[Closed] Would you say anything?

Is it ok if I just post here so I can bask in your awesomeness?

only on a forum later...

I often wonder this when I see folk with saddles far too high/low, pushing massive gears, riding very bow-legged etc etc. Always decide folk are more likely to be offended than thankful, so never bother.

Except the guy I passed on Coombe Bottom who had his (S-Works) helmet on back to front. He was very thankful. I s****ed.

More importantly, was he sour-faced and failing to say hello, or did he draft you without permission?

Most likely I wouldn't say anything unless they looked like they were trying to get into the sport but hadn't quite got something right. How I'd make that call I'm not sure, but I suspect to a lot of people 'friendly advice' might come across as patronising.

I suspect to a lot of people 'friendly advice' might come across as patronising.

Which is the conclusion I always make!

"I'm impressed at the way you can push that big gear. Are you training for something? Well best of luck, toodaloo"

I see a lady commuting on a bike quite often and she's all over the bike, top half of her body moving up/down/side to side. Looks very inefficient and awkward.

Are you sure he wasn't scuppered by a broken gear cable?

Except the guy I passed on Coombe Bottom who had his (S-Works) helmet on back to front. He was very thankful. I s****ed.

So that's why my helmet has a sticker inside that says "front" with an arrow pointing forwards :-/

There was me thinking it was a waste of paper, ink & glue.

I got lambasted on here for saying I pointed out to another rider that they were being unsafe on the road.
Just tell them at the time and then keep it off STW
It's up to the rider to take it as helpful advice as intended or to take offense.

There's a bloke I know from the pub who started road riding a year ago. He kept telling me how his hips wagggle from side to side. I said "try lowering your saddle" Then his knees were aching because they were over straightening. I said "try lowering your saddle". Then he had a bit of back ache. I said "try lowering your saddle".

One day he told me he's paid £170 for a bikefit. Martin Earley told him to drop his saddle by 6cm.

You get what you pay for I suppose.

Depends on whether he was riding singlespeed or not...

I've done it once - at Tignes a clearly out of their depth family came wobbling down the trail, pinballing off everything, the mother was particularly out of here depth and stopped in front of me to push the bike over a small dip. I just mention that she would find it easier if she dropped the saddle and stood up. She was thankful and grumbled about being forced to do it by her husband and teenage son.
Would only offer advice to a stranger if they were obviously a complete beginner, it's just patronising if someone is OK but has dodgy technique (especially as mine is hardly perfect).

Nah, say nowt, crack on.

Are you the thought/style/training/riding police?

So that's why my helmet has a sticker inside that says "front" with an arrow pointing forwards :-/

Ironically (as I have the same helmet!) so did his, clearly he didn't heed it! He did seem mortified, but it must have been bloody uncomfy!

I always have the 'should I say something' dilemma when I see a bike with forks on back to front.

It's even worse with kids bikes where the proud parents are walking along behind feeling chuffed with their new purchase.

How many kids have been put off riding for life by steering that doesn't do what it should?

As a cycle commuter I see all manner of people riding all manner of bikes in all manners.
I couldn't give a fvck - am I lacking manners?

if you were riding backwards, would you put your helmet on backwards?

I always have the 'should I say something' dilemma when I see a bike with forks on back to front.

I'd say something there - it's possibly dangerous, and doesn't inspire me with confidence about the rest of their bike. Someone pushing a higher gear than they ought to? Nah, that's their problem. Perhaps they're training?

I sat behind for a moment spinning nicely then pulled alongside, said morning and glided off

wheel sucking ****

wheel sucking ****

Proper LOL 🙂

A mate and I bit our tongues at Cwmcarn at the weekend when a family turned up to the cafe with two young kids on bikes. Both the kids forks were on backwards but decided it might not be well received as we sat there with our carbon ego chariots.

I often have the urge to offer to oil peoples chains for them as I hear them squeaking by on shonky bikes. I don't, but it would be so easy to make their ride that much nicer and I almost feel the pain of that poor bike : ) It's a nails-on-blackboard sound to me and I can't understand how people don't hear that noise and eventually think 'hmmm, maybe a little oil....?'

I often wonder this when I see folk with saddles far too high/low

A couple of years back on a camping holiday, we arranged for bike hire.

When we got there we were met by half a dozen of the sorriest looking bikes I've ever seen, they looked like the sort of thing you'd have found rusting quietly to themselves in a teenager's shed in the 80s.

