Secret's out: Riding a Brompton (ANY foldie) gives you an inferiority complex
02-08-12, 03:20 AM
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Secret's out: Riding a Brompton (ANY foldie) gives you an inferiority complex
• Ditto men on Bromptons. What is it with the foldie tribe? Why are they so competitive? Do they secretly fear others see their precious machines are jumped-up toys? (Note to Brompton owners: I don't).
02-08-12, 04:38 AM
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It's the Apple syndrome. Three products tend to turn normal people into insufferable bores: iPhones, Apple Mac computers, and Bromptons.
(I've owned two of the three: fire away)
(I've owned two of the three: fire away)
02-08-12, 05:06 AM
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Gulp, I currently own all three. I've had to enforce a personal policy of *never* talking about my bikes or computers to anyone unless they ask first. I was losing too many friends, and my wife was threatening divorce.
I'll also admit, when I'm out on the Brompton I tend to ride a little harder in the presence of other cyclists. Not inferiority, but I do wonder why this happens more on the Brompton than any other bike I've ridden. That said, if someone passes me, I don't try to catch them up. However, I've often seen someone ahead of me and had go at catching them.
All good fun, I say.
I'll also admit, when I'm out on the Brompton I tend to ride a little harder in the presence of other cyclists. Not inferiority, but I do wonder why this happens more on the Brompton than any other bike I've ridden. That said, if someone passes me, I don't try to catch them up. However, I've often seen someone ahead of me and had go at catching them.
All good fun, I say.
02-08-12, 07:23 AM
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"Gulp, I currently own all three."
You are doomed. I haven't run over anyone riding a Brompton while texting on an iPhone, but sure as eggs is eggs, it's gonna happen one day. I was mowed down in the supermarket today by a woman pushing a trolley with one hand, and prodding an iPhone with the other. Isn't there an app which uses the iPhone accelerometer to shut it down for four hours if it senses movement? Could there be?
You are doomed. I haven't run over anyone riding a Brompton while texting on an iPhone, but sure as eggs is eggs, it's gonna happen one day. I was mowed down in the supermarket today by a woman pushing a trolley with one hand, and prodding an iPhone with the other. Isn't there an app which uses the iPhone accelerometer to shut it down for four hours if it senses movement? Could there be?
02-08-12, 03:14 PM
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I guess I am golden then 
I own a Crackberry (and a Droid), a Raleigh Twenty (and a Dahon or two) and a Ubuntu machine 
Aaron
I own a Crackberry (and a Droid), a Raleigh Twenty (and a Dahon or two) and a Ubuntu machine Aaron
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"Cycling should be a way of life, not a hobby.
RIDE, YOU FOOL, RIDE!"_Nicodemus
"Steel: nearly a thousand years of metallurgical development
Aluminum: barely a hundred
Which one would you rather have under your butt at 30mph?"_krazygluon
02-08-12, 04:01 PM
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One of my friends went to London a couple weeks ago,
says The City is crawling with them .
the Incentive payments , + the congestion tax might combine to having more people
taking the multi modal approach, train/ tube + brompton
Or just parking their Car, just out side of the Taxed Congestion Zone.
says The City is crawling with them .
the Incentive payments , + the congestion tax might combine to having more people
taking the multi modal approach, train/ tube + brompton
Or just parking their Car, just out side of the Taxed Congestion Zone.
02-08-12, 05:15 PM
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This reminds me of a local article I read last year about the reportedly trendy "Slow Bike Movement."
https://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...NSL51KCRGV.DTL
https://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...NSL51KCRGV.DTL
02-09-12, 02:08 AM
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Perhaps it's something to do with basic tribal instincts: iPad Tribe, Brompton Tribe, Mac Diatribe versus PC Diatribe. People join herds of like-minded others. We do it on here. (!)
Certainly I've had people in London come up to me while I was on my Oyama/Dahon saying 'Oooh nice bike but when are you going to get a Brompton?' It's the cult of consumerism: Bromptons are media-driven status symbols. Owning one restores virginity, cures warts, and enables the leaping of tall buildings with a single bound, and it's a relatively recent fad, concurrent with the price almost doubling in the last six years.
I think the extra competitiveness of folder owners comes from the continuing elitism of a large sector of the bike fraternity who believe that merely going out and buying something made of carbon fibre makes them immortal. After a while we folder operators start to rebel. The result is the traffic light 'Brompton Sprint'.
Certainly I've had people in London come up to me while I was on my Oyama/Dahon saying 'Oooh nice bike but when are you going to get a Brompton?' It's the cult of consumerism: Bromptons are media-driven status symbols. Owning one restores virginity, cures warts, and enables the leaping of tall buildings with a single bound, and it's a relatively recent fad, concurrent with the price almost doubling in the last six years.
