Has anybody given up b*king?

General
22

I have two bikes… the mountain bike I would never leave anywhere outside even if it was locked up; it is always either safely locked in a secure location or being ridden. The other bike is my shonky get-from-A-to-B bike; it was bought second hand for £40 or so many years ago, it looks old and tatty, has various boring things like a rack and a mirror and I feel safe locking it pretty much anywhere because it’s hardly worth anything. Remember also that a bike doesn’t have to be unpinchable, it just has to look less pinchable than the bike you’ve parked it next to… :slight_smile:

Phil

23

Living in a kennel, I have nowhere to easily store a bicycle. So I bought a new unicycle to keep me fit. Now I have 7 unicycles and an ultimate wheel, and storage space is even more at a premium. I think I lent my bike to my mum.

24

Bikes are cool…But, I just don’t ride them anymore. Personally, I no longer have a use for a bike. I still own one, though I’m not sure what quality it’s in.

I used to ride street bmx, brakeless. I used to flatland/freestyle skateboard. But, I got hurt the most doing those things, and I wasn’t progressing as fast as I wanted to. It’s been a lot different with a unicycle…I trust my self a lot more on a uni than my own two feet, and it’s been way more fun.

Evan

25

i was never really a big bike user… but i did give up skating for unicycling, well not so much gave up… just took over kinda… and i dont even own a bike

Chase

26

I havn’t biked since my friend loaned me his uni to learn on back in October 05. I don’t want to say that I’ll never bike again, but at this point I don’t have any interest in it.

27

I use my bike for commuting all the time, more so than when i learnt to uni but that’s just because I moved to university last year. I used to uni to lectures a bit but I don’t bother anymore, too damn slow for my liking

28

One thing about my bikes were, i wasnt really into the whole jumping aspect of it, but i still do flatland on my bike, but on a uni i dont like freestyle too much, maybe its cause im trying to do it on a trials.

29

I rarely ride a bike any more. I prefer to unicycle.

How about them grades? Will you be riding one wheel this summer?

30

I have been uni’ing since I was 13, 26 years ago. I had this cool bike before then, but after I discovered uni’ing, I pretty much let the bike rust. After we gave it away, I never went the route of my friends, who were all getting 21-speeds. Instead, I got another Schwinn uni (a 24"), and later, a giraffe.

In high school, my brother (long-distance uni’ist John) and I rode around after school. I did errands and got to places either on a uni or by bus. There was no need for a bike, and street-riding is not much to look forward to. Both of us attended the same college, which has a pretty insular feel. There were few streets running thru any of the places we wanted to go. So we still went bike-less.

After college, we eventually discovered larger wheel sizes, so now we really didn’t need bikes. In fact, I worked for 4 years, till I was 30, at a school close by, so I uni’ed to work every day. When I took a job across town, I decided to get a bike, but as fate would have it, it got stolen, and so did its replacement. Eventually I figured out a way to own a bike without having to worry about it being stolen: I never rode it, except when I took my little daughter for rides.

7 years ago, I took a job in Brooklyn. Initially I took the subway everyday, but one day I decided to go by Coker, and after that, I have commuted to work on a Coker or guni for the past 5 years. And that bike that I had finally got stolen last year. I didn’t notice for about 6 months. Apparently I’d left it outside.

All tolled, I’ve ridden a bike regularly for two of the last 26 years. I own over a dozen unis but no bikes other than a couple Super Trick Cycles and a tandem that I got on the cheap.

31

I actually bike more now than I did before I learned to unicycle…weird. I use it for transportation when I’m in a hurry, or cold, or have something heavy on my back maybe.

32

my did got me a superdduper bike this fall, and then about a month later, i learned to ride a uni, and i like that way more now. which kinda stinks, i still use the bike, but mostly just uni.

33

I always used to ride everywhere on bikes, but never had room for one when living in London, so I got some unicycles instead.

