People laughing at me...maybe.

Last night around 7pm I was sitting in my garage next to my bike trying to get the sprocket aligned. FedEx pulled up, guy in his 20's I'd say, and walked straight into my garage and Stared at the motor on the bicycle. He said "I hope you order something again so I can see that when it's finished". We talked for a little bit and he was a big time biker too. Mountain bike and road bike. I couldn't believe it. My kit wasn't even halfway assembled and I got compliments.
 
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rfriesen said:
Last night around 7pm I was sitting in my garage next to my bike trying to get the sprocket aligned. FedEx pulled up, guy in his 20's I'd say, and walked straight into my garage and Stared at the motor on the bicycle. He said "I hope you order something again so I can see that when it's finished". We talked for a little bit and he was a big time biker too. Mountain bike and road bike. I couldn't believe it. My kit wasn't even halfway assembled and I got compliments.
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2 Kool! Have you seen this thread? http://motorbicycling.com/f16/i-love-getting-look-8831-8.html You should post this there. Is great
 
I enjoy the positive ones as well,sometimes youl get an A.H. but its fun to laugh at how ignorant some charachters can be.
I had one young lady pull up beside me and she felt that I needed instruction on where the sidewalk is among other comments,I was polite but I suggested before she said anything about my ride she should at least have proper paint on her car..LOL
 
Yeah... Some of my friends make me the object of ridicule. One of them said that 'Why do you put an engine on a bicycle? why not just buy a motorcycle? Bicycles are designed for pedaling, not for motorizing.' I guess they will never understand this concept and appreciate of being an MBholic. But I do get more positive comments from strangers. There is this one neighbor of mine, and he has this superbike 1600cc that can go 300kph+++, but was still amazed on how I built the bicycle with an engine. We talked about the MB and he went around the bike to examine the parts and how it was built. I still plan to build probably 2 or 3 more build and might sell one of them. There is this one guy who always ask me if I would sell my MB, and said that if I'm going to sell just inform him and he would buy it. He said that he really likes my MB. Just because we have something unique, strange probably, ugly maybe, but it's not funny, and it's not ridiculous. It does not give anybody the right to laugh at it, because building it and riding is no joke.
 
Dan, I Took My Titan Cvt And A Friction Tricycle To Wis With Me. Was Riding My Titan , The Owner Of A Nice Body Shop Was Standing In Front With 2 Guys. I Asked The Owner If He Remembered Me, He Said; You Look Familiar. Yeah I Should, I Sold You This Body Shop 22 Yrs Ago. Oh Ronnie. The One Fellow Had A Nice Big Motorcycle Sitting There. He Said I Have A Ht Almost Done And 2 Of My Buddies Have Them. I Asked Him To Take The Titan For A Ride. He Was Impresssed With It. Ron
 
Wow Ron!

Side note, at the Mass. bike show I saw my first friction drives. I was impressed and learned a bunch.
 
Sometimes there's a person I know at the office or elsewhere and I think, "I know, I'll tell him about my bike. He's the kind of guy that'll think it's cool." But they almost always think it's strange and ask, "Why would you put a motor on a bike?" Each time it sounds like the most stupid question I have ever heard. So many things rush to my mind that I want to spurt out at them for their ignorance. Why put a motor on a bike?!! Are you kidding me??? So far the only thing I can respectfully reply with is, "Why not put a motor on a bike??" I still can't understand how a male human can respond this way. Don't get me wrong I know there are some women who appreciate these, my wife included, but I thought all men had a separate dna strand that compelled them to want to put motors on anything! Or at least appreciate it.
 
i was out on the road the other day and traffic got stopped by a train, and traffic was backed up 4 or 5 blocks. so i just road beside the cars to the crossing. as i got to the crossing the train was done and the gate raised a i was the first one across the tracks and gone. poor saps in the boxes.
 
at an intersection some guy in a purple hyundai started honking at me and yelling for me to come over as i was waiting for the light to change.. i ignored him, so he started yelling something at me, threatening to call the cops i think, then as the light changed he made a right turn in front of me and yelled something along the lines of "i aint playing" and 20 seconds later made a u turn in the middle of the busy street and sped off in the other direction. still dont get what his problem was
 
That's weird Mike. I can totally see it happening though. People are so stupid but it's the most stupid of them that are the most closed minded and intollerant.
Glad you weren't hit by him.
 
