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respect for cycling commuter at work...



 
 
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  #1  
Old August 15th 03, 03:57 AM
Buck
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Default respect for cycling commuter at work...

"Doctor Phibes" wrote in message
m...

One time I left my bike in the breakroom. I was told this was the
safest spot. One day I returned to find my bike not only had been
moved but cruised around the breakroom tables leaving a generous
amount of my tire on the floor with one big mud streak! When I
complained they acted like I was making a big thing out of nothing.
The idiot who took my bike for a spin even admitted he did. The
response was like "boys will be boys". The next night riding into work
and I hydroplaned through a red light! If someone had been coming the


Alright, quit trolling. As has been discussed around here many times, bikes
cannot "hydroplane." It is even more ridiculous to suggest that the
"generous amount" of your tires left on the floor had anything to do with
you sliding through a light on wet pavement. Take a look at what Sheldon
Brown has to say on the subject: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tyres.html.

Sliding through the light was more likely caused by you failing to clear the
water from your rims before trying to actually stop. Or it had just started
raining and the oil had not yet been washed off the road. Or you were riding
a clunker with chrome rims....

As for people messing with your bike, if you put it in a proper bike rack
(not always possible) or lock it into place (whether inside the building or
not), people are much less likely to mess with it. It also helps to be 6'2"
and weigh 200lbs.

-Buck



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  #2  
Old August 15th 03, 03:59 AM
dr. dave
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Default respect for cycling commuter at work...

Doctor Phibes wrote:
How many times have you returned to where you thought you placed your
bike in a secure location only to find someone had "adjusted" your
gears or worse had moved your bike? If you fooled around with
someone's car like that and you probably wouldn't have to worry about
commuting to work anymore.

One time I left my bike in the breakroom. I was told this was the
safest spot. One day I returned to find my bike not only had been
moved but cruised around the breakroom tables leaving a generous
amount of my tire on the floor with one big mud streak! When I
complained they acted like I was making a big thing out of nothing.
The idiot who took my bike for a spin even admitted he did. The
response was like "boys will be boys". The next night riding into work
and I hydroplaned through a red light! If someone had been coming the
other way, I would have been dead. After this company did nothing and
people even messed with my headlight system I decided to quit. I took
my bike road it through the store! Skidded right in front of the
manager! Boy was he upset! I was indifferent completely...

It's a double standard. I'm getting a new bike to replace a stolen one
in say a month and can only imagine what someone will try to do to it.
On the bright side I have a bike cage all to myself ;-)

Get a seat cover, put several strips of really sticky double-sided tape on the outside, and put the cover on when you leave your bike
at work. When the "boys will be boys" guy complains that you have ruined his pants, tell him "boys will be boys" and smile.

  #3  
Old August 15th 03, 09:57 PM
Gary Smiley
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Default respect for cycling commuter at work...

Once I left my bike (a beater which I had gotten for free) on a bike rack
at work in the late fall. A few weeks later, it snowed, and they had to
move the bike rack. The maintenance person cut through my top tube with a
saw to remove the frame (which had been locked). They made it seem like it
was my fault. I just laughed it off and got a new beater, but I never
parked it at work again.

Doctor Phibes wrote:

How many times have you returned to where you thought you placed your
bike in a secure location only to find someone had "adjusted" your
gears or worse had moved your bike? If you fooled around with
someone's car like that and you probably wouldn't have to worry about
commuting to work anymore.

One time I left my bike in the breakroom. I was told this was the
safest spot. One day I returned to find my bike not only had been
moved but cruised around the breakroom tables leaving a generous
amount of my tire on the floor with one big mud streak! When I
complained they acted like I was making a big thing out of nothing.
The idiot who took my bike for a spin even admitted he did. The
response was like "boys will be boys". The next night riding into work
and I hydroplaned through a red light! If someone had been coming the
other way, I would have been dead. After this company did nothing and
people even messed with my headlight system I decided to quit. I took
my bike road it through the store! Skidded right in front of the
manager! Boy was he upset! I was indifferent completely...

It's a double standard. I'm getting a new bike to replace a stolen one
in say a month and can only imagine what someone will try to do to it.
On the bright side I have a bike cage all to myself ;-)


  #4  
Old August 16th 03, 12:32 AM
Doctor Phibes
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Default respect for cycling commuter at work...

"Buck" j u n k m a i l @ g a l a x y c o r p . c o m wrote in message . ..
"Doctor Phibes" wrote in message
m...

One time I left my bike in the breakroom. I was told this was the
safest spot. One day I returned to find my bike not only had been
moved but cruised around the breakroom tables leaving a generous
amount of my tire on the floor with one big mud streak! When I
complained they acted like I was making a big thing out of nothing.
The idiot who took my bike for a spin even admitted he did. The
response was like "boys will be boys". The next night riding into work
and I hydroplaned through a red light! If someone had been coming the


Alright, quit trolling. As has been discussed around here many times, bikes
cannot "hydroplane." It is even more ridiculous to suggest that the
"generous amount" of your tires left on the floor had anything to do with
you sliding through a light on wet pavement. Take a look at what Sheldon
Brown has to say on the subject: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tyres.html.

