Bike Snobs

[two spot]

This weekend I brought my Schwinn Kustom over to Ardenwood park in Fremont CA for the annual Rail Fair. I'll get some pictures up soon. (I later found out that bikes are restricted from this park, but that's another story.) I loaded my bike trailer with steam engines so I could run some stuff on the live steam track while I was there. People from all walks of life really liked the bike. For the most part they found it nostalgic, artistic and it brought smiles to many faces. Well, except for one guy. Wile discussing the build with someone else at the park, I mentioned that the frame was a newer Schwinn that I had lying around. This guy butts in and first he gave me crap that it wasn't a "real" Scwinn because I used a frame that was made after Pacific Cycles had purchased the brand. Then when I was discussing some of the add ons, like the leather saddle and Brooks grips, I made the mistake of using the term "high end". He immediately sputtered at that and asked how much I spent on said components. Now I'm not sure what type of cycling this dude is into but it was quite apparent that because the bike didn't have thousands of dollars of components on it it wasn't worth his time. Here is the bike in question:

I seriously had never encountered such attitude before. I gotta admit it pissed me off. I mean this Schwinn was my first full kustom build and like any of my other projects I carefully select or fabricate components and parts based on what looks best, what is avalable and fits my budget, and also what is lying around gathering dust and can now have a new life. That's why it's my Rat and my art. And this dude totally crapped all over that.

Here's the irony. This guy is in our garden railroad club and he is also a live steamer. Now that I think of his roster of locomotives the dude has a lot of expensive stuff but it is all 100% bone stock. For me, I'm a builder and basher, not a buyer. Both in bikes and trains I like to modify, wrench, hot-rod and customize. And I put a ton of care into that process whereas this dude is content to just drop a boatload of cash and call it a day.

Regards,

 

[jwm]

First- That is one wicked cool build.
Second- ignore the fool. He's wrong.

JWM

 

[user 135]

Ignore those people.

LET's see your trains.

 

[Henry morgan]

First- That is one wicked cool build.
Second- ignore the fool. He's wrong.

JWM

yep what he said ... and next time say something like is that spot on your shirt gray poupon :lol:

 

[Wingman]

Hey your bike is great ok.

2 things,

1) Consider the scorce

2) Who cares what some mental midget thinks anyway. He was jelious cause they were looking at your stuff not his .... he needed some attn & was not getting any !!

 

[scrumblero]

He was jealous cause they were looking at your stuff not his .... he needed some attn & was not getting any !!

first thing i thought too...

 

[old_skool]

It seems there are elitists and wannabes in every arena who live to burst other people's bubbles

For some epic bike snobbery, visit the VRC (Vintage, Retro, Classic) section at mtbr.com

 

[Houndog]

Try buying a WalMart MTB then cruise on over to MTBR.com and see what happens....
Even after I replaced everything but frame with nicer parts it was a POS in thier opinion...

 

[Houndog]

It seems there are elitists and wannabes in every arena who live to burst other people's bubbles

For some epic bike snobbery, visit the VRC (Vintage, Retro, Classic) section at mtbr.com

Hahahaha we are the same page....

 

[Chips_Mahoy]

Ignore those people.

LET's see your trains.

+1

 

[old_skool]

Try buying a WalMart MTB then cruise on over to MTBR.com and see what happens....
Even after I replaced everything but frame with nicer parts it was a POS in thier opinion...

Yeah, even perfectly nice vintage Treks and Diamondbacks are junk according to them.

Walmart bike? THE HORROR!

 

[yoothgeye]

Good luck finding a community that is 100% snob free. Even in communities where you start with something cheap there are snobs. I love underdogs and most of my hobbies have been based around them. I was into 4x4s, but not just any 4x4s, I had a Suzuki Samurai, bought for $550, built cheap, mudded and rock-crawled, as soon as I made a redneck repair or used cheap parts I had to hear from the Suzuki snobs.

I use to drive "quick" cars, I had a couple Mustang GTs, if you didn't build them the way everyone else did or used different branded parts, the Mustang snobs would get you. Then I got into imports, had a Accord, even the Honda guys said Accords were slow (sure, but they can be fun), so I sold it and bought a CRX HF with a JDM DOHC ZC swap, Si transmission, JDM Prelude seats, JDM hood, Tanabe suspension, etc... it had a 2 12" exhaust (big for that car) with a cherry bomb muffler. Uh-oh, wrong brand muffler, here come the snobs. I had a kid coming and needed a back seat so I bought a 240SX SE, (before the drift thing took off). It had a sad worn out engine in it, so I went to a shop that did SR20DET swaps and asked them if they had pulled out any low mileage KA24DE engines lately and got a nice stock motor for peanuts, and the rest of the time I had that car it wasn't good enough to the Nissan snobs because I had the USDM motor instead of the JDM motor even though my car could beat their turbos off the line! haha

Stick with us, we got your back, I don't care if you put dishwasher parts on your bike, you're cool with me.

 

[Devil's Toupe]

I love that bike. It looks vintage with a lot of little touches. I think you accomplished what you were going for.
A phrase you might be familiar with is "built, not bought." People who can't build don't understand what it's like and think they know everything because they own some of it. What I don't understand is why people buy their way into circles were the custom and individual is the driving force. Oh well, that's why they are them and we are us.

 

[yoothgeye]

I just realized that your "shifter" is a bell. That's awesome! (but totally cheap and pointless, kidding) I will have to mount a bell like that now.

 

[schwinnless]

Had some of that on coastal cruisers ride on sunday. My vintage western flyer got no looks but, plain old newer schwinns were being ogled all over.
Of coarse im biased and not a cookie cutter schwinn guy so what ever!

 

[kngtmat]

That is a sweet ride, you did some real cool work.

You should go to Yahoo Answers too because there are alot there that go by Old Hippie, Jib Jab, a guy named bikeworks along with a few others and I think one of them goes to that MTBR.com called wleatlanta on yahoo answers or now known as wleatlanta II because I think he did something to kick him off.



Suzuki snobs :lol: I didn't think that was possible.

 

[chepe13]

This thread isn't ratty enough. Pft...

 

[g-ratter]

To me, no matter if it is a bike,car,or motorcycle, when some one says "I made it myself" they have 100% of my respect.
You have a cool bike. It has some nice features and looks rideable. Great work.

 

[jackdaw]

Yes, exactly, built, not bought. I could get all reductionist on myself but that's a losers game :lol: .

 

[outskirtscustoms]

That guy is just a conformist and has no imagination, your bike rocks! Sad thing is here in Kokomo the local bike shop owner is the same way. :roll: If you bring in a Walmart bike for anything more than a tube replacement he will tell you "the dumpster is out back".

I have personally pulled hundreds of dollars worth of stuff out of his dumpster so I'm not complaining but if I ran the bike shop I would cater to EVERYBODY regardless if they are on a $5,000+ carbon fiber roadie or a $5 scrapyard special. One bike I found in their trash just needed the back wheel trued. Took me 5-10 minutes and the bike looked like brand new! It was a Roadmaster so it was nothing special but still an easy $40 and a quick sell.