"Right said Fred"

Don Shipp said:

What exactly is a Fred? Is it a slob riding a wreck, or anyone whose bike is not shiney and new? Something in between perhaps. Some of you use this term, who or what are you refering to?

This came up, not too long ago.
For some, a Fred is someone who is not in the "In Crowd."
For most of us, a Fred is an average guy (or girl) who rides for fun or fitness and is looked down on by that same "In Crowd."

Don, if you're a Fred, welcome to the club. By the way, I had no aversion to using this same club to beat the "In Crowd" if they dare turn their noses up to us Freds.

Chance3290 said:

This came up, not too long ago.
For some, a Fred is someone who is not in the "In Crowd."
For most of us, a Fred is an average guy (or girl) who rides for fun or fitness and is looked down on by that same "In Crowd."

Don, if you're a Fred, welcome to the club. By the way, I had no aversion to using this same club to beat the "In Crowd" if they dare turn their noses up to us Freds.

I thought a 'fred' was someone who tried too hard, bought the most 'bling bling' components/bikes, and talk like they know what they are doing, when in fact, they know nothing.

TrekDedicated said:

I thought a 'fred' was someone who tried too hard, bought the most 'bling bling' components/bikes, and talk like they know what they are doing, when in fact, they know nothing.

Come to think of it, you might be right. I think that was the basic definition but someone added that the in-crowd looked at most of us average joes as FREDs.

I found another possible definition of "Fred" on an earlier posting...someone who scoots the bike along by pushing against the ground rather than turning the pedals: like Fred Flintstone when he is driving a car.
Today I bought a bike! Not a new one, a very old one that I noticed when cycling in to work yesterday, propped up outside a second-hand shop with a £25 sign on it. (About 40 dollars, I think.) So today I walked in part of the way, with 25 quid in my pocket and a pump, just in case. The bike was a Claud Butler, which used to be a good marque, and this was old enough to be of that era. Plenty of rust but no damage, and enough of the 531 decals still remaining to justify the price tag.
The frame was smaller than mine, and the saddle set low, but I reckoned that it was ridable. I didn't need the pump. Once aboard, I noticed a number of things.
My big feet didn't fit into the toe-clips (remember them) so I had to ride with the rat-traps upside-down and the clips going "ting ting ting" against the road. The chain ran smoothly except for one stiff link which went "clunk" when it went through the derailleur mech. The front wheel was slightly buckled and went "tick-tick-tick" when I applied tha brakes. So I rode this rusty old 10 speed with my jeans tucked into my socks, knees up by my arm-pits, going "ting ting clunk ting ting clunk tick tick tick".
I guess I must have looked a real "Fred".