For those who have fancy, pimped mt. bikes

jasevr4

· #2 · Jun 18, 2009

I took my Morewood DH bike to work one day. People were shocked that a bike could cost that much.

And shocked again when I pinned the stairs next to work when I was leaving at the end of the day.

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I used to ride my low end hardtail to work everyday, no discs just high end Vee's on it. I started taking my Titus to work on fridays as a treat for me and taking the long trail direction home.

One friday I noticed my Titus hanging from the bike lock as though it rolled out of the stand, didn't think anything of it. Next week my seat post was twisted 90 degrees (bolt on clamp), luckily I had tools to fix it. The week after that the handlebars were twisted, don't know how they managed that one because they were really tight and I couldn't twist them back by hand...probably got kicked

I took it as a lesson, some people are small minded and exist just to urinate on other people, I went back to taking the hardtail and never brought the Titus again. I think there is a jealousy factor you have to consider not just theft, I now see why doctors have seperate parking lots at hospitals...the Porches would get trashed.

This was in a bike space between buildings which required a key to enter and access to the University to get to it, it cost 5 dollars a month for parking but I thought it was the safest spot you could ever hope for...one guy even left his Kona unlocked all the time and it was lot nicer than my hardtail!

I wouldn't do it again, too many buttwipes out there.

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andy85

· #4 · Jun 18, 2009

i ride my Merida 96 to work everyday. People usally look but i dont feel outta place. People are amazed how light a dually can be =]

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rshughes

· #5 · Jun 18, 2009

I would love to ride my FS mountain bike to work but at 50 miles round trip it is a little long for this bike.

My current commuter is a full rigid Niner MCR which has hydraulic disc brakes, a Titec H-Bar and a nice set of ZTR 355's but I suspect that very few people look at it and realize that by merely swapping wheelsets (too lazy to swap out tires) I have a very nice mountain bike.

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LyNx

· #6 · Jun 18, 2009

Meah, I wouldn't say my commuter is fancy, but it does have discs, it's just a plain ol Surly Karate Monkey with mostly old parts thrown on, my other bike is a 4" FS Niner RIP9 with different Geo. On occassion I will ride the RIP9 to do minor commuting when I know I won't really need to lock it up outside anywhere OR I ride it if my backs giving troub le because the Geo suits me better than the Monkey.

To 4JawChuck.......I'd have made sure to leave that bike there and watched it from a hidden location and found out who was doing it, then their car would start to have funny things start happening to it. Once people get the idea that it's your transportation and it needs to be treated with respect, then things stop happening.

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jcaino

· #7 · Jun 18, 2009

I don't have a dedicated commuter...my 29er is pretty much my do-all bike, though I do have a 26er that sees mostly DJ/Freeride use. I've gotten some compliments, as I work with a lot of people that also commute by bike. I've gotten a lot of questions about big wheels too.

Fortunately, I work in a secured building and can bring my bike into work. Plus it's a small company, I don't really have to worry about co-workers messing with it.

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wheelerfreak

· #8 · Jun 18, 2009

I sometimes ride my S-works hardtail to work, but it's kind of anti-bling now. I had the frame resprayed, all the decals and markings from all the components were removed or sanded and resprayed as well. Hubs, rims, and spokes are all plain black, really the only thing that may stand out are the discs. Those are kinda hard to cover up. I did all that just to make it less of a target. No way would I ride my Titus to work, first it's a full susser and that would add too much weight and it's just too nice to me to leave it lying around out of my sight. I usually ride my Spesh roadie to work, it's a low end bike and so doesn't really stand out.

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jfk

· #9 · Jun 18, 2009

on average I get a morning trail ride in once a week, my wife will drop me off at work with my "real" mountain bike and I will ride it home after work. There are certainly fancier bikes then mine, I don't think it attracts any attention being a Gary Fisher X-cal hard tail (29er). Maybe some, but only from bike people. There are some pretty high end road bikes at work at times.

