Do people just stop and stare?

[R2D2]

It never ceases to amaze me how many people just stop and stare as you ride by.

Young kids are just enthralled. Even Teenagers and college students make comments about how "Cool" the bike is (at that age it is usually not cool to comment about anything).

My wife is almost embarrased to ride with me due to all of the attention! Don't ya love it?
R2

 

[Andrew & Joanne]

Yep! and Joanne and I love the 'wicked', 'kewl', 'alright!' etc that usually follow. Never ceases to
please us.

"R2D2" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> It never ceases to amaze me how many people just stop and stare as you ride by.
>
> Young kids are just enthralled. Even Teenagers and college students make comments about how "Cool"
> the bike is (at that age it is usually not cool to comment about anything).
>
> My wife is almost embarrased to ride with me due to all of the attention! Don't ya love it?
> R2
>
>
>
> --
> >--------------------------<
> Posted via cyclingforums.com http://www.cyclingforums.com

 

[M..Leuck]

99% of the time they stop and stare, I can think of only 2 times anyone's razzed me and
they were kids

"R2D2" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> It never ceases to amaze me how many people just stop and stare as you ride by.
>
> Young kids are just enthralled. Even Teenagers and college students make comments about how "Cool"
> the bike is (at that age it is usually not cool to comment about anything).
>
> My wife is almost embarrased to ride with me due to all of the attention! Don't ya love it?
> R2
>
>
>
> --
> >--------------------------<
> Posted via cyclingforums.com http://www.cyclingforums.com

 

[Mikael Seierup]

"R2D2" skrev...
> It never ceases to amaze me how many people just stop and stare as you ride by.

In Poland an older couple drove past us, stopped the car a mile up and stood by the wayside cheering
as we went past. Odd but fun.

M.

 

[David]

R2D2 <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> It never ceases to amaze me how many people just stop and stare as you ride by.
>
> Young kids are just enthralled. Even Teenagers and college students make comments about how "Cool"
> the bike is (at that age it is usually not cool to comment about anything).
>
> My wife is almost embarrased to ride with me due to all of the attention! Don't ya love it?
> R2

I don't mind the staring, it's when people flag you down (twice now) and ask a bucket load of
questions. I live in Ireland, in the midlands, bents are like hens teeth here, the people here are
very good natured and take a genuine interest in all things strange...it really puts an extra half
inch on that recumbent smile : )

 

[Dave Larrington]

R2D2 wrote;

> It never ceases to amaze me how many people just stop and stare as you ride by.

You'll get used to it. The first twenty years are the worst...

Dave Larrington - http://legslarry.crosswinds.net/
===========================================================
Editor - British Human Power Club Newsletter
http://www.bhpc.org.uk/
===========================================================

 

[Dave Larrington]

Mikael wrote:

> In Poland an older couple drove past us, stopped the car a mile up and stood by the wayside
> cheering as we went past. Odd but fun.

I was once following the London- Brighton Veteran Car Run on a Windcheetah. Cresting a hill a
Mercedes overtook and screeched to a halt. The driver leapt out and started to run backwards down
the road with a camera, pointing at me and the elderly Renault coming up behind. Closer examination
of the said Renault revealed the reason for my sudden elevation to fame - it was being driven by
then-LSR holder Richard Noble.

Noble: Is that the fastest that thing will go? (remember the hill)
Me: See you in Brighton! (changes up, cackles maniacally, vanishes into distance)

I somehow doubt Mr Mercedes would have been interested had I been on my Claud Butler...

Dave Larrington - http://legslarry.crosswinds.net/
===========================================================
Editor - British Human Power Club Newsletter
http://www.bhpc.org.uk/
===========================================================

 

[Geoff Adams]

My favorite reaction was when I rode by a landscape crew once - at a very high cadence. They saw me
coming from way off. I heard one guy start to chant a familiar melody. Then they all put down their
rakes and joined in. It was:

"da-dunt da-dunt da daaaaa daaaaa, da-dunt da-dunt da daaaaa daaaaa, da-dunt da-dunt da
daaaaa daaaaa".

You know, it's the bit of music that accompanies the mean old lady from "Wizard of Oz" when she's
furiously riding her bike. Pretty quick thinking on the part of these landscapers, I thought. My
route is a circle, when I came around on subsequent laps - they were ready for me. Quite hilarious.