The woman in the shop helpfully set them up for us. First thing I did was raise the saddle about eight inches so that, y'know, it was in the right place for me when actually riding rather than standing over it with both feet flat on the ground. She commented, "wow, you have your saddle really high, don't you?" Amazing.

[i] Should I have given a little friendly advice or is it best to let folk ride their own way?[/i]

You don't know the reason for him riding a big gear - maybe it was part of a training plan.

A guy drafted me last week as I was toiling into a serious headwind, stopped at a set of lights for him to skip all the usual pleasantries for him to tell me 'I needed a bike fit'. I didn't hesitate to tell him to keep his opinions to himself. I also advised him that my form may not be perfect as I was battling a headwind whilst hauling his ass along.

Pillock.

I am with you on that one Jameso. I did think about keeping a bottle of Finish Line Cross Country in my jersey pocket for such occasions. But asking random strangers if they want a little lubrication may get me a smack in the mouth 😯 😆

^ Probably.. I still have a few of those little emergency sachets of Finish Line from the shows years ago. But I keep them to myself : )

if its a safety issue then yes - like the forks up there^^ i'd be tempted to say (and have done in the past). Typically a quick release thats not done up or some other thing..

pushing a big gear? their choice..

During Cambridge to London a few years ago I pointed out a quick release that was half done up on the bike adjacent to me. The rider looked down, swerved into me and took us both out.

Not everyone knows what they're doing.

[i]Typically a quick release thats not done up or some other thing[/i]

You notice that level of detail when you pass someone, and you pass on the inside!

Always decide folk are more likely to be offended than thankful, so never bother.

jameso...dont mix the finish line sachets up with energy gels....

I did mention to a beginner guy to raise his seat post but he got all hormonal so I've never bothered since

Thing is, I guess there's unhelpful stuff:
"you need a bike fit"
"you're riding dangerously"

and more helpful stuff:
"your saddle looks a little low"
"your stem looks a little long"

I see loads of dodgy skewers too, but figure if people can't fathom how a QR works, they're unlikely to be receptive to my suggestions unprompted at a set of traffic lights.

I stopped at a set of lights in Edinburgh recently next to student type girl whose very shiny new Carrera MTB had the front QR dangling like a broken branch. I politely pointed it out and she was grateful, then as I set off at the green light my pedal fell off and clattered under a bus, felt just a wee bit stupid. She cycled away without a word. Fairynuff.

But asking random strangers if they want a little lubrication may get me a smack in the mouth

you don't even need to open your mouth for most people to want to smack you in the mouth Mark 😉

A mate of mine only uses 'the big uns' at the front. I think he never got the hang of indexing his rear gears so it just stays put. He says that he likes it because it's 'more minimal' and he gets a better workout. I have pointed out that he could have an equally beneficial workout, over a longer, more interesting ride if he utilized all his gears. He didn't get it. It looks hard work to me, stood up everywhere, mashing away, sweating like a rapist. Each to their own...

I do mention it to people, in a polite non-patronising manner.

Probably 80% are thankful (just made their life much easier - seat height + gearing = pedal efficiency!), 10% say they prefer it that way (fair enough I say), 10% get arsey.

The 80% are probably just ignorant in the "correct" method (perhaps nobody ever showed them?). Same goes for suspension setup. Many people will drop £1k on a bike (order online), with no idea how to set it up properly.

Probably stems from someone showing me, when I first got a full-sus. Had a rigid before hand, and no idea what rebound/compression/etc adjustments did on the forks/shock.

jameso...dont mix the finish line sachets up with energy gels....

[i]I do mention it to people, in a polite non-patronising manner.
Probably 80% are thankful (just made their life much easier - seat height + gearing = pedal efficiency!), 10% say they prefer it that way (fair enough I say), 10% get arsey.[/i]

You do it a lot then? I'd get arsey, I know what I'm doing and I don't need some smart arse rocking up and telling me to make adjustments to suit what he considers to be right.

I always have the 'should I say something' dilemma when I see a bike with forks on back to front.