I think the extra competitiveness of folder owners comes from the continuing elitism of a large sector of the bike fraternity who believe that merely going out and buying something made of carbon fibre makes them immortal. After a while we folder operators start to rebel. The result is the traffic light 'Brompton Sprint'.
Last edited by snafu21; 02-09-12 at 02:13 AM.
02-09-12, 02:34 AM
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Bicycle Repair Man !!!
I have ridden my folder while wearing a kilt.
02-09-12, 04:17 AM
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Are we SURE that is something we REALLY want to see?
Aaron
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ISO: A late 1980's Giant Iguana MTB frameset (or complete bike) 23" Red with yellow graphics.
"Cycling should be a way of life, not a hobby.
RIDE, YOU FOOL, RIDE!"_Nicodemus
"Steel: nearly a thousand years of metallurgical development
Aluminum: barely a hundred
Which one would you rather have under your butt at 30mph?"_krazygluon
Webshots is bailing out, if you find any of my posts with corrupt picture files and want to see them corrected please let me know. :(
ISO: A late 1980's Giant Iguana MTB frameset (or complete bike) 23" Red with yellow graphics.
"Cycling should be a way of life, not a hobby.
RIDE, YOU FOOL, RIDE!"_Nicodemus
"Steel: nearly a thousand years of metallurgical development
Aluminum: barely a hundred
Which one would you rather have under your butt at 30mph?"_krazygluon
02-09-12, 06:01 AM
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Great Thread Guys! Good find Jur.
I don't really do Apple and don't own a Brommie yet. The Brompton was on my list, but this business about restoring virginity has given me pause, it took so much time and effort to get rid of it in the first place,that I don't know if I want to go through all that again.
I don't really do Apple and don't own a Brommie yet. The Brompton was on my list, but this business about restoring virginity has given me pause, it took so much time and effort to get rid of it in the first place,that I don't know if I want to go through all that again.
02-09-12, 06:17 AM
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What's the problem ?
Somewhere in the archives of this forum there is a thread where the steel Swift is described as the New York Bike, a view and a bike to which I don't recall there being any achronomy. Now we find that the Brompton is unquestionably the London Bike, and as such is quite visably ridden by all sectors of society in all parts of London, not just bonused bankers in their square mile, multi-modal commuters blocking the traffic lights, or trustafarian kids out on the razzle.
Get over it.
Somewhere in the archives of this forum there is a thread where the steel Swift is described as the New York Bike, a view and a bike to which I don't recall there being any achronomy. Now we find that the Brompton is unquestionably the London Bike, and as such is quite visably ridden by all sectors of society in all parts of London, not just bonused bankers in their square mile, multi-modal commuters blocking the traffic lights, or trustafarian kids out on the razzle.
Get over it.
02-09-12, 09:40 AM
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"Gulp, I currently own all three."
You are doomed. I haven't run over anyone riding a Brompton while texting on an iPhone, but sure as eggs is eggs, it's gonna happen one day. I was mowed down in the supermarket today by a woman pushing a trolley with one hand, and prodding an iPhone with the other. Isn't there an app which uses the iPhone accelerometer to shut it down for four hours if it senses movement? Could there be?
You are doomed. I haven't run over anyone riding a Brompton while texting on an iPhone, but sure as eggs is eggs, it's gonna happen one day. I was mowed down in the supermarket today by a woman pushing a trolley with one hand, and prodding an iPhone with the other. Isn't there an app which uses the iPhone accelerometer to shut it down for four hours if it senses movement? Could there be?
And, you don't 'ride a Brompton'. You 'Bromptoneer'.
02-09-12, 11:44 AM
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There is, I believe, an app that uses the iPhone's camera to show the ground in front of you, so you can text and walk at the same time. There is, as far as I know, no app that lets the iPhone do the walking.
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02-09-12, 12:17 PM
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From WIKI
trustafarian (plural trustafarians)
(slang) A young person with the fashion sensibilities of a hippie, or any other "countercultural" trend, especially "anarchism", Maoism, or punk rock, who subscribes to an unemployed, shiftless life of hedonism based upon an unlimited amount of funds (a trust fund).
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02-10-12, 08:08 AM
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1x MacBookPro
1x MacMini
1x ipad 2 64 gb
1x iphone 4s 64 gb
1x ipod nano 16 gb
I love my Brompton and my Apple stuff....... and yeah I like to race "normal" bikers down to the railway station
... one university academic said to me last week "jeeze, your more reckless than me and I thought I was bad"
