What would you do?
01-12-21, 06:49 PM
#1
Long time part timer
Thread Starter
What would you do?
This is a true story. I'm curious what others might have done so I thought this might be a fun way to find out if I'm of sound mind or a looney-tune 
Scenario: I am near the end of a mid-fall bike ride on a sunny Sunday afternoon around 4PM. I am riding a modern carbon road bike with just a couple of water bottles and am wearing cleats. I am on the final stretch going home: a 2.5 mile flat and winding road along the shore of a lake (a very nice way to wind down). About half way through this last segment there is a blue Bridgestone RB-3 in pretty decent shape - and that appears to be roughly my size - on the side of the road with a paper sign attached to it that says FREE.
So...what would you do?
Scenario: I am near the end of a mid-fall bike ride on a sunny Sunday afternoon around 4PM. I am riding a modern carbon road bike with just a couple of water bottles and am wearing cleats. I am on the final stretch going home: a 2.5 mile flat and winding road along the shore of a lake (a very nice way to wind down). About half way through this last segment there is a blue Bridgestone RB-3 in pretty decent shape - and that appears to be roughly my size - on the side of the road with a paper sign attached to it that says FREE.
So...what would you do?
01-12-21, 06:52 PM
#2
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All I know is that spare inner tube in your seatpack makes a really useful sling...
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01-12-21, 06:55 PM
#3
Long time part timer
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01-12-21, 07:05 PM
#6
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take it home. then, find out if someone's missing a bike. give it a month maybe. keep it if no one can genuinely claim it
01-12-21, 07:13 PM
#7
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Phone A Phriend
DD
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01-12-21, 07:15 PM
#8
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Easy - over the shoulder and ride home with it.
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01-12-21, 07:29 PM
#10
Pedalin' Erry Day
I can envision giving several different answers based on circumstances I found myself in during this past year. If that was me today I'd ghost ride the bike home after inflating the tires, then clean it up and gift it to my roommate or somebody who needs a bike.
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01-12-21, 08:20 PM
#12
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Sling the Bridgestone over my shoulder like a golf bag, and ride home one handed on the handlebars. Pick up the front wheel later.
Tim
Tim
01-12-21, 08:26 PM
#13
Bike Bum Extrordinare
I definitely would have came home with 2 bikes...how you forget n+1?
01-12-21, 10:42 PM
#14
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Yea, ghost ride the whip.
Not too hard once you get the hang of it, just hold on the stem and let Casper be your riding buddy!
Not too hard once you get the hang of it, just hold on the stem and let Casper be your riding buddy!
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Owner & co-founder, Cycles René Hubris. Unfortunately attaching questionable braze-ons to perfectly good frames since about 2015. With style.
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01-12-21, 10:43 PM
#15
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Ride one slowly one-handed while "walking" the other with your other hand on the handlebar stem. Been there ... done that. I am not very coordinated (my amateur ballerina wife and my natural jock younger son would say that's a gross understatement), so I proceeded gingerly and stopped several times, but it did work.
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"Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing." --Theodore Roosevelt
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01-12-21, 10:50 PM
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I’ve been in similar situations but had a lock with me. I moved the free bike a couple of blocks away, locked it to a pole, headed home, and retuned for the bike with my car. And a couple of weekends ago, about a mile into my ride, I spotted a frame at the curb with a “free” sign. I figured I’d check on it at the end of my ride. If it was still there, I’d grab it. It was; I did.
01-12-21, 11:08 PM
#18
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I've ghost-ridden bikes many dozens of times, even with flat tires. On rare occasion, a particular tire may come off a particular rim, so ride slowly.
Ride slowly for other reasons as well. Hitting a bump may cause the ghosted bike to speed wobble and it'll fly out of control unless the front end is briefly lifted off the pavement and put back down still pointing straight. When this didn't go right, I let go of the ghosted bike with a push-away and accepted the damage as the statistical cost of doing business this way.
If the handlebars of both bikes clash, you may be hitting the ground.
Be prepared for passing motorists to jest about your stealing the bike.
Riding downhill can get tiring in a hurry, bracing one's knee against the toptube allows steeper descents while steering and braking sufficiently.
Once again, attaining speed can be dangerous in many ways.
Ride slowly for other reasons as well. Hitting a bump may cause the ghosted bike to speed wobble and it'll fly out of control unless the front end is briefly lifted off the pavement and put back down still pointing straight. When this didn't go right, I let go of the ghosted bike with a push-away and accepted the damage as the statistical cost of doing business this way.
If the handlebars of both bikes clash, you may be hitting the ground.
Be prepared for passing motorists to jest about your stealing the bike.
Riding downhill can get tiring in a hurry, bracing one's knee against the toptube allows steeper descents while steering and braking sufficiently.
Once again, attaining speed can be dangerous in many ways.
01-13-21, 09:23 AM
#19
Long time part timer
Thread Starter
here's what I did
After assessing the situation this is what I did with one caveat: as I started to walk home with a bike in each hand I realized that doing so in cleats was going to be very uncomfortable. So, I took them off, attached them to the handlebars and walked home in my socks. I figured if I ended up not keeping it and selling it off I could by a new pair of socks if needed 
I had another similar situation maybe two years ago although I was about 3 miles away from home at the time. There was no sign on the bike (just in the front yard with some other stuff) but I figured since I was so close to home I'd just hop in the car and go get it. Unfortunately in the short time it took me to return the bike was gone 
Epilogue: I cleaned the RB-3 up, replaced all cable & housings, repacked the headset & BB and replaced the tires & original white vinyl tape. I rode it around town for a while but the bike just doesn't fit me great. I still have it but I will likely find a home for it one way or another. On the plus side at least I didn't need to buy new socks!
Epilogue: I cleaned the RB-3 up, replaced all cable & housings, repacked the headset & BB and replaced the tires & original white vinyl tape. I rode it around town for a while but the bike just doesn't fit me great. I still have it but I will likely find a home for it one way or another. On the plus side at least I didn't need to buy new socks!
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01-13-21, 09:27 AM
#20
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I'd probably ghost ride it, but no matter how I'm sure I'd get home with 2 bikes.
01-13-21, 11:48 AM
#21
Full Member
>> no matter how I'm sure I'd get home with 2 bikes.
Precisely.
It is not every day that manna falls from heaven.
Precisely.
It is not every day that manna falls from heaven.
01-13-21, 12:11 PM
#22
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Go home. Write about it in the internet.
What do I win?
What do I win?
01-13-21, 12:25 PM
#23
Tortoise Wins by a Hare!
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I've done the ghost riding thing many times when finding bikes in the trash. It's not too difficult once you get going. Keeping the speed low is key if you prefer not to go down in a plie of bikes. Nice find!
01-13-21, 05:09 PM
#24
Senior Member
I’m not a Dr but I play one on the Internet... since you brought the bike home I find you of sound mind. My payment is one Bridgestone bicycle.
Thank You
Thank You
01-13-21, 06:02 PM
#25
Crawlin' up, flyin' down
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