maybe as a result, less attitude.

To some extent I think there is common ground between everyone that rides. Bomberman’s story hits another nail on the head, though. Other less kit-oriented activities don’t leave room for this kind of one-upmanship. Biking does, but thankfully there are masses of riders who just don’t care about scoring points. It’s possible to be interested in the kit without being a nob, but wherever there are consumers there’ll be that kind of venom.

Let’s just all be friends!