Compliments and comments in public.....

[Social Reject]

.....do you get them too?

I very recently got into riding bikes again after a long period of being away from it. I've never done it to try and be some sort of pro or anything (whatever that means), but I've always enjoyed riding for fun. I used to own some cheapo mountain bikes and I'd go for a spin every once in a while.

For the last 10 years, I've been into hot rodding (specifically traditional and or rat rods). I'm used to comments and compliments from the public. Life changes and philosophy changes have dictated that I leave the cars behind.

Recently I got a few bikes and decided to get some traditional styled bikes. I got a trek classic and a Felt as many of you may already know from my intro.

What has suprised me is just how much the general public NOTICES these bikes when I ride them into town. I was very suprised with this. I figured no one would pay any attention to a bike....or in the very least I'd get made fun of for not riding a road bike. Not so. There has been an overwhelmingly positive response from people along the road.

I'm not particularly in it for the compliments.....but what the heck.....I like positive attention like everyone else. It leads me to believe that the general public is starved for STYLE.

What's your take on it? Do you have similar experiences?

 

[Bodge Deep]

Well it must be a world wide thing!
I'm in much the same position returning to cycling (albeit a very gentle form of it) from a long absence...
Having knocked up my (so far) only new bike, I've found that the response has been very positive.
Maybe its because (much like cars) most modern bikes look fundamentally alike and anything that stands out or is different is cool... :mrgreen:

 

[Ratfink1962]

Having knocked up my (so far) only new bike

You did WHAT??? :shock:
Its ok to love your bike, but its not ok to LOVE your bike

Sorry couldnt resist.

To stay on topic... I have gotten a few comments when riding my KFC bike, usually they are from kids, and all have been positive. I can ride past a group of teenagers and one of them will be like "Hey cool bike!" I think its kinda neat considering how a lot of today's kids are into the latest this or the most fashionable that.

 

[icyuod2]

people like fun bikes!

i can't venture outside on my lowriders without a handful of peeps stopping me to ask about the bikes.

one day 4 guys on harleys flagged me down to say how much they liked my bike.
$30 000 fat bot and dude likes my bicycle! :roll:

 

[Social Reject]

Having knocked up my (so far) only new bike

You did WHAT??? :shock:
Its ok to love your bike, but its not ok to LOVE your bike

Sorry couldnt resist.

To stay on topic... I have gotten a few comments when riding my KFC bike, usually they are from kids, and all have been positive. I can ride past a group of teenagers and one of them will be like "Hey cool bike!" I think its kinda neat considering how a lot of today's kids are into the latest this or the most fashionable that.

I got a teenager who ran out of his house and down his driveway to get a look at my Felt cruiser. I was scared for a few minutes. I thought I was going to get bike jacked or something. :wink: This kid, who I'm sure is as jaded as could be and has seen it all, was standing there for like 5 minutes telling me all about how cool my bike was and how he's got this bike and that and really digs apehangers and on and on.....

It made my day.

 

[Social Reject]

people like fun bikes!

one day 4 guys on harleys flagged me down to say how much they liked my bike.
$30 000 fat bot and dude likes my bicycle! :roll:

They probably wish they could experience true freedom. :wink: (freedom from the price of fuel)

Edit: I love motorcycles too. I have two of them at the moment. :wink:

 

[Walker]

I've gotten a couple of "cool bike" comments while on my Felt Cafe 750, including one from a leather chaps and fringed vest wearing HD guy.

One of the most humorous comments was "I don't think those bikes are very good, I've never heard of them". This from an avid cyclist on his carbon cyclocross bike while i rode along on my Rhygin Juke.

 

[GameBent]

Funny this thread was started because just today I was riding my Dyno and stopped at Dog Park by the beach. A lady that had to be in her 60s-70s had a small dog that ran up to me, and when she came to retrieve him she said 'nice bike, it looks like one I had when I was a girl.' I asked 'was it a Schwinn?' and she responded, 'yes it was, and it had a tank on it like yours.' Then we spoke briefly about the originals and the remakes. Eventually she had to tend to her dog so we parted ways.
It's amazing how many people have fond memories of riding their bikes in their youth.

 

[xddorox]

10 years ago when I was one of the few riding a recumbent, I was getting comments and questions all the time. I actually had to plan for that time in my ride! I find the same thing with my Rat Bikes and it ranges from all ages and all backgrounds. People love a cool looking bike or in the case of the recumbent, funny looking ones too. ( Sorry for my bent brothers, but there is no such thing as a cool looking recumbent, except for a very few exceptions and those are called Velomobiles.)

 

[schwinnmesa]

I get more comments at the scrap yard... "what in the world are you doing?" more than I get comments on my riders. I guess my Spitfire gets a lot of positive feedback.

 

[dangratsdan]

Nothing better than getting positive reactions from people about a bike you put together. Hopefully it inspires others to save a bike from the dump and build it to their own tastes and have some fun.

Im like most of us around here, Im a car guy, but bikes have become a creative outlet that my car desires cannot afford in time, money, and space.

Bicycles are a great way to show individuality, like a cool car is, without spending 10s of thousands of dollars. And a cool bike probably gets as much attention as that cool car.
Oh yea, with bikes you can own a bunch of them for less $ than a car, and you can keep alot of bikes in the same space that the cool car needs.

