recumbents suck

Child wrote:

SCOTTIE!
how are ya?
your favorite alaskan
bethf

"Freewheeling" wrote in message
...

EVsolutions wrote:


This Subject line is Not really the best way to get the attention of

anyone

anywhere but here. Since there is no 24 hour Bent emergency Hotline

(yet),

this will have to do.

Situation is this...I have been having strong urges these last few weeks

to

buy a MTB, one that has shocks fore and aft.
While such a purchase may not seem like a big deal to anyone else, in my
case I have been bent for 26 years and for many of those years I would

have

opted for falling on a pointed stick before I'd return to riding a DF

again.

What has lead me to this point of despair are the driving conditions on

my

daily grind. The streets have gone without resurfacing for 6 years,

potholes

now house young familes, road cuts have shredded 2 of my Avocet Cross

tires

in the last few months. Best of all while riding one of my USS tadpoles,

the

entire steering system failed...tie rod broke and the handlebars

actually

broke apart (metal fatique). I have had axles breaking when the wheels

got

caught in streetcar rails. I had a car driver throw HER car in
reverse...almost bought the farm there, luckily I had the thought to

hurl a

12V Lead Acid battery through her rear window (to get her attention).

I now have 4 dead bents (3 trikes), all need major welding and even once
that is done...it is back to the awful roads.

Then I see this Dual Suspension MTB for less than the cost of my 2 front

406

wheels and the mind starts a thinking maybe going to a DF ain't such a

bad

thing afterall.

I should be waving to Ed Dolan by now on my trek to the Pacific and not
still stuck in Toronto living on donuts & getting an erection for a MTB.
(the trek was delayed because the framebuilder could not get the tandem

done

before October and no bloody way am I driving in the snow through

Wyoming).

I mean I don't have to turn in my Bent Rider Decoder ring just because I

go

slightly insane and buy a MTB... okay in my case MORE insane.

I suspect lots of you bent persons have a DF stashed away for secret

rides

when no one is watching.

I will have to change my route to avoid passing my local bent dealer and

I

guess wear a disguise so the local bent folk do not recognize me on my

rides

of shame.

It might also be a sign of my getting old and feeble minded....Nah

I have ALSO been lusting after a GIANT "Stiletto", tis a 2005 Chopper

bike

that with the BB raised only a 3 inches can be a Recumbent. This bike is
soooo cool looking, but probably rides like a Pig.

I did ask a friend with a CAT "Sport" and he suggested I stay bent. He

says

I owe it to all the people who went bent after seeing me ride one.

Something

about how people see me and realize if that fat old ******* can ride

without

falling off...anyone can do it.

My luck I'll get a MTB and fall off and be run over by a guy driving a
BikeE.

So my question is....do I get the MTB and ride the daily grind knowing I
won't wipe out on the awful roads OR do I get the trikes repaired and

abuse

them for another winter?

I do NOT assume everyone here will say stay bent, because I'm sure many

of

you have roads to ride on that are just as screwed up as mine are.

All I need is a few people to sway me...hey I'm easily swayed if the

reply

makes sense.

Don't want this turning into a 4 day thread, a few replies will do and

YES

Edward I will heed your advice which tends to make sense about cycling.

OT: the constant bashing of Edward Dolan does get to me a bit, but

Edward is

just as needed on ARBR as anyone else...more so in someways. I could be

full

of Sh*t on this, but Edward acts as a cohesive thread in a Forum that

can so

easily become as exciting as watching Golf on TV. I remember back 3

years

when for a time ARBR was nothing but questions and answers about crank
lengths and airfeee tires and Boeshield...ARBR got so bloody technical

it

was as if you'd stepped into the Call Center for a company that made an
electrical product that was malfunctioning.

Martin K. did not create ARBR to be a 100% technical forum, it was to

share

"experiences" while riding, to talk about the twit with SUV looking at a
Playboy doing 50 mph on the wrong side of the street....AND to share
technical information about which cranks are best.
All Edward is doing is keeping ARBR closer to what ARBR was supposed be

all

about. Granted he does get under the skin of some people and he does

appear

to enjoy himself here way more than anyone should...but he has been

around

the block for years longer than lots of us, so cut the old geezer some

slack

sometimes. This NOT to say anyone should get all mushy and say sweet

things

to him....he'll think you are French and take you apart. The man loves a
good fight and if my grammar was as good as his I'd love to wipe the

floor

with him and he'd love it.

ARBR needs a balance and Edward Dolan and a few others (even Fast

Freddie

when he gets going) act as that balance.

So pleeeeez don't ever stop asking questions about ways to make your

bent

run smoother or posting For Sale notices, we need to keep ARBR vital for

the

continued growth of our bent community. We also NEED to strike a

balance,

talk about your daily grind on your bent, talk about Cletus Lee and his
Osprey encounters, the deer you almost wiped out on riding the trails,

the

rolling Hills that went on and on through Amish country, the fresh fruit
stand by the road where you bought an apple.

Make ARBR interesting and keep it a board you want to return to. Some

folks

here have made life long friendships, visit one another, setup group

rides.

Stories people share on ARBR can take you places in your imagination

that

one day you will take your bent to.

Eeeek 1:20 am, she who must be obeyed will wake and see me on the PC and

I

will be slaughtered...Nite

Joshua
******



They're just bicycles, man. Who cares. I LOVE DF bikes! They solve a
really incisive problem in a really simple way (just jump over the
obstacle). 'Bents solve a somewhat different problem in an equally
simple way (up-sitting has some gravity-dependent consequences) by
simply laying on your back. Clearly there are circumstances where one
solution is in tension with the other, so it's a straightforward
judgment call based on an equally straightforward analysis. Just solve
your problem. Forget about alliances.

--
Email me at
(Just remember to "cut the tail" before sending.)



Hi Beth:

Sorry I took so long to get back to you. I've been a tad out of it this
summer, with a new jobsearch and all that entails. This is also my
sister's first year after having moved permanently to Key West and
they're now waiting on their third Hurricane. I'm pretty sure she's
causing the whole thing. I mean, look at the facts. No one in my
family has lived permanently in Florida since Uncle Booth in the second
decade of the last century, while he was writing Penrod. (The southern
branch of the family spells the name with an "r" instead of an "l.") No
assembly line hurricanes in the interim. Now we're baaack, and first
thing yah know we got Charlie, Frances and Ivan. I'm telling my sister
she needs to leave those poor Floridians alone.

Anyway, I'll try to check back in here before too much time passes.
Summer's gone, alas.


--
Email me at
(Just remember to "cut the tail" before sending.)