"I like your bike"

Michael said:

Especially for the posters here who have no truck with touchy-feely:

The comment caught me off-guard. I was rolling slowly (barely moving) on a
sidewalk when I heard a voice say: "I like your bike". It belonged to a 50-ish
man in the passenger seat of a car that was stopped at the traffic light. Took
a couple seconds for it to register; I'd never had a comment from a stranger
about that bike. I sat up a little straighter and thanked him.

That bike was a gift. It's an early-70's Japanese Schwinn road bike that had
very low mileage when I got it two years ago and it's a beauty, chrome and all.
I had just spent part of the morning cleaning a couple weeks of dirt off the
rims, spokes, and drive train, and then *had* to go for a short roll. One block
along, a thoughtful man committed a random act of kindness.

I get comments like that by older than me people about my Raleigh. Even
though it's just a mid-range hybrid, I often get comments like "I had a
Raleigh when I was younger.", or "I had a Raleigh when I was a kid.", or
"I didn't think they still made Raleighs'".

Ken
--
New cycling jersey: $49
new cycling shorts: $39
Not being a slave to the petrol pump: priceless.

And I am 66yo and I get nice comments about my bikes from YOUNGER
folks!

It does brighten up one's day.

Colorado Bicycler said:

And I am 66yo and I get nice comments about my bikes from YOUNGER
folks!

It does brighten up one's day.

Yes it does.

OT: The guy that lives sort of across the street and down a couple of
houses is probably about your age, and rides what looks to be a nice
late 70's or 80'ish Japanese looking road bike. I like his bike.

Ken
--
New cycling jersey: $49
new cycling shorts: $39
Not being a slave to the petrol pump: priceless.

Colorado Bicycler said:

And I am 66yo and I get nice comments about my bikes from YOUNGER
folks!

It does brighten up one's day.

How about a 64 year old with a pony-tail on a Jack Taylor English
[non-recumbent] trike?? They all love my "three-wheel bike".

"Ken C. M." wrote: The guy that lives sort of across the street (clip)
rides (clip) a nice (clip) road bike. I like his bike.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
TELL him.

"Michael" wrote: (clip) I heard a voice say: "I like your bike". (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"I like your bike" is about a lot more than liking the bike. It means, "You
and I are both members of the biking community, and I would like to be
friendly."

In article <[email hidden]>,

Leo Lichtman said:

"Michael" wrote: (clip) I heard a voice say: "I like your bike". (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"I like your bike" is about a lot more than liking the bike. It means, "You
and I are both members of the biking community, and I would like to be
friendly."

That, or they're just gay and hope you're a spandex-clad hottie that
might be interested in them.

--
My personal UDP list: 127.0.0.1, 4ax.com, buzzardnews.com, googlegroups.com,
heapnode.com, localhost, x-privat.org

Colorado Bicycler said:

And I am 66yo and I get nice comments about my bikes from YOUNGER
folks!

It does brighten up one's day.

Now that you mention it ....
I rolled through the parking lot of a middle-school two summers ago on my "old"
bike, a late 80's Motobecane touring, making a lazy circuit to accommodate a
gaggle of boys who were passing a soccer ball among them on the blacktop. One
scooped up the ball when he saw me, watched me roll by. A second later I heard,
"Hey! Lance Armstrong!" Had to have been the style of bike that elicited
that comment; the rider looks nothing like Lance.

--
Michael

In article <[email hidden]>,

Michael said:

Colorado Bicycler said:

And I am 66yo and I get nice comments about my bikes from YOUNGER
folks!

It does brighten up one's day.

Now that you mention it ....
I rolled through the parking lot of a middle-school two summers ago on my "old"
bike, a late 80's Motobecane touring, making a lazy circuit to accommodate a
gaggle of boys who were passing a soccer ball among them on the blacktop. One
scooped up the ball when he saw me, watched me roll by. A second later I heard,
"Hey! Lance Armstrong!" Had to have been the style of bike that elicited
that comment; the rider looks nothing like Lance.

One of the nicest compliments my bike received was from a Punjabi Sikh
cab driver. I was just unlocking my bike from the rack at the train
station/bus depot, and he was in the taxi queue, waiting for flags.
Anyways, we got into a conversation and he mentioned how my rig, as
it's configured, reminded him so much of those in his "Old Country" --
very practical. I've heard similar from folx with distinct eastern
European accents. For some reason my bike makes 'em wa

When I'm riding at night, with increasing frequency I'm getting
drivers hauling-up alongside me and saying: "I really like your
lights!" I just have a plain old tire-rubbing generator + headlight
& taillight, supplemented with flashlight-battery lights, front & rear.
Nothing fancy. Maybe they're just glad that I, a cyclist, use lights
at all when riding at night.

cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

In article <[email hidden]>,

(Tom Keats) said:

For some reason my bike makes 'em wa[x nostalic.]

[email hidden] (Tom Keats) wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

(Tom Keats) said:

For some reason my bike makes 'em wa[x nostalic.]

Tom do you read your own posts....shameful

In article <[email hidden]>,

Mike Latondresse mikelat@no_spam_shaw.ca said:

[email hidden] (Tom Keats) wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

(Tom Keats) said:

For some reason my bike makes 'em wa[x nostalic.]

Tom do you read your own posts....shameful

<blush>

Please forgive me, for I know not what I do.

You should see some of the repair jobs I have
to do to my own cooking.

cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

HANDSOME PRINCE said:

Quoted message said:

How about a 64 year old with a pony-tail on a Jack Taylor English
[non-recumbent] trike?? They all love my "three-wheel bike".

How about a bottom of the barrel Dahon folder, and a crowd of
teenagers?

I'd just bought the folder used, and was test riding it around an
unfamiliar town. I came upon a gaggle of baggy-trousered, pierced &
dyed, chained-wallet teens who'd just finished grinding their
skateboarding on the handicapped ramp.

The entire gaggle was crossing the street. I was going to have to ride
right through them. On a bike with 16" wheels, looking like a circus
bear on a toy bike. I braced myself for the wisecracks.

What I heard? "That is the coolest bike I have ever seen!"

- Frank Krygowski