Its kind of a pain to ride as I don't have a rack on it, I have to have my cycling shoes, and I have to carry bigger locks and cable for the wheels. Still, I think its faster then my commuter bike and way more fun. I am more apt to get lost on my way home and ride somewhere were I don't belong.

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4JawChuck

· #10 · Jun 19, 2009 (Edited)

LyNx said:
To 4JawChuck.......I'd have made sure to leave that bike there and watched it from a hidden location and found out who was doing it, then their car would start to have funny things start happening to it. Once people get the idea that it's your transportation and it needs to be treated with respect, then things stop happening.

I was pretty sure it was a co-worker, he was the only nutjob I knew at the time that knew where I parked my bike. I kinda figured it out when I decided to replace my spare keys with a similar looking set in my desk just for giggles. His reaction over the next week told me he was the one doing it, he actually angrily confronted me asking me why I had swapped my keys out for ones that didn't work in any of the locks in the place we worked!

I just said, "I don't know what you are talking about? Have you been going into my desk??"

He used to tell me stories of how he would stalk women he knew and how he would vandalise people cars etc. In conversations with people he would try and get their address and phone numbers for later use, he used to call it "social engineering". Definetly someones nightmare thats for sure, he was a major reason why I left that job...and that was at a major hospital!

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Chris V.

· #11 · Jun 19, 2009

4JawChuck said:
I was pretty sure it was a co-worker, he was the only nutjob I knew at the time that knew where I parked my bike. I kinda figured it out when I decided to replace my spare keys with a similar looking set in my desk just for giggles. His reaction over the next week told me he was the one doing it, he actually angrily confronted me asking me why I had swapped my keys out for ones that didn't work in any of the locks in the place we worked!

I just said, "I don't know what you are talking about? Have you been going into my desk??"

He used to tell me stories of how he would stalk women he knew and how he would vandalise people cars etc. In conversations with people he would try and get their address and phone numbers for later use, he used to call it "social engineering". Definetly someones nightmare thats for sure, he was a major reason why I left that job...and that was at a major hospital!

Sounds like your coworker needed to be admitted to the psych unit in your hospital and worked up for Anti-social Disorder! Or he needed to be given a ride to the wrong side of town. I often find fools like that are really cowards on the inside. Glad you didn't have more damage to your bike.

What is your profession. I work in a hospital too.

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rkj__

· #12 · Jun 19, 2009

Usually I ride my cross bike with fenders, but every other Wednesday, I do a MTB ride or race after work, so I take my full suspension MTB. It is not that much slower, and the wide tires really smooth out the potholes.

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jcaino

· #13 · Jun 19, 2009

4JawChuck said:
I was pretty sure it was a co-worker, he was the only nutjob I knew at the time that knew where I parked my bike. I kinda figured it out when I decided to replace my spare keys with a similar looking set in my desk just for giggles. His reaction over the next week told me he was the one doing it, he actually angrily confronted me asking me why I had swapped my keys out for ones that didn't work in any of the locks in the place we worked!

I just said, "I don't know what you are talking about? Have you been going into my desk??"

He used to tell me stories of how he would stalk women he knew and how he would vandalise people cars etc. In conversations with people he would try and get their address and phone numbers for later use, he used to call it "social engineering". Definetly someones nightmare thats for sure, he was a major reason why I left that job...and that was at a major hospital!

Sounds like you should have reported him to your HR department.

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mechBgon

· #14 · Jun 19, 2009

djork said:
Since this is a mtb site and I assume many if not all of you have another bike geared toward off-roading, I was wondering if some of you who commute with a no-frills, plain Jane bike sometimes take your pimped out mt. bike to work just for kicks or get a different ride feel, or just for change. If so, do you feel out of place riding it to work? Sorta like driving an SUV in the city sorta feeling. What sorta reaction do people at work say when they see a bike with, say, hydraulic brakes (let alone disc!), suspension, and all the shiny anodized parts?

