[Closed] Spotted cycling moral dilemma

Tell him
I've told three people in the past. One of which I fixed for him there and then.

if your from my local FB buy and sell page - rip the $hit out of them like happened last night. If tootling along a canal, i would leave them too it, if they were just about to gnar down a set of steps, maybe have a word.

Tell him, unsure why you are even feeling the need to ask...would be safer and probably a comfier bike ride with the forks the right way round.

Told my brother in-law that he'd put the forks on my nephews bike back to front. Funny thing is I'd told him the same thing a few years back on another nephews bike 🤣

In a lovely coastal pub garden I told someone that her fork was on back to front. Cue me and the rest of the garden hearing her tell her husband she was sure that it was put together wrong as the wheel kept hitting her toes on corners.
For 30 minutes.
Without hesitation, deviation or repetition.
Poor bugger. I nearly bought him a beer as an apology.

Tell him
I’ve told three people in the past. One of which I fixed for him there and then.

Maybe I fear it being awkward. How did it go? I think I've just a British/selfish way of avoiding awkwardness...

For 30 minutes.
Without hesitation, deviation or repetition.
Poor bugger. I nearly bought him a beer as an apology

Sounds like he bought her a BSO, built it up, pressurized her to go on rides with him and when she complained repeatedly that the bike wasn't right, he told her it was her fault because she was a shit rider.

She now finds out that the bike was potentially dangerous because of his incompetence and it wasn't her fault after all.

Reap what you sow.

I've told and fixed it for folk who are stopped. I'm not sure I'd stop someone that was happily riding along unless I knew them.

I’d stop them and tell them. Explain that it’s a common error, that there’s little to give it away visually, maybe even that you’ve made the same mistake yourself and that’s why you always notice it now.

You could even offer to fix it for them, or give them the name of a good lbs who’ll do it.

I’ve not seen it out in the wild but if I did, I would tell the person.

Just a polite word saying it could be potentially dangerous.

Sometimes people can get offended or think you’re sticking your nose is where it’s not wanted.

Sometimes people’s ego will get hurt because you are saying they cannot put a bike together or too stupid to know the forks are on backwards etc...

So it’s a tricky one but I would have a word.

I wouldn’t chase a person down the street shouting STOP! But if they stopped near me or a kid riding, doing laps of the playground in park. I would mention something.

I met someone doing the coast to coast in the market square in Keswick, who asked me where he could get a new pedal as his had fallen apart climbing whinlatter and just the axle was left in the crack (fair play for getting up the hill still!). This was a brand new BSO he'd bought for the trip, and as I was pointing out the various bike shops I noticed his fork was in backwards, also fouling the front v-brake making it unusable. I was incredulous he hadn't noticed either the abysmal handling or terrifying lack of braking descending whinlatter to Keswick, but he seemed unphased bu his potentially near-death experience. I sorted his forks/brakes and sent him off for new pedals, hopefully the bike survived the rest of the journey! I would always try to point out something with so much potential for harm.

I was doing gear check for a very hilly junior national road race and one lad had his brake shoes the wrong way around, so the only thing stopping the pad coming out was the small grub screw.

His dad fitted them apparently!

You sure they weren't Manitou?*

.

.

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*I say this every time 😴

We once stopped a family just starting their ride and pointed out to dad that his son's new bike had the fork the wrong way round. No prizes for guessing which well known 'chain' store was the culprit.

Tell them politely, it's then up to them what they do with that information. Have pointed out a few howlers over the last few weeks from the classic backwards fork and helmet on backwards (one yesterday) to bars at really odd angles, brake levers pointing directly down or up to simple stuff like leaving the protective plastic things on the axle ends. Even offered to fix them a few times if they were receptive to the info, the one with the controls all over the place was great as he was a macho bloke and his partner spent the whole time taking the piss out of his failure in man skills. Turned out he was a nurse so he won on the skills front overall right now!

My grandson has a Wiggins, with the Pinarello type forward bend fork. I was quite patient with the guy in Halfords putting it together as I explained the disc should be on the left.
One time at Marquis Drive cafe a guy arrived with on a bike with a BMX type handlebar but the stem was clamped to the cross race, you know, the thing that's just loosely welded for cosmetic purposes. "Oh, it's fine" he insisted...

I've twice spoken to someone - once the father allowed me to fix it for the child, once I was told to mind my own business as they were right and I was wrong...

