When do you stop being a beginner?

[Easytigers]

I've been riding for two and a half years...Try to commute as much as possible (maybe about two to three days per week in better weather...I know...). Have had four bikes to present date. Have also hit a couple of challenges e.g. 5 day charity ride and my first 50m.
Must say that I still feel like a newbie...don't know how to adjust gears...or even brakes sometimes! Love riding but if someone asks me then I just say that I'm a bit part cyclist. Only thing is it actually takes up more of my thinking time than that...
When does Newbie become something slightly more?
Russ

 

[MattHB]

I think as soon as you refer to yourself as a cyclist rather then someone who 'goes for a bike ride' then you're certainly a long was forward

And by the sounds of what you've done you certainly don't sound like a beginner. Plenty of people don't do gear adjustment.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

From your description you sound like a fully fledged cyclist to me. I wouldn't worry about avoiding the bad weather - you aren't the only one.

When does Newbie become something slightly more?

I'd say doing a five day charity ride or being capable of doing 50 miles was a fairly good start.

Maintaining your bikes is something that can easily be learned - perhaps get one of the maintenance manuals that are available or look up some tutorial videos on YouTube.

Working on a bike seems daunting at first but most of it is actually not that bad. The biggest problem is that for some jobs you have to be a bit of a perfectionist to get it right (adjusting wheel bearings for example) and you will need a few special tools, but these can be bought as and when you need them.

 

[derrick]

There are loads of proper cyclist's out there who have not got a clue, knowing about setting a bike up is handy and saves you money.

 

[rollinstok]

I've been riding a bike for years but I am having severe trouble setting up my brakes and keeping them set up
Just put another post up for advice as I'm completely at a loss
I'd agree with the others that you are a "proper" cyclist

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

It sounds like you're already a cyclist. A basic maintenance course - some councils subsidise them - might help you feel generally more confident - i.e. ready to accept the term for yourself.

 

[KateK]

I think maybe when you don't keep making elementary mistakes like: getting a moth behind your glasses and deciding the best way to deal with it is to take your glasses off while still riding at 15 miles an hour...yup can't see with glasses off. Or looking up at the view and then finding that your right foot has decided to have a whose strongest competition and is sending you straight for the verge...or getting into a corner at a pathetically moderate speed and realising that you have got it totally wrong and are juddering sideways into the opposite lane and screaming Noooooo. That's what being a newbie is like. I would guess that you have forgotten all this, hey you probably take travelling in a straight line for granted....

 

[Primal Scream]

I have been cycling on and off (more off than on ) for 50 years and I consider myself to be a "new" beginner due to the long long break until my recent return, in truth you will never stop learning, after just a few weeks on here I have learned loads (some it was even useful ) .

As for the mechanics of the bike it is easier that it seems at first. Phil says you need some special tools and if you were regularly working on a bike he would be right however for the odd job you can "bodge" a bit, when I removed my forks I wrapped part of an old inner tube around the top nut and used mole wrenches with no damage done, same when I removed the bottom bracket lock ring.

 

[TonyEnjoyD]

There'll be purists out there who'll say you should be able to be fully self sufficient and other who will say it,s not what you can do, but what you do.
I am with the latter.
Funny, just last Sunday night at the pub having nosh and a bottle of wine we met up with some running bods from my wife's club who'd been on a ride.
During the usual craic, they asked me why I ride?
My answer was... Because I can and taking in a beautiful 06:30 Sunday morning ride is better than lying in my pit.
They then said, " so you are a proper cyclist then" - and that is exactly what you are RussLunn

Tony

Not what I expected and that

 

[TonyEnjoyD]

I will add that I personally don't see myself as that as I don't enter loads a sportives etc and have to be at the front or first up a climb, but I cycle because I enjoy it and sort of compete but know that I'll be toward the back.
Tony

 

[biggs682]

the only think i can aee that stops you from being a real cyclist is that you only have 1 bike , you need at least 3

 

[DougieAB]

My LBS is so cheap that I'm not sure how he actually makes a living. I enjoy tinkering with the bike and would love to learn to do more but I leave the major jobs to my LBS as I would hate for him to go out of business. I was getting a new chain and front crank fitted at the weekend. When I went to collect the bike he said that the rear cassette was also pretty worn but because he didn,t have the correct seven speed cassette in stock he used a slightly used one from a scrapped bike and didn,t charge anything for it. He also replace the bottom bracket (which was less than six months old) as he said it was knackered and he would hand it back to the supplier as faulty. Again no charge. All that plus a couple of new cables and some adjustment came to £36 for parts and £20 for labour. Bike feels like new!

 

[Moodyman]

When you can trackstand whilst drinking water with one hand and putting on your rain jacket with the other.

 

[ultraviolet]

we are all still learning, just some of us have learnt a little bit more than others, i think the term 'beginner' is a little negative realy and probaly used more in elitist roadie circles.

i think you stop being a 'beginner' when others ask you for advice

 

[Psyclist]

Knowing bike mechanics is one of the main ones.

If you tinker with bikes and learn how parts work etc. you learn so much that you gain alot of knowledge, thus making you far from a beginner.

I know certain things after 5 years of biking( 4 years of XC and 1 year of road) but I wouldn't call myself an expert nor beginner.

Don't worry too much about not knowing much. Just ask and learn from the answers you're given and you'll learn.