Yup. Pointed out to some woman in the park that both her kids' bikes had the forks on the wrong way round. She wasn't convinced so I asked if she didn't think it odd that the brakes were behind the forks. She said her husband fitted them. I then suggested that the kids were finding it tricky to ride as the angles/rake etc were all wrong (without using those terms)

She was intrigued but not 100% convinced as her husband had set it up.
At which point it becomes quite tricky to suggest that maybe she should put less stock in what her clueless husband says about bikes and either take them to the LBS or devote some logical thought to the process and decide for herself how they should be set up.

minefield

No

I would point out if it's something potentially dangerous that the person / child wouldn't realise, and have corrected the backwards fork for someone as well. I don't mind if people get upset about it, I'd rather risk it than see something I know is potentially dangerous and not mention it.

If I had been the other rider and you could have spotted what's wrong with my road bike position I would have bought you lunch!

I expect I am not normal in this regard or others.

So if you see a tubby bloke on a grey Biamchi with some incongruous white Scott forks and think you know what I have got wrong then please feel free to point it out.

I was riding to work this morning and this guy behind had been wheel sucking me for ages, i kept flicking my elbow to tell him to come to the front but he never took his damn turn, i laboured on and on into the headwind making it more obvious by rocking about and pushing a massive gear, only a tool couldn't have noticed I was making such a mock effort.

He pulled up alongside me eventually, after we turned out of the wind, said morning and then pi55ed off.

Riding over to a mate's house one evening, I caught up with a guy on a nice, but badly set up road bike who was making pretty heavy going of it. Given that I was just wearing casual shorts and only going about 3 miles, I didn't say anything. For all I knew he could be just finishing a double century or something. Anyway, we got chatting and he confessed that his knees were killing him, he was just trying to get home.

Of course, that gave me the opener to suggest that his saddle looked a little low and if he raised it a bit, his knees might not hurt so much. He was very grateful, asked a few questions about saddle height etc and said thanks.

But without that opening opportunity, I'd have kept my mouth shut. Nothing worse than someone coming along and offering unsolicited know-it-all advice.

Rip straight past, making road runner meep meep noises as you go by.

I heard a bus behind me and he kept beeping his horn but wouldn't overtake so I just ignored it.When it eventually did overtake ,he opened the doors and told me to check my back wheel.A bungee cord had come off my pannier and was dangling perilously alongside my back wheel ,mech and chain.If only I hadn't already called himm a d888head 😳

Id probably be a bit ungreatfull and annoyed then go home and try the advice in embarrassment but of course never admit that.

I got a road bike, but having gone from riding jump bikes to dh bikes to a HT, i have no idea if im riding it right or not, my saddles probably to high my stems probably to long my bars are probably to low.

Used to see loads of people (possibly most people) on the cycle path to Morecambe with their saddles far too low.

Where did that thing come from about you should be able to get both feet on the ground while sitting on the saddle? Must have put thousands of people off cycling for good.

I was taught it on cycling proficiency. I must have been about 10 years old.

at the BMX pump track I usually wait until I'm offering some wipes and band aids before I suggest that standing up going up the bumps will help keep enough speed to stop the kid falling over sideways and cheese grating back down

out and about no - unless obviously dangerous like dangling clothing or stand left down

A friend of mine got a bit arsey with me for removing the plastic caps they put over the ends of the wheel axles to stop them going through the cardboard when the bike was boxed from the factory. Even after explaining what they were for he insisted I put them back on.

Listen to benjii.
He speaks well.

You do it a lot then? I'd get arsey, I know what I'm doing and I don't need some smart arse rocking up and telling me to make adjustments to suit what he considers to be right.

If you look like you know what you're doing, why would anyone need to suggest something?

😉

I tried to advise my ex gf to not ride in the big rim all the time (mtb). She did'nt listen. Infact, if she (rarely) ever saw me in the big ring she'd call me a hypocrite!

Years ago at Afan car park a German chap came running over from miles away to point out my disc was the wrong way round. Who knew? Been like that for months and i did'nt die.

For over a year I've seen a guy cycle past me in the morning while I walk to the station, he's in too low a gear and weaving all over the place, then freewheels until he can start pedaling again. I feel like shouting out change gear every time he's wobbling past.

Then one morning we arrived at the station the same time...and I actually know him. I'll have to find a way of asking him if the gears work on his BSO.

[i]If you look like you know what you're doing, why would anyone need to suggest something?[/i]

mmm just a thought but perhaps the person doing the suggesting didn't have either a clue what they were talking about or had no idea that that I was very very comfortable on my commuter. But of course they probably read about bike fit on the Internet and knew exactly how I felt whilst riding my bike. Had he managed to pass me I could have course critiqued his bike fit but he couldn't manage that.