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[Africa]

Where the hell do you live that features regular bear-cyclist brawls?



.....and how can I move there?

[Josephus]

Northern Philippines. The government shipped bears in to deal with our burgeoning cyclist population.

Only the strong survived. I lost a broom once by jamming it into an ursine bear socket.

[Eugenitor]

I bike pretty much everywhere except when I need to haul heavy stuff or go long distances. And I live on a tiny island of civilization with hundreds of miles of flat nothing in all directions. Usually sidewalks, sometimes roads but I don't like sharing those with drivers, and bike paths. And it's just 'a bike'. Get comments from the local bike shop owner on how I ride the hell out of the thing.

Haven't seen any bears out here. Just deer.

[Duke 2.0]

 Got myself a cheap $120 Target mountain bike that has served me well so far, although for some reason it can't reach third gear. The brakes are also a little loose, and it's sort of heavy. But the shocks are good enough for the terribly-paved roads of DC and things work out well enough. I also feel like a MAN when I carry that thing up the Metro stairs. Although I should invest in a good $200-300 bike. I have buddies that have gotten them for like $70, some getting frames and fixing them up. I should try that.

[Africa]

A real bike is so, so worth the investment. Not only is the riding experience infinitely better than on a bike shaped object, but the amount of maintenance that's required to keep a cheapo bike in even semi-working condition would before long amount to the cost of a quality used bike, or even new one.

[Maggarg - Eater of chicke]

My friend and I go on fairly long cycling trips together, I think the longest was to York and back in a day.
Problem is, I'm nowhere near as fit as him and we ride very different bikes.
I ride a 7 year old and very worn out city bike. The bearings are worn, the tyres are bald, the gear change is iffy. The tyres are pretty wide as well, and the nice big panniers slow me down.

He rides a 1946 Harry Quinn racing bike, with all kinds of crazy stuff. His dad collect old racing bikes and restores them, which helps. Downhill in a 30 zone, I've seen him overtake cars.

[userpay]

I've been considering biking to school, just need to get a bike lock really. Not to mention I've got a outfit I could protentally wear so that I could bike during the rain but then I couldn't wear a helmet. Frankly I'd stick to the sidewalks to, the drivers around here are horrible.

[Grimlocke]

A real bike is so, so worth the investment. Not only is the riding experience infinitely better than on a bike shaped object, but the amount of maintenance that's required to keep a cheapo bike in even semi-working condition would before long amount to the cost of a quality used bike, or even new one.

Funny, my experiences have been the complete opposite (assuming you are on about bicycles, rather than motorcycles which are confusingly also called bikes).

My own bicycle is second hand and the simplest type you can get: no gears, no handbreaks (peddle breaks instead), no other fancy stuff. Not having any of those means I dont have to fix them when they inevitably break, and that the thing is way lighter, making it so much easier to cycle. I do also have another bicycle with all sorts of fancy stuff on it, and it takes noticably more effort to get the thing to move.

I have had it for a roughly six years now, and I only had to do get it repaired once. The rest was just occasional tire fixing and some oiling, stuff you have with any bicycle.

[Africa]

My own bicycle is second hand and the simplest type you can get:

That right there, generally, means your money goes further. If you have, say, 150 dollars to spend on a bike, 150 bucks of used bike is a way better option than 150 dollars of new bike. You can find lots of very decent used bikes for that price and, if you have luck and know how, the occasional very good used bike. Also, not having gears makes maintenance simpler and is another contributing factor to making your dollars go further. If you live in an area without too many big hills, single speed could be the way to go.

Generally speaking though, buying a new bike from Walmart or Target is a waste of money. You hear the occasional anecdote of bike fanatics happening upon really good rebranded bikes there or getting good usage out of one, but statistically, you're more likely to end up with a horror story that turns you off to biking or convinces you it's not worth the trouble.

[Nilocy]

Fun things to do while cycling.

Car slaloming: Traffic stopped at a light? Need to get to that cycle zone before the lights? Then try it, great fun and keeps you on yer toes.
Shouting at people: Idiot car drivers are my favourites, opening their doors before looking to see if you're there. Shouting at people on cycle paths is the best.
Stupid Pedestrian scaring: Cycling as close as you can to people on cycle paths while ringing your bell manically.

[nbonaparte]

Stupid Pedestrian scaring: Cycling as close as you can to people on cycle paths while ringing your bell manically.

On trails, I just coast around pedestrians. If they can't hear the bike clicking, I just blow past them, usually.

[Duke 2.0]

 I always go into the grass and give 'em all of the sidewalk.
 I have shocks, I can pedal back the speed.

 And yeah, aside from the aforementioned issue with the inability to switch to third gear my cheapo bike is doing fine. I'll definitely buy an actual bike when I get the money for it, but for now I have something that'll get me around.

 And I sort of need the smaller gears as this place is filled with small hills that are just steep enough to be a bother. So that missing third gear never would have come into play anyway.

[Rose]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I can't afford a fancy bike

nor a reasonable sized laptop.

[Africa]

Fun things to do while cycling.

Car slaloming: Traffic stopped at a light? Need to get to that cycle zone before the lights? Then try it, great fun and keeps you on yer toes.
Shouting at people: Idiot car drivers are my favourites, opening their doors before looking to see if you're there. Shouting at people on cycle paths is the best.
Stupid Pedestrian scaring: Cycling as close as you can to people on cycle paths while ringing your bell manically.

I wish it were obvious that you were joking. Cyclists have a hard enough time getting respect what with all the fixie pixies and dumb college students riding like blind idiots...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I can't afford a fancy bike

nor a reasonable sized laptop.

That is awesome.

[Maggarg - Eater of chicke]

 And yeah, aside from the aforementioned issue with the inability to switch to third gear my cheapo bike is doing fine. I'll definitely buy an actual bike when I get the money for it, but for now I have something that'll get me around.

At any one time I could be missing up to two of my gears. Putting the chain back on isn't fun either.