Hi Larry, I have been biting my tongue and wrapping duct tape around my mouth over this thread as I know I WILL get lambasted for my comments from the fixie gang. But now that I see someone else shares some of the same views I do, here it goes:
Composed and saved Sunday November 25, 2007:
I personally don't care for fixies or the tattooed sprocket-and-gear clad extreme leftists who ride these things. They belong at that festival in the desert where all of those screwballs who never lived out their childhoods gather to make silly contraptions, be "artsy", paint their entire bodies, walk around naked and burn things down. How come every time I see a guy on a fixie he looks like he's mad at the world, completely high, or both? And the little 1/2x3/32 chrome-plated chain-link wristbands have got to go.
These guys always expect you to marvel at their one-speed-wonders as if these things are "works of art" when they are in your presence. They pride themselves in funky cable routing, absurd wheel lacing patterns and in plastering their bicycles with "earthy" decals.
Has anyone ever noticed how the fixie crowd always seems to want something for nothing? I cannot even begin to count how many of these out-of-work guys came into the shop (in the days of yore) arguing that a 59-cent item ought to be 29-cents; (my personal experience in working at shops many moons ago.) Another example of their backward thinking would be--"I just bought this $9.00 chain from you so I expect you to install it FREE of charge." Or worse yet, "Can I borrow your tools so I can put the chain on?" The majority of the guys I speak of and still see (mostly in San Francisco) are filthy, smell like dope, and do not wear deodorant.
I was at one hell-hole of a bicycle shop in the city (San Fran) wherein they recycle tires and inner-tubes......to resell!!! I watched a girl come in, dig through the dumpster (dumpster inside of shop) and purchase a $3.00 tire. When initially told the tire would cost three dollars an argument ensued. The girl wanted it for nothing) and on top of that the tire was completely bald. She and her boyfriend commenced to installing the tire right there in the store on an old worn out sofa. Next thing I know this girl was at the counter pointing out four or five different areas where the inner-tube was bulging out in the form of little black butyl bubbles from the now inflated tube/tire. The salesman/manager was as just as much of a Bozo as she was because the two of them argued for at least five minutes over the THREE DOLLAR TIRE purchase. He finally gave in, came out from behind the counter, jumped inside the dumpster and found another worn out tire for her and she was on her way.
On a different note, every time there is some sort of protest around here, you can count on the fixie guys to be right there making complete horse's asses out of themselves. Their bicycles are always parked in an upside-down position (on bars and saddle.) Some of these guys are beating on home-made drums while others play acoustic guitars that are completely out of tune or missing half of the strings. The guitars are covered with the same "Free Tibet" decals that are on their bicycles.
I don't know what's happened to me lately; I use to listen to the Dead Kennedy's and hang in the SOMA and North Beach districts of the S.F. Now I find myself feeling tired and getting old...
Ted E. Baer
"a tired old man" in
Palo Alto, CA
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> Chris,
>
> I read with interest your posting to the CR
> list.....unfortunately, I do not see happening where
> I live, what you described as happening where you
> live.... Portland, Oregon is a hotbed of bike
> 'happeningness'; unfortunately, it seems to be kind
> of a closed loop here....local hipsters think
> nothing of dropping $500 on wheels to put on a Sears
> 'Free Spirit' frame ; nor do they put any thought
> into proper gearing, sizing, or positioning....I
> work in a local shop that services this crowd, and
> to put it honestly, I want to vomit over some of the
> machines that I have to send out...well-meaning
> talks about the above-mentioned subjects are met
> with hostility or carefully affected slacker 'don't
> care, doesn't matter' blank stares.
>
> While I am glad to see youngsters riding, rather
> than driving, I also sadly fail to see the future of
> our sport in any of this movement...it is completely
> fashion-driven; there are no future Lance
> Armstrongs, Gibby Hattons, or Marty Nothsteins to be
> found in this so-called 'Keirin Culture' (most of
> them cannot even pronounce 'Keirin' correctly, and
> 90% of them smoke)....personally, I look forward to
> this fad's inevitable bust; then I will be able to
> liberate these sadly misused frames from their
> former owners, and then pass them on to more
> appreciative users.
>
> Feeling extra grumpy & curmudgeonly,
> Larry Myers
> Portland, OR, USA
>
>
>
>
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