Flip Flop Rider

uh no. people should strive to be offended less

rumrunn6

so long as they don't insult your shoes

eja_ bottecchia

eja_ bottecchia

Cl904

Kovkov

No, because most of the time it would be someone on some cheap plastic they paid several 1000 francs for while i got my hand brazed ones for 50 something. So i win anyway .

BobbyG

Ha!
+1

What kind of person needs to insult others to gain confidence in themselves? Perhaps a
Person Of Thin Underlying Self-confidence.

Kedosto

livedarklions

I've had a couple of times when somebody has told me, in essence, they're surprised that I could ride such a crappy bike so fast. I definitely took it as a compliment both times, because the bikes really were crappy.

I've never had anyone out and out say it in an insulting way.

KraneXL

Funny you should mention that. I saw a mature gentlemen riding a pink girl's bike at the supermarket and try as I might to ignore it I was compelled to comment on it. Now that I think about it, he probably just saw his daughter's bike sitting on the porch on the way to the market and figured, "what the heck?"

Hoopdriver

Same with me. I get a lot of complements on most of my bikes. My all weather commuting bike that looks it's wel-ridden age (46 years old) doesn't get as many though. Worst thing ever said to me was really a jest. I was on my recumbent trike and a gentleman many years older than me said, "Nice, but I'm not old enough for a trike"

Juan Foote

Heh he....back when we were kids into BMX and jumping bikes, etc. we were breaking parts all the time. We ended up having a collection of what was several buildable bikes out of the parts we had retired, swapped, purchased whole without intent to use all of, etc. We got the idea to build the absolute ugliest bike we could. It had all mismatched parts, ape hanger bars off something we came across, HUGE front sprocket with mismatched home painted crank arms....it was perfectly mechanically sound but as aesthetically unpleasing as we could make it.

We rode it around all over the county one summer just trying to get people to comment, and no one would ever come out and be rude. We got comments, of course, but mostly surprise and wonder at how we came across 'such a thing'. Lol

wipekitty

Same here. I got into road cycling on bikes that were probably nice several decades ago, but became crappy due to a combination of use, abuse, and my motivation to learn how to wrench. It's fun when you show up to a reasonably fast group with that.

What's more common out in the wild is someone complimenting one of my somewhat crappy bikes.

BirdsBikeBinocs

I would simply say... No. It isn't. And ride away into the sunset....

wolfchild

My bikes are full of scratches, dings, missing decals, road grime which hasn't been cleaned for years. They look well used,, I really don't care is somebody thinks my bikes look like crap.

rosefarts

This summer I caught a small group at the stoplight before squaw pass starts going up (and up and up). One looks over to me, on my cherry red Tallerico, and says "that is a beautiful frame". At that moment he hits the wheel in front of him and wrecks. This is at about 8 mph, so no damages or injuries. Just embarrassment.

They were faster than me. I didn't last long after that. I'll be prppr of that for a long time.

rollagain

I'm waiting for someone to say my bike looks nice, but I look awful ...

Daniel4

If my bike is a piece of crap, it would less likely to be stolen.

GailT

Not sure if that's true, my Schwinn Continental was stolen three times (recovered two times). I used it in San Francisco in 1987 to commute to work and to do longer rides over the Golden Gate bridge into Marin County on the weekends. I heard from a friend that one of our mutual friends told her that my bike was "a piece of crap". I wasn't offended, but I was puzzled. I didn't know anything about bike technology or biking culture, and the Continental was fine for my purposes - commuting and solo rides. It was built like a tank - when I got doored and crashed going down the Hayes St hill, I was able to pick up the bike and ride it the rest of the way to work. It was heavy, but I didn't know that, and I was strong enough to ride it fast, and it gave me a good work out. But the "crap" comment might have planted the seed that led me to upgrade to a Cannondale ST600 five years later.

General Geoff

Correct. Getting offended is an emotional response, and it's impossible to accurately predict an emotional response to something that hasn't happened before. That's why it's emotional and not logical.

It also makes me laugh whenever someone promises they won't be offended, in order to coax someone else to say something. That's a promise nobody can keep, because their natural response might be feeling offended. They might hide it well but being offended and appearing offended are two different things.

Happy Feet

I sometimes feel people who say others should not get offended so easily are trying to avoid the consequences of being offensive.

Why would one stranger tell another their bike (or anything else) is crap and not expect a negative reaction? To me that is living in a fairy tale world.

KraneXL

Not entirely impossible. You can predict pretty close if you extrapolate from past experiences.Your post alone paints a picture of a logical thinker. Nevertheless, this is where you get to narrow the likelihood of a correct prediction if you ask yourself, "am I more likely to response emotionally or logically?" Well if they word it like that the intent to offend is pretty much obvious. On the other hand, there is something to be said for constructive criticism. In that case, a negative comment could be intended to improve the condition or circumstance.

smarkinson

If I saw someone riding one of these I would happily call it a piece of fugly crap.

General Geoff

I'm far more likely to respond logically or not at all, than respond emotionally. That's why I said I'd like to think that it would not bother me.

At the end of the day, is anyone ever truly sure of anything?

Gerry221

Nope, and would not care if someone did.

They are my bikes, and I love them. It is what I can afford. Suits me. Perfect.Didnt buy them for other people.