Is there a curse on white bikes ?

MadRhino

100 GW
Joined
Sep 3, 2010
Messages
7,693
Location
Montreal QC Canada
Or, more seriously: Are you superstitious ?

Even when we are not, we all have some maniac habits, routines or little things we are not comfortable to ride without.
What are yours ?
 
White bikes are cooler. They reflect heat and the bars don't get hot in the summer. Now if only the seat manufacturers would get their head out and and make their saddles white, or at least a lighter color.
 
My buddy has a bike with a white seat. Sweatstained yellow in 3 months, everyone thought it was meant to be cream. Never again.
 
I'm not superstitious, but I like to be prepared. I feel better knowing that I have what it takes to get home in the event of some failure.

Zipties and my Leatherman Skeletool go a long way
 
I could live with that, or I'd wash it. Guess the best thing would be for them to come with a light colored washable seat cover.
 
A fellow rider takes a handful of trail dirt and rub it on his face
I tie my riding boots with a double knot
A friend wears one red and one black gloves

That sort of things I'm talking about.
White bikes are cool, I've had many of them yet they age pretty quick :wink:
 
I have had only one white bike. I still own it. Broke the fork twice. Bent both wheels worse than any bike I ever had and this was at different times. Gone over the bars countless times and separated my shoulder once, and broke my neck on it also at different times. Fortunately I made a full recovery. Maybe I should change the color. :p It also always looks real dirty.
 
Black bikes are protected by the gothic gods :wink:
No any habits really. I check rear spokes by hand on every other stop, and gaze my rear rim occasionally for straightness while i ride.
 
wesnewell said:
White bikes are cooler. They reflect heat and the bars don't get hot in the summer. Now if only the seat manufacturers would get their head out and and make their saddles white, or at least a lighter color.
No argument on wishing they'd use lighter color saddles (and grips, etc), but living in Phoenix, AZ, I've gotta disagree with white stuff being cooler: it does take *longer* to get hot, but it still gets just as hot (relative to one's ability to touch it or hold onto it or sit on it :lol:) as the black stuff, if it sits in the sun (or even in the shade!) very long. ;)

And white versions apparently don't cool off as fast as black versions, though I have never understood why that is usually so (despite reading various scientific explanations of it, it just doesn't sound like it should work that way). :(


As for superstitions...I can't think of any that I follow, just sensible precautions (including new ones I learn each time something goes wrong I wasn't prepared for).
 
If you don't want problems on an initial test ride head uphill. If you want to increase the chance of problems on that first test ride head down hill from home.

My white bike has had no problems btw.
 
tumblr_mr30v2oEZi1qcptuto1_500-1.jpg
 
999zip999 said:
After I ride I unplug the battery always.

I suppose, without realizing how ocd I am about, I've gotten out of bed at 2am and gone to the garage to make sure I had unplugged my bike after the day's rides, it was unplugged, but I had to go out and check regardless or sleep was not happening... I consider a good manic behavior.
 
Ypedal said:
999zip999 said:
After I ride I unplug the battery always.

I suppose, without realizing how ocd I am about, I've gotten out of bed at 2am and gone to the garage to make sure I had unplugged my bike after the day's rides, it was unplugged, but I had to go out and check regardless or sleep was not happening... I consider a good manic behavior.

That's good ebike behavior. If you did it 4 times in a row, that's OCD. :mrgreen:
 
I think I'd feel weird about riding a white bike, since ghost bikes are white. Id feel like I'm next. I'm not real superstisious but I'd still prefer a yellow bike to white.

Speaking of next, two fatalities in my county in one week. One a roadie who was taking the lane, obviously the car at fault, but if you pedal along on a 65mph highway taking a lane and don't look back.....

The other a local homeless guy. I saw him riding twice in the weeks before he got squished and dragged. I saw the way he rode, and thought, "he's next". Sure enough he was. He was weaving all over between cars while running red lights, his head all bobbing along to his headphones.

I digress. In the desert, I love a white seat on a bike that will park outside a store or whatever. White vynil will get very hot, but a lycra cover on a seat is easy to make. Peel off the Vynil, and staple on lycra. Once you butt is on it, it doesn't matter what color, so just draping a jacket or shirt over the seat works too.

Black seat in the sun long enough, and yeowww!
 
Back
Top