When I ride my bike I call the Alumasled (my 8 1/2 foot long aluminum honeycomb composite homebuilt bike), I get compliments, I get pictures taken, and people wanting to ride it.
For that matter, most of my other bike get compliments too. But Im sure everybody here on RRB experiences that. These cool bikes we build make people SMILE, people are always better off when they smile.

Most of the people who stop me and ask about my bikes, I tell them to check out a couple of web sites, Coastersbicycleclub.com and RATRODBIKES.com, with those web sites they can see it all, when it s about COOL BIKES.

 

[udallcustombikes]

I love the attention I get on my bikes. From my tall bike, when I am eye to eye with a truck driver, to my Flatliner. The response is amazing. I have tried to pass my love of bikes to everyone who makes the mistake of talking to me about bikes. My 8 and 9 year old daughters have been stopped by their friends parents who "had a bike just like that when they were a kid" when they were on their 60's Western Flyers. I absolutely love getting compliments for the general public, but when a "bike guy" stops me to say something positive about one of my bikes then I know that I have done something right.

 

[Ratfink1962]

Nothing better than getting positive reactions from people about a bike you put together. Hopefully it inspires others to save a bike from the dump and build it to their own tastes and have some fun.

Im like most of us around here, Im a car guy, but bikes have become a creative outlet that my car desires cannot afford in time, money, and space.

Bicycles are a great way to show individuality, like a cool car is, without spending 10s of thousands of dollars. And a cool bike probably gets as much attention as that cool car.
Oh yea, with bikes you can own a bunch of them for less $ than a car, and you can keep alot of bikes in the same space that the cool car needs.

When I ride my bike I call the Alumasled (my 8 1/2 foot long aluminum honeycomb composite homebuilt bike), I get compliments, I get pictures taken, and people wanting to ride it.
For that matter, most of my other bike get compliments too. But Im sure everybody here on RRB experiences that. These cool bikes we build make people SMILE, people are always better off when they smile.

Most of the people who stop me and ask about my bikes, I tell them to check out a couple of web sites, Coastersbicycleclub.com and RATRODBIKES.com, with those web sites they can see it all, when it s about COOL BIKES.

Right on Dan !!! 8)

 

[SCHWINNRAY69]

I get them all the time :mrgreen:

 

[icyuod2]

the best comment so far.

a little hotty told me my bike was f#$%&*# dirty. :lol:
i take it that was good.

 

[Tommy Atoms]

My mother and father in law were just here for a visit and my father in law wanted to go on a bike ride with my son. So i opened the garage and told him you can either ride my 26" tiki bike w/apes and bright green paint or you can ride my home built "Gangrene deluxe". I was kinda surprised he picked Gangrene. Upon returning I asked how was the ride and he only responded with " why dont you save your money and buy a nice bike? I took it as a compliment because there is nothing pretty about this bike anyway.

 

[American Vintage Bicycle Supply]

Well in my little town of Dallas Georgia, I am the only person that would even care to look at an old bike much less rebuild one. So I dont get that attention around the town, but I do take my bikes to carshows around metro atlanta and i seem to get alot more attention there than anywhere because people there have a love for the hobbie and like the 2 wheel change... :mrgreen:

 

[Chainsaw]

You guys wanna see traffic stopping, horn honking POSITIVE compliments .... Ride in a group of FreakBikes! We've had cops pull up and back up traffic just to look at our bikes. I'm usually at the back of the group so I hear all inds of stuff. Bars have been know to empty out when we roll past.
About the only negative compliments come from the Roadie spandexers. A lot of them just don't care to understand the different interests in the biking hobby. It's all about them.

 

[Rat Rod]

What I think happened was that the industry became so narrowly focused on bikes meant for very athletic people and their interests that they left out the majority of folks who would like to bike casually and just for fun.

If you've rolled through the department stores over the past 20 years all you saw was mountain bikes and road bikes for the most part. They have a tendency to design them to look mean and fast and that isn't always appealing to the casual rider. They usually appear very uncomfortable and overly complicated and I think that scares most folks away. That and the fact that the roads have become so busy and not much emphasis is put on making communities bike friendly.

Now show up some place in public on an Electra Rat Fink and it's like you just flew in from Mars. :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:

I rode mine up to our local playground with my kids one afternoon and there was a group of about 6 teenage kids on BMX bikes there and they all just stood there staring at it for about 15 minutes and the word "cool" kept being used over and over again. :lol:

I also watched it like a hawk that afternoon to make sure it didn't scurry off without me. :mrgreen:

 

[shaggyevil]

I sometimes get some good comments from people, mostly younger kids, about how much they like my bike. The last time I was told that my bike looked cool was on the last group ride when I traded bikes with Chainsaw and he was riding my recumbent, and I was riding his build challenge bike. When riding my '55 Schwinn, which is a major work in progress, I have had a few tell me they liked it or remembered having "one of those heavy things" when they were growing up. And being that it is pretty rusty and will eventually be painted, there have been a couple people that asked me if I puled it out of the river....since one of the favorite past times around here seems to be take a bike and toss it in the river... Usually the only negative comments I get are from the wannabes that are too busy bending their rims hopping off curbs or doing whatever trick in the middle of the street that they think will impress somebody.

Shaggy