A bit off-topic, but comes under the “you’d think everyone would know this” banner:

On my rear wheel, between the largest cog and the spokes, there’s is a large, transparent, plastic disc clipped onto the spokes. I’d never thought about it till last night as I was lubing the chain, when I noticed it and thought ‘my that’s ugly’.
What is it for?

That's a dork disc 🙂

Stops rear derailleur / chain going into spokes.

Not sure I've ever seen a backwards fork.

Disconnected front brake on the (<10 y/o) kids bike seems to be a common one with non-cyclist parents.

For 30 minutes.
Without hesitation, deviation or repetition.

that i would like to hear

You have to even ask? It's your duty to fix there and then if you can. It's not awkward. You just say hello! Ive noticed a problem with your bike. Would you mind if I fix it for you?

It's because bikes come in boxes like that and people are stupid.

I'd say something, and I have done. I watched a Halfords employee wheel a bike with its bars turned through 90 degrees out of the back for a customer who was standing right there. He got out an Allen key and turned them round the wrong way, so the forks were backwrads. I pointed it out, but the customer didn't hear me. Not sure if this was good or not.

My neighbour came round to my house to get advice because he couldn't pump up the tyres on his kids' Isla Bikes (so you'd have thought he had a bit of knowledge about bikes, having bought possibly the best kids' bikes available). I felt really embarrassed to have to explain to him that on Presta valves there is a small nut that needs loosening before air can be pumped in.

Was in the park and spotted a Dad with his young daughter who had just that minute learnt to ride her bike, forks were on backwards.
Dad said they had just picked the bike up from halfords who had assembled it for them.
Seen loads of bikes like this since lockdown.

‘People are stupid’
Well, you say that, but if the bikes they’ve seen irl have manitou, or maybe pace forks, where the brake is on the back, you can hardly blame Them for getting it wrong.
I’ve seen plenty over the years, i always tell them if i can, it’s always been received gracefully.
Other common errors are the helmet on back to front, stem pointing backwards, brake levers pointing down vertically, bar ends reaching for the sky, pedals threaded on the wrong side (no doubt they got a gorilla to tighten them up).
I think some blame goes to mail order catalogue pictures, who position such items so they can be seen. I hope . .

A very well known example in the Climbing community shows what can happen when equipment is incorrectly assembled by well-meaning people who haven't a clue.

I would definitely step in and offer advice.

https://gearjunkie.com/tito-traversa-death-climbing-instructor-sentenced-quickdraws

@doncorleoni

A dork disc 🙂 I like that.

I won’t remove it then.

I won’t remove it then.

Do. Or others who are more Gnarr than you will be secretly laughing at you and talking behind your back.

I won’t remove it then.

As above, people will not take you seriously as a cyclist if you leave it on.

As above, people will not take you seriously as a cyclist if you leave it on.

Because what matters most to me, a grown man dressed like a power ranger while riding an oversized kids toy, is that strangers take me seriously!

Hang on, is this ‘dork disc’ necessary or not? If not I’ll lose it as it’s ugly. If it actually does stop the derailleur hitting the spokes I’ll leave it.
Is it one of those daft things bike shop put on for no good reason, or is it actually useful.

By the way, in case you hadn’t guessed I never have been and never will be ‘Gnarr’.

Ha if you set derailleur up correctly not really... No idea where dork disc name was from but that's what people call them. I have bar ends on all my bikes so clearly I don't care what people think 🙂 I have always removed them though as they get covered in chain oil and crap.

I guess if you smack a rock or something they would give a physical barrier to prevent chain to spoke interaction.

I tell new riders if they are not locking their bikes up properly too if I see them whilst i am locking mine up.amazing what some people think is safe. I do not lecture them on the type of lock etc but I've seen some wrapping a cable lock on the handlebars which could be unravelled.they all have been polite enough.

I went out for a bike ride with my GF's brother's kids (about 9 and about 11) and, apart from the "we're tired! We're hungry" whining that started at the furthest point of the ride, I noticed that the front brakes on the youngest one's bike were not engaging at all.

When we got back I was just about to get to work on it, actually make it work when their dad mentioned that it was deliberate. Apparently the kid has a bad habit of grabbing a big handful of brake when he gets scared and had recently been over the bars because of that. He'd therefore made the front brake effectively redundant.

At least he still had the rear.

Disconnected front brake on the (<10 y/o) kids bike seems to be a common one with non-cyclist parents.

There's this perpetually circulating myth that the front brake is dangerous and results in instant death.