Since I work at the bike shop, no one at work would think twice about seeing me ride to work on my XC race bike. I also commute in the winter, and they probably would be surprised to see me without a mountain bike in conditions like these...

^ not the XC-race bike, obviously

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pinkrobe

· #15 · Jun 19, 2009

I've never taken the "good" mountain bike to work. It's too damn slow! My commute is all on roads, so it's skinny tires for me. I did take my "good" road bike to work once. I think I cut 20% off my ride time. Unfortunately, I was worried about it all day, despite the fact that it was in a secure lockup. It used to be that bike thieves assumed all road bikes were crappy $100 10-speeds, but now they know the brands. Combine Cervelo, carbon and Chorus in one spot - it's a target.

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highdelll

· #16 · Jun 19, 2009

I've gone to friends' houses or the taco stand every once in a while.
I like puttin the seat low w/ my big forks and pretending I'm on a chopper

now, if only I had some old banana-seat cruiser handlebars to act as ape-hangers...

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nagatahawk

· #17 · Jun 19, 2009

4JawChuck said:
I
I took it as a lesson, some people are small minded and exist just to urinate on other people, I went back to taking the hardtail and never brought the Titus again. I think there is a jealousy factor you have to consider not just theft, I now see why doctors have seperate parking lots at hospitals...the Porches would get trashed.

I wouldn't do it again, too many buttwipes out there.

4jaw that sucks,
Someone is totally hating your Titus.
ever thought of taking it with you to your office? "They" probably won't allow that! I have to sneak my bike in thru the underground parking.

I get nervouse taking my mt. bike for making a blockbuster run. everything is QR or Maxle.
I hoping people in my neighborhood don't know mt. bikes dont even look at it. They sure know Porsches, Bmws and Audis.

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nachomc

· #18 · Jun 19, 2009

I would never ride my mountain bikes to work, only because it's too far. It would take me forever. I'm pretty fortunate in that our building is set way back from the road and the bike rack is in a small courtyard guarded from the street by high shrubs. We have guards on staff 24/7 and the bike racks are 30 feet away from their desk, visible directly through a huge glass wall. They all know it's my bike out there and keep an eye on it for me. Because of that, I do ride my fancy road bike to work and not worry about it

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GpzGuy

· #19 · Jun 19, 2009

Unfortunately, for now my worksite is too far away to even think about commuting to it

(34 miles one way)

Year before last I used to commute at least twice a week to my office at the plant (about 14 miles one way.) I was able to roll my bicycle into the building and leave it in my office. The office building also had a convienent shower for me to use and change into my office clothes.

Last year I worked at Diablo Canyon Power Plant, and unfortunately they don't allow bicycles to ride on their access road. I had to leave it locked up on the rack next to the guard rack at the bottom of the canyon and thumb a ride up to the plant (8 miles away). I didn't like that much, as I couldn't always count on a ride. So again, I rode my motorcycle.

Maybe in a couple months I'll get assigned to a project that is a bit closer to home (10 miles or so) and can start commuting on my (one and only - Jamis Dakota 29er) bike again.

To make up for that I'm riding my motorcycle.... so at least I'm still on two wheels.

Chuck: I would never have let a problem with a coworker like that make me leave a job that I enjoyed. Problems like that sound like it can be solved with an aluminum baseball bat

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bugsdad

· #20 · Jun 19, 2009

I rode my SC Nomad once. About 20 miles each way on the American River bike path in Sacramento. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Thing is pretty DH ready..weighs about 36 pounds and has coil shocks on both ends and 2.35 knobs. The worst part is feeling all of your energy get sucked up by the suspension with every pedal stroke.
The folks in my office were clueless...they just thought it was a stange looking bike.
I didn't dare tell them how much it cost. Hard to fight for a raise when you're riding a "toy" like that....

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