Acknowledgement

[ohsoslow]

I've been a motorcyclist for many years and it's given that bikers acknowledge
each other , generally with a nod .

I find I'm doing the same on my push bike , nodding or saying hello to other cyclists , a small number of cyclist will respond but mostly I get ignored .

Do you acknowledge other cyclists ? .

 

[colinr]

Usually a passing nod, or a hello if I'm overtaking. Maybe get a response half the time. Not even cyclists like other cyclists

 

[ianrauk]

If I said hello to every cyclist on my commute each day I would resemble one of those bleedin' nodding dogs.

 

[Bigtwin]

Like you, I ride a m/c as well as a pedalcycle.

Cyclists are miserable sods who rarely play the game. I think it's because cycling is down to the physical performance of the individual, and is more tribal in terms of cycle choice.

So you get "I am a high-price cyclist on a high-price bike - I am too focussed on physical excellence for the trivia of human interaction". Whereas on a m/c, we all know that moving one's right wrist is not a huge physical effort so it's all a lot less competative.

 

[jimboalee]

Yup, I've been a motorcyclist. I had an off-roader 'trail' type bike. I was rarely acknowledged by 'roadies' but often given the nod by other 'green-laners'.

On my push bike, I get the nod from other cyclists with a similar bike. roadie to roadie, tourer to tourer, 20" shopping bike to 20" shopping bike.

In my car, I NEVER get an acknowledgement from other Ford Focus owners. However, in the Jensen, there is a tooting of horns and fanatical waving when we 1,000,000:1 chance see each other on the road.
In thirty five years, I've seen 1 Interceptor, 1 CV-8 and a couple of Healeys in a genuine 'eye-ball, eye-ball' NOT on an Owner's club meeting.


Other than acknowledge another cyclist, have you ever been offered or have offered help to a cyclist who has punctured or broken?
Have you ever given away a spare tube?

 

[Randochap]

Other than acknowledge another cyclist, have you ever been offered or have offered help to a cyclist who has punctured or broken?
Have you ever given away a spare tube?

Yup, always. Nope.

 

[Bigtwin]

Other than acknowledge another cyclist, have you ever been offered or have offered help to a cyclist who has punctured or broken?
Have you ever given away a spare tube?

Tuesday. Bloke on a D-A carbon Spesh wheel off bike upsidedown. Turned out had one of those useless CO2 "pumps". Cannister empty (leaked) of course. Lent him pump.

Why do people use them - they weigh as much or more than a decent pump, and offer no advantage whatsoever, unless you are in an every second counts race secnario?

 

[dodgy]

Other than acknowledge another cyclist, have you ever been offered or have offered help to a cyclist who has punctured or broken?
Have you ever given away a spare tube?

Sure have. I even took one guy to my house when I discovered him broken down at side of the road, he had a puncture and was walking home and I was only 1/2 a mile from home. With the aid of a track pump and new tube he was sorted in no time. He was chuffed to have been helped out and so was I

Picture of the Interceptor please (childhood memories coming back)

 

[Globalti]

I once rescued a couple on a Honda CD175 who had a puncture outside my house. They were frozen, soaked and depressed and near the end of a long trip. Got the bike sorted, gave them a hot drink and a sandwich and sent them on their way. I have also rescued a cyclist or two and offered roadside assistance, not necessarily to "proper" cyclists. It's all part of being on two wheels.

 

[yello]

However, in the Jensen, there is a tooting of horns and fanatical waving when we 1,000,000:1 chance see each other on the road.
In thirty five years, I've seen 1 Interceptor, 1 CV-8 and a couple of Healeys in a genuine 'eye-ball, eye-ball' NOT on an Owner's club meeting.

My dad had an interceptor. Not that I remember it, I was about 3 at the time!

 

[Theseus]

When I pass other cyclists I try to remember to acknowledge them. don't always get a response, but who cares.

If I see someone on the side of the road with a mechanical I will offer assistance, never been taken up on it though.

As we were packing the bikes away at the end of the Edinburgh to St Andrews ride, someone had a chain break, ripping off his valve and giving him an explosive flat. Gave him my spare powerlink.

 

[HJ]

Cyclists are miserable sods who rarely play the game. I think it's because cycling is down to the physical performance of the individual, and is more tribal in terms of cycle choice.

So you get "I am a high-price cyclist on a high-price bike - I am too focussed on physical excellence for the trivia of human interaction".

When I pass other cyclists I try to remember to acknowledge them. don't always get a response, but who cares.

If I see someone on the side of the road with a mechanical I will offer assistance, never been taken up on it though.

As we were packing the bikes away at the end of the Edinburgh to St Andrews ride, someone had a chain break, ripping off his valve and giving him an explosive flat. Gave him my spare powerlink.

Here we see the difference between the South and the North of Britain...

 

[Theseus]

I don't see it as a north/south divide. I am an Essex boy that has moved a few miles up the A1.

 

[summerdays]

Other than acknowledge another cyclist, have you ever been offered or have offered help to a cyclist who has punctured or broken?
Have you ever given away a spare tube?

I can't acknowledge all cyclists - there are too many of them - but at the quieter bits or if one of us is going up hill vs downhill I might give them a smile. Today I met the bloke I shared various red lights with last week when I turned around to warn the cyclist who had pulled up on my left that I was turning left (I had left about a meter gap to the kerb). It was nice to see him again. There is one other regular cyclist that I sometimes see and we always acknowledge each other even though we don't know one another.

As for help - I've offered it before now but each time they have been OK. I don't have a spare tube so couldn't give that away but could lend them a puncture repair kit and pump.

 

[garrilla]

During the week on my commute I will always respond, but sometimes i'm not too forthcoming. At weekend I'm the happy cyclist.

On Sunday just gone, I took my lad out for a couple of hours ride. We passed a 'serious' cyclist that I sometimes see on my commute ( I know he's serious as he always wears tights and 1980s look cap). He said hello. He never says hello during the week. The big difference, apart from my lack of helmet and rucksack, is that only enthusiasts go out at 8pm on a Sunday morn (except the poor blighters that still have to work). So I figured that, in his mind at least, on a Sunday I'm an enthusiast and in the week I'm just another guy on a bike going to work.

Whatever the day I will always stop to offer roadside assitance. Very rarely taken up, as others have said. Although one young man needed more than a repairkit after his forks had gone but he had not taken his phone with him. So I took a risk on him, gave him business card and a tenner to get a taxi and then went to flag down the taxi for him. He called me next morning and his mum bought him round to payback the debt. All very heart warming.