mr,grumpy 

I live in a strange little city where the only people that typicly ride bikes (olther than $3000 carbon fiber jobbies) are hobos and DWIs, especialy a twenty year old schwinn MTB with a milk-crate trunk-basket. I'm starting to feel persecuted. Even the cops give me a long look over. On the flip-side I was driving through Boston and Cambridge yesterday. WOW! Peddlebike Meca! All KINDS of bikes, every where with all kinds of riders. I was all like...wow.......

crackerdog

You need some decals or stickers, indicating that you intentionally ride a bike. Some pro-environmental stickers should do the trick.

bluegoatwoods

I'm pretty sure I'm not mistaken for a hobo. But people tend to assume that I'm a long distance rider.

andmalc

Wearing a bike helmet will also show you mean it.

Cyclaholic

showering, shaving, and clean clothes in good repair seem to help

qmsdc15

When I was a kid, I wanted to grow up to be a hobo. I haven't given up on that dream yet. My trailer brings smiles to many, but the homeless dig it the most. I'll be the king of the tramps if I ever reach my goal.

Cyclaholic

...inside every home there's a homeless family not wanting to get out.

mr,grumpy 

They would stab you in your sleep your first night and steal your trailer.

bigshew

If you're on your bike and get mistaken for a hobo do people give you energy bars?

coldbike

No one ever gives me energy bars but they have given me clothes, money, vegetables and job offers. people also frequently leave refundable bottles on or in my bike. This includes my friend's bakfiets and my CETMA cargo bike. People often offer me and my kids a ride and even people that I know sometimes assume that I can't afford a car.
I really like it when people are being nice, so although I never accept the ride offers (where would I put my bike - and kids need car seats), I often accept other donations and pass them on to the truly needy.

qmsdc15

I've actually spent the night on the street in the company of homeless men with my bike and trailer locked to a sign a few feet from where we slept. No one stabbed me.

A homeless guy gave me a pair of pants once. No money, vegetables or job offers. If I had kids, I'd probably receive more charity.

qmsdc15

I have a friend you offers a malt-nut Powerbar to anyone who asks for money. If they are truly hungry, they will take it. He gives anyone who accepts the Powerbar a five dollar bill also. Very few take the bait.

eggnoggbubble

not really, but I did feel like one when i first put a basket on the back of my sirrus. I soon got over it when i realized how much more useful and convenient this made my bike.

i have a great big (70L?) plastic box on the back of my scooter too. my wife hates it, but i couldnt live without it.

mr,grumpy 

In town, bum standign in front of McDonnalds. "Got a buck for something to eat?" SUre, let's go in and I'll buy you a meal". Now, I'm not sure if he was anti-MaDonnalds or what but he didn't take me up on my offer and Big Macs are WAY yummier than malt-nut powerbars (yech).

xargaun

Any one else get mistaken for a Hobo?

Evidently, Bob Dylan:
https://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Musi...ref=newssearch

tieka

I get looked down upon and asked if my husband and I have a car... we have two and a motorhome, none of which I drive a whole lot. This happens in the same city I get harassed by vehicles and almost run over daily by.

They also ask us why would we want to bike? I always tell them for my sanity.

dauphin

Try singing this as you ride....

https://www.bluegrasslyrics.com/all_s...dID=s29253.htm

Sturmcrow

A buddy offered one of the perpetually homeless here in town an apple and got turned down. It makes me wonder if they really do make more than me (on a grad students' stipend).

mr,grumpy 

The vast majority of Hobos, the ones that are really homeless, have some sort of check comming in weather it is disabillity or social security or welfare or whatever. Of course, most of these guys and gals have mental disorders (generally uncontroled) and/or poly-substance abuse issues. It's a horrible life but it's a bed most of them made for themselves. There are exsceptoons of course! I feel bad for the children and the guys who got addicted to their narcotic pain relievers after they suffered some form of injury. these are mostly formerly hard-working blue collar family guys who got hurt on the job and had some Doc push the pain pills on them.

The pan-hanlers on the other hand are pros. They are the go-getters and the movers and shakers of the Hobo world. They will comtest for and claim certain corners and off-ramps and work them ALL DAY. They can make BIG bucks doing this, as much as $600 a day based on a news report I saw a couple years ago. All cash. All undeclared. Ask the local cop or buisness owner about those guys and the will point out their cars to you, parked somehere close by. They ahve a ****ty health insurance and retierment plan but they have a prety good cash business going!

EraserGirl

Indeed anyone on an old bike in my town is probably a DWI
Just going down the block to the store,
i change into short legged pants so that i won't be mistaken for one.
Not that it matters but i would rather be seen as taking the bike by CHOICE

Tourister

The bike helmet makes all the differance for me.. If I wear my baseball cap most people ignore me on the bike path asuming I am homeless.. If I wear my bike helmut the whole world changes and I get good mornings etc from most people...
As above the homeless here are well rpovided for.. They eat for free, have shelters for overnight, all seem to be getting checks of one sort or another.. Problem is alcohol, drugs and mental problems...

Curious LeTour

I sometimes ride a black beach cruiser on a 3 mile stretch of road that rarely if ever gets travelled by commuters or utility cyclist. It is in the country side slightly. It feels like some people think I've gotten a DWI, or maybe that I'm trying to get back on my feet after getting in trouble. I carried a tea bottle in a bag one day, and I couldn't help but wonder what ideas were going through people's minds. I want to live car free, but I don't... yet. If they only knew that!

mike047

No, I alway carry Grey-Poupon

travelmama

I have never been mistaken for being a Hobo in my area because I am clean, don't smell of booze, ride clean and well fitted bikes, have an ipod strapped around my arm and travel at a reasonable pace for the few miles that I travel. There are plenty of Hobos around here who reside near freeways and along the ravine who have mean trailers and older bikes that are a bit well maintained but the furthest they travel is a few miles to the recycle center.

2mtr

yeah. my dad gets mistaken for a hobo pretty often. people offer him food some times. that's probably because no one but the lower classes in Honolulu cycles to work -- especially no one who works in the industrial areas.
it causes problems.