Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Worst of NYC Craigslist Bike Ads #9 and #10

Two Craiglist standbys: the stolen bike plea, and the clueless idiot who berates his readers...

****STOLEN***STOLEN***STOLEN***REWARD**REWARD**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - $500 (original URL: http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/bik/371380204.html]



Reply to: [deleted]
Date: 2007-07-11, 11:26AM EDT

see picture. if you bought it, then i suspect you didn't pay more than $100 so you're making alot on the deal, if you stole it then you're definately making out... no questions asked, i just want the bike back.

OK, my heart goes out to anybody who's bike gets stolen. But come the hell on. Firstly, does this person really think anybody would pay anything for this? Secondly, does this person actually have $500 to spend, and instead of buying a new bike want to use it as a reward for this rolling case of tetanus?

I'm inclined to dismiss this as a joke, but the owner has been desperately and repeatedly posting for the last two days. I'm also inclined to think this bike wasn't even stolen. I suspect whoever took it just figured it was abandoned and thought, "What the hell, I'll save myself a little time getting to the bodega." He probably thought it was one of those communal bikes like they have in Amsterdam or something.

If you have a similar piece of garbage in a garage, vacant lot, or dumpster near you, I suggest contacting this person and making the easiest $500 ever. And if you're the owner, let it go, man. Let it go.

WANTED--Bullhorn 'Drop' Handlebars [original URL: http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/bik/371461858.html]
Reply to: [Deleted]
2007-07-11, 12:53PM EDT

Read twice, drop means drop, not straight, bent downwards at an angle. If you have a set you didnt like, send me a pic and a price. No crap please.

Okay, I've read twice, three, even four times now, and I still don't know what the hell you want. You speak in contradictions. Are you a Zen master, or a complete moron? Alas, I have no "bullhorn drops," but I do have a geared fixie, some clipless pedals with toeclips and straps, and an 8-speed Ultegra 10-speed cassette if you're interested.

29 comments:

nikcee said...

in the last one, i think what he means is this:
http://blog.ingsendai.com/images/07-NITTO-T19B_ing-01.jpg
they are often used flipped to give the rider the top and shoulders of the drop, but not the rest of the 'hooks'.

most riders cut them to shape and like a lot of things fixedgear, some people just assume that you can buy everything you see on the streets.

BikeSnobNYC said...

Nikcee,

Thanks, you're probably right. God, my head hurts with all this flopping and chopping. I literally don't know which end is up anymore. You should email this poor confused novice and explain to him what he's looking for.

--BSNYC

GhostRider said...

Or it could be the legendary RB-021, Nitto's "dropped bullhorns":
http://www.hubjub.co.uk/nitto/nitto.htm

Scroll midway down that page...this seems to be one of the "holy grail" bars for the hipster set (because it IS, after all, a Nitto product).

Anonymous said...

Wow, that stolen bike must have a lot of sentimental value to that person.

Either that, or the tubes are stuffed with drugs.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm... Bullhorns probably make the most utilitarian bars you could get, besides road drops with brake hoods. When I see bullhorns I see function because they allow so many hand positions.

But yeah, my money is he wanted the Nitto RB-021's.

Anonymous said...

Although I really like J's idea... that stolen bike looks like it could be somewhat vintage stingray. And those are worth some dough.

Anonymous said...

Funny, there's a very similar ad on Boston's CL. Is this some new scam someone has devised?

Anonymous said...

I hadn't thought about (or wasn't really aware of) the vintage Sting Ray angle, but maybe anonymous 9:43 has it right.

I still think it's stuffed with drugs, though.

mattio said...

yeah, i pretty much assumed that the bike was filled with diamonds and blow.

also, despite the WTB poster's general inability to express himself or herself, i knew they were getting at RB021s - though it took a couple reads. they're good bars. Ghostrider, i wouldn't really call them "holy grails of the hipster set" just because they are Nittos. That's just silly.

It's easy to go overboard generalizing about bikes, parts, and hipsters, and it's not always useful.

fxdwhl said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
fxdwhl said...

Speaking of bullhorns here's on from todays gallery

http://www.fixedgeargallery.com/2007/
july/1/TimothyWilliams.htm

He's got clips just no straps or brakes. Flat peddle brakeless is the new black I guess.

BikeSnobNYC said...

fxdwhl,

Don't get me started! If I see another person in flip-flops riding a brakeless fixed-gear with his clip-and-strap pedals upside down I'm going tackle him, or I'm going to jump in front of him and see how quickly he can stop.

To me though the real beauty of that bike is that the owner explains that the drive-side crank is mounted on the left side in the picture but that the pedal thread has since stripped. Well, there's a reason pedals are threaded the way they are, and when you reverse the cranks you find out why.