Sliding through the light was more likely caused by you failing to clear the
water from your rims before trying to actually stop. Or it had just started
raining and the oil had not yet been washed off the road. Or you were riding
a clunker with chrome rims....

As for people messing with your bike, if you put it in a proper bike rack
(not always possible) or lock it into place (whether inside the building or
not), people are much less likely to mess with it. It also helps to be 6'2"
and weigh 200lbs.

-Buck



trolling? I was telling a story, if you don't like it don't respond to it.
  #5  
Old August 16th 03, 07:07 AM
Golightly F.
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Posts: n/a
Default respect for cycling commuter at work...


"Doctor Phibes"
trolling? I was telling a story, if you don't like it don't respond to it.


There's a small group of subscribers to this ng that take an odd pleasure in
calling others a "troll" or simply enjoy being disruptive.

hth



  #6  
Old August 16th 03, 02:54 PM
Claire Petersky
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Default respect for cycling commuter at work...

(Tom Keats) wrote in message ...
In article ,
(Doctor Phibes) writes:
How many times have you returned to where you thought you placed your
bike in a secure location only to find someone had "adjusted" your
gears or worse had moved your bike?


A few times.

When it happens, usually a quick glance around reveals a nearby
mother orbited by her inquisitive, energetic little tyke. I guess
they like to click my top-mount shifters, ring the bell, honk the
horn, and yank on the toe-clip straps.


When I've had an inquisitive tyke interested in messing with my bike,
and I'm around, I usually get down to the kid's (and the bike's)
eyelevel, and tell the kid that s/he may only touch parts of my bike
with my (and the parent's) permission. I name the parts that I know
(which isn't a huge list, probably fine for a small kid), and do my
best to show how the different parts work.

"Here's the brakes. Follow the brake cable and see where it goes. See
how it goes up here? Now, I'll press here, and you see what happens to
the brake back here. OK, can you see where the brake goes for the
front wheel? What do you think will happen when I press here? Right!"
I'll show how the pedals make the wheels go around, and how the
derailer works, if the kid wants to know.

The kid usually will have oceans of patience and interest -- it's
usually mom who is freaked out about the kid getting greasy, worried
about taking up my time, and has better things to do.

It's worth it for me, though. Otherwise, where's that next generation
of mechanics (not just bike) going to come from?

Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky )

Home of the meditative cyclist:
http://home.earthlink.net/~cpetersky/Welcome.htm
Singing with you at: http://www.tiferet.net/
Books just wanna be FREE! See what I mean at:
http://bookcrossing.com/friend/Cpetersky
  #7  
Old August 16th 03, 03:24 PM
Eric S. Sande
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Default respect for cycling commuter at work...

When I've had an inquisitive tyke interested in messing with my bike,

Good post Claire.
  #9  
Old August 16th 03, 05:48 PM
Buck
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Posts: n/a
Default respect for cycling commuter at work...

"Tom Keats" wrote in message
...

But my problem is, it always happens to
me when I'm not there; I just discover the aftermath later,
when I return to my parked bike. That's nothing new, though.
Everything always happens when I'm not looking. Life is
full of surprises.


Perhaps it is the way you are parking your bike. At every university I have
attended, bicycle parking was at a premium. I learned the hard way that
parking in a manner that took up more than one space always resulted in a
bike that had received a serious fiddling. The most common bad parking
practice among hoop racks is straddling the bike over the center pole so
that it fills the space between the hoops, making it darn difficult to reach
the locks for those hoop users. I've seen bikes with every quick-release
part loose, moved, or turned around backwards (I'm glad they didn't flat my
tires when they did it to me). Once I started parking with the rear wheel in
the rack, taking up just one space, my problems disappeared.

-Buck



  #10  
Old August 16th 03, 08:58 PM
Tom Keats
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Default respect for cycling commuter at work...

In article ,
"Buck" j u n k m a i l @ g a l a x y c o r p . c o m writes:

Perhaps it is the way you are parking your bike.


Maybe. Whenever I've found my bike has been fiddled-with,
it's been locked to a signpost, streetlamp or some other
item, because of a lack of nearby bike racks.

At every university I have
attended, bicycle parking was at a premium. I learned the hard way that
parking in a manner that took up more than one space always resulted in a
bike that had received a serious fiddling.


grin Bike racks around here are generally rarely occupied.
If I'm the first one there (as is typically the case), I'll
lock it to the far side of the rack, preferably onto the thickest
available part of the rack. Often that means outboard of the rack,
which leaves the rest of the rack and lots of room for subsequent
bikes. I tend to automatically default to LIFO wrt parking in
racks, although I'm not really sure if it should be LIFO or FIFO.
LIFO just "feels more right" to me. Another thing I have to
deal with is a bunch of sticky-outy stuff on my fork -- old style
canti brake arms, and headlight.

As everybody knows by now, I've got the widest handlebar in
the world. So if a bike rack is occupied, I'll often shine
it on and resort to using a nearby parking meter or some other
thing, even if there's still a space in the rack. I generally
don't subscribe to the "if it don't fit, force it" school
of thought. And I hate getting handlebars entangled.


cheers,
Tom

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