Second favorite - an old Harley biker guy, also on a landscape crew. (I ride early, around a
fancy-pants neighborhood). He says... "hey...., cool bike..... where does your twinkie sit?"

-Geoff Adams HPVltchnkSpdmchn Providence, RI

http://www.geoffadams.com

R2D2 wrote:
> It never ceases to amaze me how many people just stop and stare as you ride by.
>
> Young kids are just enthralled. Even Teenagers and college students make comments about how "Cool"
> the bike is (at that age it is usually not cool to comment about anything).
>
> My wife is almost embarrased to ride with me due to all of the attention! Don't ya love it?
> R2
>
>
>
> --
>
>>--------------------------<
>
> Posted via cyclingforums.com http://www.cyclingforums.com

 

[Carol Cohen]

I just wish they'd stop and stare before they take that unsignaled tight right turn in front of me.

C.C.

> From: R2D2 <[email protected]>

> It never ceases to amaze me how many people just stop and stare as you ride by.
>
> Young kids are just enthralled. Even Teenagers and college students make comments about how "Cool"
> the bike is (at that age it is usually not cool to comment about anything).
>
> My wife is almost embarrased to ride with me due to all of the attention! Don't ya love it?
> R2

 

[Timothy B. Stor]

I rode by a entire high-school's worth of female athletes (that were walking across the Hawthorne
Bridge) on Tuesday and received a lot of favorable comments about my bike, including one "Take me
with you".

However when I ride the RANS downtown to pick up my wife after work, I very seldom get comments.
Probably too much hardware for one person.

Tim Storey Vision Saber RANS Screamer

"R2D2" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> It never ceases to amaze me how many people just stop and stare as you ride by.
>
> Young kids are just enthralled. Even Teenagers and college students make comments about how "Cool"
> the bike is (at that age it is usually not cool to comment about anything).
>
> My wife is almost embarrased to ride with me due to all of the attention! Don't ya love it?
> R2
>
>
>
> --
> >--------------------------<
> Posted via cyclingforums.com http://www.cyclingforums.com

 

[Bentjay]

People stop and stare, They don't bother me, For there's no place else on earth that I would rather
be, All at once am I, seven stories high, knowing I'm on my bent, da-da-da!

BentJay

 

[Paul Dalen]

last summer, on one of my first bent rides (on a RANS Rocket) I pulled up next to a school bus on
softball players. Well aware that I had their attention, I looked up at the open windows, and
promptly fell over, unable to unclip in time.

"Timothy B. Storey" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> I rode by a entire high-school's worth of female athletes (that were walking across the Hawthorne
> Bridge) on Tuesday and received a lot of favorable comments about my bike, including one "Take me
> with you".
>
> However when I ride the RANS downtown to pick up my wife after work, I very seldom get comments.
> Probably too much hardware for one person.
>
> Tim Storey Vision Saber RANS Screamer
>
> "R2D2" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> > It never ceases to amaze me how many people just stop and stare as you ride by.
> >
> > Young kids are just enthralled. Even Teenagers and college students make comments about how
> > "Cool" the bike is (at that age it is usually not cool to comment about anything).
> >
> > My wife is almost embarrased to ride with me due to all of the attention! Don't ya love it?
> > R2
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > >--------------------------<
> > Posted via cyclingforums.com http://www.cyclingforums.com

 

[Hairyone]

Shy persons should not ride bents. I kind of like the attention. I have had motorists turn around
and come back to ask me about my VR40. Motorcyclists seem to be especially friendly. The kids
remarks are kind of neat too. My favorite though was riding through a large park with a 10 mile
around a lake. There was a large rally going on 2-3 thousand riders. I had just gotten my bike and
was still learning to get it set for me. A group of DF riders came by and one said "you've got the
coolest bike out here". R2D2 <[email protected]> wrote:
>It never ceases to amaze me how many people just stop and stare as you ride by.
>
>Young kids are just enthralled. Even Teenagers and college students make comments about how "Cool"
>the bike is (at that age it is usually not cool to comment about anything).
>
>attention! Don't ya love it?
> R2
>
>
>
>--
>>--------------------------<
>Posted via cyclingforums.com http://www.cyclingforums.com

Harry VR40/oss

 

[Scott]

Perhaps our most unusual moment was when we rode past a group of fellows working in a field along
side one of our favorite routes. First one then another stood up to stare, then clap, then
another...soon we had over a dozen people cheering and clapping as we tooled by on our Greenspeed
Tandem. We were doing maybe 18mph, but we felt like Lance winning the tour!

