|
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
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 |
Ads |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
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
|
|||
|
|||
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
|
|||
|
|||
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
|
|||
|
|||
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 |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
respect for cycling commuter at work...
When I've had an inquisitive tyke interested in messing with my bike,
Good post Claire. |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
respect for cycling commuter at work...
|
#9
|
|||
|
|||
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
|
|||
|
|||
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 -- -- Powered by FreeBSD Above address is just a spam midden. I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca |
|
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
What didn't happen on the way to work today | Claire Petersky | General | 20 | October 2nd 03 07:55 PM |
Commuter Bicycle with fenders, chainguard, rack, etc., Any available in the U.S.? | Steven M. Scharf | General | 3 | July 13th 03 04:40 PM |