They've been threading pedals a certain way for 100 years for a reason. Leave it to a genius like this to decide to test it out. I guess some people need to learn everything the hard way.

--BSNYC

GhostRider said...

Casual Entropy...maybe my comment about Nitto WAS silly...but that's kinda the point. Coveting a brand or type of equipment just because that's what the "cool kids" have on their bikes is as silly as it gets! Pick what is comfortable, useful, well-designed or fast (or all of the above if you're lucky); don't just pick something because it is hip.

Anonymous said...

The worst thing about all the "bullhorn" style bars and chopped drops is they do nothing save imitate the functionally superior drop bar with brake hoods. And I say superior because a drop bar offers the addition of, well, the drops themselves. Which is a much lower and more aerodynamic position than clowning around on the tops all day.

Bullhorns paired with clip on aero bars are a different story in aerodynamics, but that’s not what the kids are riding.

Ok, end rant…

Niki said...

I have the Nitto RB-021 and I don't really like them. You have to hold the bars at the stem if you want to be on the flat portion. In addition to this if you use bar wrap that doesn't have glue on it (like Cinelli) your hands will eventually push the wrap off the bend. I still use them though as I don't really want to spend the money to get another set of handlebars (and they aren't that bad, just annoying).

In response to big johnny I'd have to say that bullhorns do more than just imitate drops with hoods - they are much better than hoods. That hand position is much more natural on bullhorns and your grip on the bars is superior. The negative, of course, is that you don't have the more aero position of the drops, but most people using bullhorns don't really need to get more aero anyway (for the record my bullhorns are on my commuter bike).

Anonymous said...

I find bullhorns are easy on the hands when climbing a lot. Besides, my gut and bad hip keep me from using the drops.

Anonymous said...

Nice, I like Sass

Anonymous said...

bikesnobnyc wrote:

You should email this poor confused novice and explain to him what he's looking for.

The "poor, confused novice" knows exactly what he's looking for. He's looking for bullhorn bars with a drop in the forward part of the bar, like a Nitto RB-021. Anybody who owns such bars, and is thus in a position to sell them to the Craigslist poster, will know what he means. That you don't, or didn't, know of the term doesn't mean that the term is meaningless.

BikeSnobNYC said...

Placid Casual,

All right, let me rephrase that:

Would somebody please email this apparent newbie who is unable to express himself clearly that a number of people who are familiar with the Nitto range think he may be looking for a bar like the RB-021, and that if this indeed the case and he has not yet found what he's looking for that he might have better luck referring to them by name?

--BSNYC

Ben said...

some track racers will use clips & straps in addition to a clipless system, to make sure they wont unclipped.

Ben said...

come unclipped, that is

Anonymous said...

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/bik/373921763.html

NYC craigslist is truly bad, but DC is a worthy opponent

Anonymous said...

I am the poster of the craigslist ad for
the bullhorn drop handlebars. If you
are so keen at criticizing those who post
on cl, you should at least inform them
of your doing so. Only a stupid asshat,
such as yourself would choose the method you subscribe to, which implies
that you are aslo, in addition to my opinion above, a belligerant specimen of garden variety chickenshit. I found your
blog entry by accident. Your blog is not funny, nor is it informative--your writing
is amateurish, and plainly predictable.
I worded the cl ad so any moron could
understand what it is I was looking for
based on the description of the item, because a lot of people misread things,
and, of course, you did--I did not state I was inquiring about, and looking for a
specific make and model number, as you
are implying in your blog entry: additionally, you have only succeeded in making yourself look foolish when your intention was to make yourself appear superior and knowlegeable. From now on, please focus on your comprehension
of the english languae, if you can pry your
mouth from your penis for a reasonable
amount of time.

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Rex H said...

Funny how the original poster didn't help explain what the hell he was talking about. Second:
"From now on, please focus on your comprehension
of the english languae."
Seriously?
And my take on the original posting. Bullhorn drops sound like a chop without the flop.

. said...

everyone bitches on about the rb-021s and i really don't get why. almost everyone i know who rides brakeless with drops spend 99% of the time on the tops because the position doesn't suit skidding (and most people i know who run a brake have the lever on the tops too) not to mention the fact that a lot of people find that they bash their knees off the bottoms of the drops when leaning forward to skid. by running the rb-021s you get a bit of a drop without making skidding awkward and for city riding i find it the ideal compromise.

also so many people complain they are uncomfortable because they set them up pointing down just because they saw a guy on the mash video with his bars like that.

meh. they work for me anyway.

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