Compliments and comments in public.....

[Markm]

I was lucky enough to be in the back of a RatRodRide in Chicago a few weeks back with Skipton,Jayman,XC204 and wife, and some new friends and heard alot of
comments/compliments, all good, and saw alot of rubbernecking as well!!!!

 

[Social Reject]

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:

The Rat Fink rules.

That's a good explaination. I agree.

I'd like to add that it seems that here in the U.S., people generally feel they must turn everything into a sport or a competition of some sort. If you build cars, you do it for the car show trophy. If you run, you must compete in a marathon. If you hunt, you must compete to get the biggest buck. If you bike, you must compete in a race....etc.

I think people generally don't know how to just do something for the sheer enjoyment of doing it.....or even just to simply enjoy the beauty of something. Of course, I'm a weirdo who likes things for their aesthetic qualities. I'm an idealist who wants the world to be beautiful and fun....and I usually find myself surrounded by knuckle draggers who only see dollar signs and power struggles and competitions. :roll: :x Not that competition is all bad, but if that's all a person can think about, then it kind of sucks the fun out of everything.

 

[gowjobs]

When I ride my BMX/Bomber Schwinn, I get funny looks from the fixie folk, but thumbs-up and great comments from other cyclists. Most comment or ask questions about the bottle opener on the headtube, the '70s era Honda MX bars, or the 11g Ti spokes in my wheels. Old school BMX guys notice my large-flange Shimano MX coaster hub, and beach cruiser guys wonder about my 34T front chainring. Girls just usually think my paint job is pretty.

I'm a scale model builder, and I've noticed that some regions tend to be more competition-oriented. In SoCal, critically-judged contests are the best-attended events, while in NorCal, non-competitive shows with a few peoples' choice awards thrown in bring in hundreds of entries. I'm in a fairly laid-back beach city, and the need to be #1 seems to be less important here than it is just a few miles south, closer to Los Angeles.

We have a thriving cruiser population hereabouts, but it doesn't seem to be from any conscious decision to organize it, or because some magazine or website told the hipsters it's the next cool thing. We have a bunch of car guys, surfers and artists who've been riding cruisers for two or three generations now, and the ones that haven't rusted away from the sea air are being passed down, restored, ratted out or just maintained.