Now, I use a fifty quid bike for transporting heavy stuff like Christmas trees, or compost or whatever, or when I’m in a hurry to get somewhere. With traffic lights and hills and stuff it takes about 10 minutes into town on the bike or a bit over 20 on the coker (or slightly longer on the Schlumpf).

I also have a tendency to borrow people’s bikes to go for rides, particularly road rides. There’s something about chasing down a hill inches behind another rider at 40mph that’s just fun. Last time I rode a proper bike, it was fixed wheel in a silly high gear, and had no functioning brakes, which was a bit fun, particularly on downhills, 36mph on a fixed is not happy knee making!

I’ve found I’ve got a lot better at riding bikes since I got the unicycling fitness. I did the 4 mile ride into town in just over 10 minutes the other day, on a 5 speed girls bike, which is fast compared to what I’d have done previously on my old touring bike. On a proper road bike, I can ride with roadies and not get dropped off the back now.

Joe

34

i used to ride my biek every where, to school, to the jumps, to go pretty much everywhere i would take a bike, now i ride my uni every, its not quite as fast but its alot funner to ride, i only ever really ride my bike when i need to go somewhere really fast.

keep it wheel.

35

I rebuilt my MTB and have started riding on weekends with a new confidence after years of just riding a uni. I have been in the ski slopes when they offer summer lift specials. I reckon Muni riding has helped me with the bike.

36

That’s interesting - I reckon the opposite has happened to me. Since getting into muni I’ve hardly ridden my mountain bike at all (still ride the road bike a lot though). Recently my road frame has been away for refurbishment and I’ve had to use the mountain bike more. I reckon my off-road biking technique has suffered enormously from riding muni. I don’t really care though, I find muni much more fun at the moment.

Rob

37

I would LOVE to commute by uni but I still don’t ride efficiently/confidently enough. I practice every single day with that goal in mind but I’m not there yet. It would take me an hour and a half to get to work. I’ve fixed up my old mountain bike as a commuter with a rack and bags and such and I use this to get to work every day (about 7 miles each way). Since I learned to uni, my $3000 titanium road bike just hangs in the garage:( . I always loved riding that thing and probably still would but that’s recreational riding and when I go out to the garage thinking of a recreational ride, I look at the bike and I look at the uni. The uni wins, every single time. Just too much fun:) :slight_smile:

38

Never give up! I just barely ever ride mine. In fact, I don’t know when the last time was. I was riding it to work for a while, when I didn’t know if my knees were up to the 8 miles each way. But once I got used to riding the Coker to work, the bike only got used a few times when I was in a hurry.

I have an artistic bike, which is kind of like the grandfather of the BMX freestyle bike. 26" wheels (originally), fixed gear, no brakes, very short wheelbase, small pegs at the axles. It’s an important part of my shows, at least the ones that have enough room for the bike.

My wife & I also have a tandem, which we never use. Sad. At least it’s one wheel each! We stopped using that when she got her Rans recumbent, which is a really sweet ride. When she rides it, I ride the Coker and unless we start doing it more often, I can still keep up with her.

If I had a proper mountain bike, which I’ve never owned, I might like to take it on fast, rolling trails for some speed & coasting. But mostly I’d just as soon use the Coker for that.

The best way to practice for the commute is by doing it, or similar rides where distance is the goal. I used to make my 8.2 mile commute in about 40 minutes each way, end to end. That’s a mostly level ride, with three stoplights and usually no stops needed otherwise. Add more time if there are a lot of stops. But you can get there!

39

I learned to uni and then more or less gave up biking for a long time. Now, however, I’m seeming to be a lot better at biking, just because of the uni. I can bunnyhop now, I’m a lot better at MTBing, etc. etc. I rode my bike to school during the winter, but I’ve been riding my uni for a week or so.

I think uni makes you better at biking, and that biking is faster for transportation (it wouldn’t be so noticeable (sp?) if I had a coker).

I like my bike though.

40

i made my bike wheels into bcs and havnt missed them yet