Is Bicycle commuting Hip?
09-09-13, 06:29 PM
#26
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LL Bean .....hip?........yea i guess if its the early 1980's and I was back at the University of Illinois.... if one considers preppy as being hip...maybe... 
09-09-13, 09:42 PM
#28
Senior Member
I work with a lot of hipsters. They all drive Priuses. But lately I've noticed a lot more bike commuting. I think they think they are hipper then the other hipsters because they are even more eco friendly then the Prius crowd. I don't know. I just like riding.
09-10-13, 12:44 AM
#29
Bike commuting in the rain and snow is definitely hip. Fair weather, not so much. Just the other day, while waiting at a light during a downpour, someone on the sidewalk told me they thought what I was doing was really hip, and asked how could they be more like me. I just smirked, and rode on.
"It is easy to be cool when you are cool."
09-10-13, 04:08 AM
#30
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If you are a hip person and dress hip and have a hip bag and a hip bike and you can ride to work without becoming a sweaty mess, sure bike commuting can be hip.
If you are instead like me, and you are fat, wear bike shorts and an athletic shirt from Target, and have a Trek hybrid that you commute on and carry your crap in panniers and wear a dorky helmet and can't ride anywhere without becoming drenched in sweat, then no you are not hip.
If you are instead like me, and you are fat, wear bike shorts and an athletic shirt from Target, and have a Trek hybrid that you commute on and carry your crap in panniers and wear a dorky helmet and can't ride anywhere without becoming drenched in sweat, then no you are not hip.
Exactly what i was thinking, if you are the skinny fixie guy in SF or Portland maybe it'll get you some friends. The Clyde drenched in sweat with frizzy hair on a Fredified MTB maybe not so much.......
09-10-13, 07:20 AM
#31
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Makes me think of HS days when the 'punkers' had to wear leather jackets and combat boots so that you could tell who the 'nonconformists' were.
Re: the new commuting fad -
1) I am glad that more cyclists on the road will bring better infrastructure for the rest of us, who will still be riding long after the flash in the pan has burned off and the crowd has moved on to go-karts or segueways or whatever.
2) There will be a few people from the trendy crowd who will be true converts and stick with it.
It's worth enduring the fad just for those reasons.
Re: the new commuting fad -
1) I am glad that more cyclists on the road will bring better infrastructure for the rest of us, who will still be riding long after the flash in the pan has burned off and the crowd has moved on to go-karts or segueways or whatever.
2) There will be a few people from the trendy crowd who will be true converts and stick with it.
It's worth enduring the fad just for those reasons.
09-10-13, 07:33 AM
#32
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It's hip to be different and currently bike commuting in the US is pretty uncommon in most areas. That's my take on it, but not my reason for it. I just love riding and spending calories instead of petrol.
09-10-13, 08:34 AM
#33
Senior Member
People think I'm weird for bike commuting, and my boss really encourages me to buy a car. Also, most everyone else I know.
Also, what is this "Fred" thing? Just now encountered the term...
M.
Also, what is this "Fred" thing? Just now encountered the term...
M.
09-10-13, 09:56 AM
#34
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I deleted the last few posts that were going in a political direction. Global warming, Republicans, and any other political-type stuff belongs in the P&R forum. Thanks for your cooperation with this.
09-10-13, 10:09 AM
#35
Senior Member
Fun is the part the "others" don't seem to get. The "others" seem to think we have ulterior motives; saving the planet, reducing our carbon footprint, saving money, don't have a car, can't afford a car, don't have a license, saving gas, a political statement, lose weight, exercise...whatever. Fun is the one thing they never think of, I started commuting just to work a little recreation into a very busy schedule. Nobody ever guesses that.
Marc
Marc
09-10-13, 12:12 PM
#37
one life on two wheels
I for one won't stop doing what I enjoy just because more people find a reason to enjoy the same thing.
09-10-13, 12:20 PM
#38
Senior Member
If something becomes popular and that is reason for you to give it up, then you my friend are even more concerned with what others think than those trying to be "hip"...oh the irony...you hipster, you
I for one won't stop doing what I enjoy just because more people find a reason to enjoy the same thing.
I for one won't stop doing what I enjoy just because more people find a reason to enjoy the same thing.
09-10-13, 12:25 PM
#39
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09-10-13, 12:28 PM
#40
Banned
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedestrian_zone
09-10-13, 01:03 PM
#41
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I think it's particularly hip if you're fat and don't have stylish clothing, because you're smart enough to see why it makes so much sense. You also want to give it a try and maybe lose weight and enjoy yourself at the same time.
Bike commuting is exploding in NYC now. I'm heartened to see so many people riding who are clearly not cyclophiles or athletes. My dreams are coming true. In the minds of Joe and Jane Average, bike commuting is starting to make more sense than all other ways of getting around.
Bike commuting is exploding in NYC now. I'm heartened to see so many people riding who are clearly not cyclophiles or athletes. My dreams are coming true. In the minds of Joe and Jane Average, bike commuting is starting to make more sense than all other ways of getting around.
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Please email me rather than PM'ing me. Thanks.
09-10-13, 01:45 PM
#42
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Well, I tried it out for size on today's commute just to test. Rode out past the kids at the bus stop thinking hipster, ironical thoughts. I oozed hip on the mean streets, then switched to the Greenway to hip around there. I gotta say, none of that worked - it just felt like self-consciously trying to be pretentious. So I don't think it's hip yet.
09-10-13, 01:54 PM
#43
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But isn't that what's hip now? 
09-10-13, 01:57 PM
#44
Prefers Cicero
If you are a hip person and dress hip and have a hip bag and a hip bike and you can ride to work without becoming a sweaty mess, sure bike commuting can be hip.
If you are instead like me, and you are fat, wear bike shorts and an athletic shirt from Target, and have a Trek hybrid that you commute on and carry your crap in panniers and wear a dorky helmet and can't ride anywhere without becoming drenched in sweat, then no you are not hip.
If you are instead like me, and you are fat, wear bike shorts and an athletic shirt from Target, and have a Trek hybrid that you commute on and carry your crap in panniers and wear a dorky helmet and can't ride anywhere without becoming drenched in sweat, then no you are not hip.
09-10-13, 02:32 PM
#45
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09-11-13, 05:59 AM
#48
Prefers Cicero
Of course, many of us here embrace our Fredliness.
More recently the term has also been used to describe people who are seemingly over-equipped but under-skilled - maybe they bought a $5000 racing bike and putter along at 10 km per hour on the sidewalk with their bike set up all wrong, and have no idea other riders ridicule them, perhaps partly due to resentment.
Last edited by cooker; 09-11-13 at 09:23 AM.
09-11-13, 02:47 PM
#50
I'll never be hip then. I've been a little overweight but not obese, and I've been thin and ripped when I was much younger and a regular athlete. Through it all, I've always sweated profusely, especially from my head. My son has the same condition. Yesterday, he and a bunch of friends were outside playing and running around. Most of the other kids' heads were totally dry, but my boy looked like he had just climbed out of a pool. And he's not fat, at all. He has awesome six-pack abs at age five!
Signed,
Ol' Sweaty, who will never be hip.
Signed,
Ol' Sweaty, who will never be hip.
I don't sweat too bad (unless its particularly warm out and I'm particularly slow...), but I will confess to being fatter than normal, particularly uncool in my attire selection, and just patently unhip... I guess I'm not ironic enough... lol
