Why do you ride your bike?

[hubgearfreak]

I like to ride because I spent 90% of my childhood cruising my neighborhood with my buddies, we were the "crew" and we were always exploring. Now that I have a nice car, I do the same with it... I love to go "explore" and just drive for driving's sake.

But bikes have a special place for me. I love building them, I love going places you can't reach with cars. I love the feel of the machine, love the wind in my face (when I'm going downhill, LOL) and I love biking more than any other kind of exercise. I love the feeling of building something mechanical, and then being able to ride it and say "I built this."

I like the wacko nutcase bike builders here. You guys rock.

+1 i couldn't have put it better if i'd tried :mrgreen:

Where I live it's the only sane mode of ransport.

planet earth. yeah, i hear you :mrgreen:

 

[roadmaster]

1. cuz i have this "thing" for old cruisers or anything with a curvy cantilever frame.
2. the freedom and enjoyment of riding.
3. seeing people do a double take or talk to me about my "old bike" (usually my 59' skyrider) :wink:
4. zero $$$ on gas and almost nothing for maintnence.
4b. maintnence?!... its a single speed! chain and tires... yay!!!
5. "dude, these bikes are like over 40 years old. thats like a part of history were on."
6. nothing like a slow relaxing ride in the country side, on country roads.
7. cuz i like to see how deepa snow i can ride in in the winter.
8. recycling IS riding 30-40 or 50yr old bikes around as daily drivers
9. i have like 20 of them and they all need to be riden occasionally or its bicyclular neglect
10. (best for last...) getting to meet and know totally awesome people like ALL of you, who share the same passion, same love of old bikes or bmxs or whatever type of bike it is and the wicked sweet machines they share with us all. :mrgreen:

 

[RPJ]

mr bill has been riding bicycles for 50yrs, he's gotta keep riding...it's gunna take him 50 yr to get home.

as for me...what else am I going to do with my bike, throw lettuce at the spining wheels and make sallad?

An exhaustive study caried out by all the greatest universties around the world has shown, that most men ride their bicycles in the hope of getting erectile disfunction, so that they can take revenge on the misses for not letting them buy that 1901 elgin (or what ever) that would have been just perfect for their collection.

 

[alan67]

I ride my bicycles so i can meet with friends shoot the breeze,drink coffee and eat cake!

I ride my bicycles only when i have to/ need to or the economic climate dictates i must!

Only one of these statements is correct, but which one?

Al.

 

[druggedonions]

Like a lot of people here it's that sense of being a kid again. Again? When did it stop?
The fact that it beats walking and it's a great way to unwind and get home after work.
It's a lovely way to spend time with my kid.
It's the best way to get fresh air and exercise. The only two forms of exercise I regularly partake in are swimming and cycling. And unless it's tipping it down with rain, I'll cycle to the pool.

I think I can sum it up best with this: I live 5 minutes walk from my work, but it can take me half an hour or more if I'm on a bike. :mrgreen:

 

[No cars on mars]

I did not have a car for that work properly back about 1985. Work was only 7 miles away, so I bough a Specialized Rockhopper for $400. Rode it for a few years and got a car, then lost car (divorce) and travel abroad. Went back to riding the Rockhopper. Got a new Rockhopper in 1996 for $500 after old one was cut off a chain linked fence. Rode that one until 2005 when the frame rotted out. About 25,000 mile commuting.
About 2002 I was looking for a second bicycle to leave at the train station for 2nd part of my commute. I found a very helpful mechanic and owner of a bicycle shop to help me with all my stupid questions about the bicycle. Chain skipping and better/thinner tires. Mods to a 1984 Centurion to make it a better hill climber and long distance runner.
Get a car and went back to driving truck. Discovered dumpster diving while driving around. Rest is history.

 

[kingpin]

i mostly ride now with friends/crew.
its the most fun...u can even have a few drinks!
i used to love riding around with my next door neighbor on our BMXs in the weekends and to and from school when i lived in a town that was flat as a kid.

commuting is very hard in the city i now live in as it is VERY hilly. even when i was fit and MTBing alot i didnt commute much...i hate riding up massive long hills! lol

i will still ride by myself but dont very often...right now riding is a social activity...if i was to think about it too much i would equate it to not wanting to grow up (says the 35yr old 400+lb man lol) or maybe its about getting back to the simple things...


i build bikes cause i like custom stuff and i collect things...and i cant afford a hotrod or chopper atm!

 

[hewey]

Pure escapism. Nothing gets me further away from stress than a blast on the mountain bike or a leisurely cruise on a cruiser. I find it addictive, if I dont get out for a ride I get cravings for it. I love an all day epic on a trail in the mountains, or a quick cruise down to the local river. In short, in makes me whole.