Scott and Jodi Greenspeed

 

[Seth Jayson]

Kind of funny that the only reliable source of negative remarks when you ride your 'bent is a
certain type of upright rider. (Like the sporty-wanna-be types, but not all of them.)

The 'bent is second perhaps only to a cute golden retriever as a way to meet people.

Sj (wonders what social life might have been like had he gotten 'bent before getting married: lots
of hot dates with nerdy bike girls? Or, the Hellish alternative: too much time spent with the
beard-and-coroplast crowd?)

 

[Risto Varanka]

R2D2 <[email protected]> wrote:
: It never ceases to amaze me how many people just stop and stare as you ride by.

Maybe you too would just stare when you suddenly realize you must spend 2000,-

How about people who never give a second glance? Is that normal?

How about you homebuilders? Did you start because you wanted to answer "Yes" to "Did you build it
yourself"?

--
Risto Varanka | http://www.helsinki.fi/~rvaranka/ varis at no spam please iki fi

 

[Mike Causer]

On Thu, 13 Mar 2003 09:50:22 +0000, Dave Larrington wrote:

> I was once following the London- Brighton Veteran Car Run on a Windcheetah.

I've taken a photo of a Windcheetah from the riding-mechanic's seat of an Alldays & Onions on the
Brighton Run. Hmmm, I'll have a dig through the piccys.

Mike

 

[Mark Van Gorkom]

>I don't mind the staring, it's when people flag you down (twice now) and ask a bucket load of
>questions. I live in Ireland, in the midlands, bents are like hens teeth here, the people here are
>very good natured and take a genuine interest in all things strange.

Spend 3 'bent holidays in Eire; got overtaken repeatedly by motorists who then jumped out of their
car to take snapshots. I do believe most of them were tourists though (quite a few French).

When I arrived at work this morning (the first time on the bike at my new place of work) I received
what can only be described as a rousing cheer! I quickly explained I actually like riding 50 km
before breakfast; it's the getting up at 4 bloody 30 I could well do without. (work starts at 7.30;
and I'm NOT a morning person...)

Mark van Gorkom.

P.S.: if you get tired of all the attention just do a tour in Holland; people are getting used to
them here.

 

[A&B]

Last year I had my bent on a hitch mount carrier on the rear of my car. I'm on the interstate at 6am
moseying along with very little traffic. I check my rear view mirror and seemingly from nowhere
there is a guy in a small truck right on my bumper. I'm thinking "Did I change lanes and cut this
guy off or do something to **** him off." I watch him for a bit and he pulls around shows his camera
and indicates to me he's taking pics of the bike, smiles and speeds away. bill g

Mark van Gorkom wrote:
>
> >I don't mind the staring, it's when people flag you down (twice now) and ask a bucket load of
> >questions. I live in Ireland, in the midlands, bents are like hens teeth here, the people here
> >are very good natured and take a genuine interest in all things strange.
>
> Spend 3 'bent holidays in Eire; got overtaken repeatedly by motorists who then jumped out of their
> car to take snapshots. I do believe most of them were tourists though (quite a few French).
>
> When I arrived at work this morning (the first time on the bike at my new place of work) I
> received what can only be described as a rousing cheer! I quickly explained I actually like riding
> 50 km before breakfast; it's the getting up at 4 bloody 30 I could well do without. (work starts
> at 7.30; and I'm NOT a morning person...)
>
> Mark van Gorkom.
>
> P.S.: if you get tired of all the attention just do a tour in Holland; people are getting used to
> them here.

 

[Simon Kellett]

R2D2 wrote:
> It never ceases to amaze me how many people just stop and stare as you ride by.
...
> Don't ya love it?

Negative - it is the one thing I *hate* about riding a recumbent :-(

I ride everyday, but I would much rather just slip quietly by !!

Regards, Simon

http://home.arcor.de/zoxed