the funniest reaction I've gotten was from the owner of the LBS when I went there to order some mirrors because I couldn't find any anywhere else. Basically I wanted to stay away from there because of the "spandex crowd". Told him what I wanted and why, he asks "So you ride your beach cruiser much?", I sheepishly reply "Yea quite a bit since I put a 2 cycle motorbike kit on it." He was generally surprised and interested! He asked me more questions about where I got it, how much, how fast does it go, etc. then anyone has. lol
 
NEAT TIMES said:
I Wonder If Some People Pass Us So They Don`t Have To Worry About Hitting Us. We Should Practice The Pit Manuver (can`t Find Correct Spelling). Lol Ron Ron
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I think your right-the pit manure treatment where you have a cannon to shoot em with chicken poo like red green would do !!
 
that would suck Mike, big time. Had a guy scream at me once. I chased him down but he being in a car, lost me. Never saw him again and am glad. Might be the same sort of deal. let it go and do not let him live in your head. Just my HO, for what it is worth buddy
 
heh riding home today, about 11pm, some guy crossing the road starts waving at me both hands real urgent like, had to do a real wide turn to avoid running him down. i was gonna stop but the guy made me nervous. maybe he didnt like my loud pipes, and if thats the case he can go suck a lemon for all i care.
 
I seem to get a few honks and shouts from people everytime Im riding mine. The usual is "smoke it up!" but I get the occasional "ayyy ya f*** head!!!" etc from cars or people at bus stops. People are always asking me questions about it though, especially since I started riding it to work at a construction site.
As far as shops go most have been friendly about it but I was given the "voids warrantee" speech when I purchased my bike. One local buisness I thought I would try though was really rude. I just wanted to get my gears checked and the chain shortened but when I rocked up the dude straight up refused to work on my bike because he hates MBs. He did eventually adjust my brakes and delralliuer but would not touch the chain. I wont ever be going back to that shop.
 
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For the final 1/4 mile or so of my morning commute I am a bad person and drive my MB on the wrong side of the road. It's a rural highway and I suppose I could cross to the other side, but what with traffic being a pain and the really wide shoulders... bah

I bang a left out of the convenience store, run the grassy bit for a couple of feet and WOT for work. This morning scream serves as a benchmark to see how well my bike is doing, quite often people will shout friendly questions from their car as I'm trying to break my personal land speed record on this rare bit of flat, smooth, and wide shoulder.

I miss the turn for work often and zip on by ;)

I figured it was just a matter of time before I pissed someone off though. Despite being four to six feet wide and unpopulated, I am driving on the wrong side of the road and flying (or at least doing my best).

Earlier this week a white contractor's pick-up paced me for a while as we left the store and got up to speed. I looked over a him a couple of times and he didn't seem angry, but I was occupied at the time. Just as my left turn into the parking lot of my work was coming up he punched it (could hear the diesel roar even over the wailing 2stroke), pulled ahead, made a hard left in front of me, and jammed his brakes - coming to a dead stop right in my path. I veered out into the road a bit crushing both brake levers and what does he do? Jumps out of his truck, runs into the road waving his arms madly - right in my way again!

He had hardly waited for his truck to come to a complete stop before he was out of it!

Fortunately I had scrubbed a lot of speed at this point and I managed to get around the guy, pulling in next to him and stopping to see what all the fuss was about. Although I knew I was actually in the wrong, I really shouldn't fly down the wrong side despite how wide my own private lane is, I was ready to give this guy the "what for" and enlighten him on his idiocy.

He just loved my bike and wanted to buy it right then and there o_O

I didn't have the heart to chew him out for inadvertently trying to kill me, he was so bubbly and happy and bouncing up and down (weird coming from like a 50yo redneck type contractor lol), I just told him that this was where I work, that my bike wasn't for sale, and that if he just met me down by the shop's garage doors I would park my bike and give him as much info as I could.

I then zipped off, parked the bike and smoked a cigarette or two waiting for him. As it turns out he had gone inside the main store and was waiting in ambush - nattering away with my boss about how cool my bike was.

Fortunately - my boss agrees :D


I think I've learned a lesson though, I'm gonna run that last 1/4 mile on the correct side of the road from now on. Even though my stopping power is fine and this was an unusual occurrence - it did show me the problems I could have doing that. This guy happened to be friendly, but man... if he had been a cop... if I hadn't managed to stop...

It's rare for Murphy to give you a warning - but I'll take heed when he does :p
 
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Barelyawake, every time I drive by a walgreens for some reason a car has to cut me off in the driveway... so naturally I slow down by any walgreens drug store driveway and that is the only time it happens. I know strange but I do keep my eyes peeled like none other while riding too. Glad you are ok though. Should have sold that guy a knuckle sammich!
 
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