Here are some great quotes:

When man invented the bicycle he reached the peak of his attainments. Here was a machine of precision and balance for the convenience of man. And (unlike subsequent inventions for man's convenience) the more he used it, the fitter his body became. Here, for once, was a product of man's brain that was entirely beneficial to those who used it, and of no harm or irritation to others. Progress should have stopped when man invented the bicycle. ~Elizabeth West, Hovel in the Hills

After your first day of cycling, one dream is inevitable. A memory of motion lingers in the muscles of your legs, and round and round they seem to go. You ride through Dreamland on wonderful dream bicycles that change and grow. ~H.G. Wells, The Wheels of Chance

It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle. ~Ernest Hemingway

Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of a bike ride. ~John F. Kennedy

 

[Dan Jose]

Duuude's. You guys are so inspirational to me right now. Lets keep it rolling, i still know a whole bunch of names on here that still haven't given their 2 cent's.

 

[BlsdEsq]

I ride for many of the reasons already mentioned. But here goes:
I love the simple pleasure of the wind blowing in my face
It takes me back to my childhood
I get to see and experience so many things I'd otherwise drive right past
It's a great feeling when passing drivers throw you a thumbs up and yell "cool bike!"

 

[zaz]

- Because I love it
- Because Paris is my playground and there's no better way to move in that city
- Because I feel like a kid when I ride with my Sting-ray with the Stelber "Be a big wheel" steering wheel
- Because I like to overtake multispeed bicycle with single speed bikes (it's a kind of duty)
- Because "think different"...

 

[spinman]

I hadn't ridden a bike since I graduated college in '82. Back then, I really enjoyed taking long (to me) 20 mike rides on my Fuji Del Ray racing bike while listening to Pat Metheny on my (now) archaic portable cassette player.

After that, I sold the bike, got into my career, blew thru some marriages, then in 2000, smashed my '86 Ford Ranger into the back of a another car sitting at a stop light. It was my fault as my extremely near-sighted vision had steadily dimished til i was legally blind. Thank God I didn't kill anyone. Doc said i had to hang up the car keys. Not cool when you're turning 40 and in the prime of your life.

I gets to me when I hear these old senior citizens b*tching and moaning that they're now required to take a re-test for driving and the indignity of it all. And they're like 70, 80 or 90+. Gimme a break!!. You had that long without killing anyone behind a wheel, can't you be happy with that?? It's a privelage NOT a right!!! Give it up at 40 and see how it feels!

Anyhoo, I digress. So back in '07, I catch the Schwinn Sting-Ray bug by seeing some of them on the 'net. Decide to buy one to relive my yout' as i had a Coppertone back in the ealry '70s. Picked up a sweet '69 Red Standard and the rest as they say, is history.

The Ray is cool and all, but a grown man just doesn't look right on one, no matter what we think. :mrgreen:

So one day, I'm on the Schwinn site and catch a thread on "Rat Rod" bikes. It struck a nerve. The Pandora's box was opened. With a Rat, you could ride a bike and be cool at the same time!

So here i am. The only mobilty i have other than walking is my Higgy. Do I take a chance riding it with the 20/400 vision I have? Sure. But we all take chances every day we get outta bed.

It's all I got. That's why I ride.

Spin

 

[bikebuilder]

I ride because my car doesn't help me excersise unless I am pushing it.
I ride because I don't like walking. It is slow and hurts my knees.
I don't ride just any bike either. I have to ride something intersting; Mostly Swingbikes and RatRods.
I ride swingbikes because they are just fun. It makes other people smile, and it is fun to let others ride them too.
I ride ratrod bikes because I just like old things in their natural state. If someone scratches my rat bikes, I don't care.
I ride ratrod bikes because it is fun to blow by people in spandex on a bike that weighs more than twice what their bikes do.

I ride because it's FUN!

 

[Foybles]

1 ) Horses require food and are too messy to take apart.
2 ) Rockets set the house and neighborhood on fire.
3 ) Not enough canals to use a boat.
4 ) Camels (see no 1)
5 ) Police have "issues" with my top fuel dragster.
6 ) The Mustang not fast enough for wheelies.
7 ) In a neighborhood of non-bikers I seem crazy, that's okay with me.
8 ) Never been in a traffic jam on a bike.
9 ) The wife won't let me put big fattie white walls on the Explorer.
and...
10) If I'm gonna die like I lived I'll need to be riding a bike!!!!

 

[2WheelFlyer]

Like So-cal Jack said, the MTB for pure adrenaline, it's incredible the terrain you can go over on a bike.

The road bike for staying healthy and in shape, anyone can press the gas pedal when driving a car or twist the wrist on a motorcycle, but not everybody can keep up with me after 30 miles on a bike.

The cruiser because it's just plain cool! I love it and it sends the subliminal message to everyone: "yeah! so?"