A New Experience - Being Videoed

[Aushiker]

It seems that my riding of a Bacchetta Giro 20 is a bit of a novelty around here as I have been videoed in the past couple of weeks a couple of times, received positive toots of the horn and the odd thumbs up. Quite different from the normal standards of abuse

I thought I was going to get the normal abuse with this one but was pleasantly surprised, more so given it was a singlet wearing eh male in a BMW



Is this common? How do the Mango riders go?

Regards
Andrew

[Baalzamon]

I got videoed on my trike. Fella was setup with a tripod, sees me and BAM onto me.

[John Lewis]

I get it all the time with the Mango.
Waves, friendly toots, Video and photos.
A bit scary when its the driver doing the videoing though.
Wherever I stop in town I always end up with people asking questions.
Many want to know if its solar powered.

John

[Bartek]

+1, yes common occurrence in the Mango, I thought it was my good looks at first but when I stop and get out they only take pics/video of the Mango

[trailgumby]

Many want to know if its solar powered.

John

Well it is... indirectly, with a detour via the food chain

[apsilon]

Recumbents are still a rare sight so it's not surprising. If I exclude my mate and his dad I can count on one hand the number of times I've encountered one on the road.

I still laugh about one time my mate was riding his recumbent trike on a shared path along side a road and the passenger of a passing car yelled out "Get up ya lazy bastard!". Better than the normal abuse

[Cheesewheel]

actually sometimes its irks me because you get the gawkers holding back in their vehicles getting an eye full while you are trying to negotiate them passing you

[Rhubarb]

Aushiker - you really aren't going to know what hit you if you ever do get a velomobile. The attention is on a whole new level entirely.

The Good: Out on the open road its a real positive. People notice you much faster, give you MUCH more room when they pass. They stop and give way to you when they actually have right of way etc (thats not always good BTW). I feel much safer riding my velo than I did on my DF bike. Lots of freindly waves, toot-toots etc.

The Bad: Things like just ducking in to the shops quickly to pick up some milk on the way home can end up taking an hour as people tend to mob you, taking photos, asking questions etc. Sometimes its fine, sometimes its crazy. You need to pick your shops - I avoid the big shopping centres. The other risk here is kids fiddling with it, even sitting in it, even with the parents there. The floor next to the seat is not meant to support your weight so even a child could damage it if they got in it "wrongly". Similarly with sitting on the bonnet etc.

The Ridiculous: My daily commute takes me past a local sports oval where they do kids soccer and football training most afternoons. I've had everything from screams, shouts (virtually daily), a standing applause, even a group of 15 to 20 kids running beside me / chasing me for about 50m. Going through the shopping centre car park last week a group of young teenage girls started screaming (OMGosh, scream, OMGosh, scream ...) like they were at a One Direction concert. Going through parks, oncoming pedestrians will wave and salute, even a couple of bows, and clapping. Young women say "so cool". We have a semi-crazy guy (harmless but not all there) who walks around the suburb a lot, always carrying an umbrella. When he sees me coming, he runs out on to the road, waving his folded umbrella around at me like a F1 race winning chequered flag. I thought he was going to attack me the first time he did this.

I think in the past 13 months / 7000kms of ownership, I have only had 1 negative comment where a young P plater hung out his window and said "You f%*ng goose" whilst shaking his head. Everything else is overwhelmingly positively motivated attention, even if it becomes a negative for you. Eg I was stopped at a red light one day when someone came up close behind me and started blasting me with his horn. I turned around to see what his problem was, only to see an overly enthusiastic cab driver giving me a 2 handed thumbs up, while doing a dancey thing with his elbows on the horn.

Not my video but here's an example:


I tend to avoid these situations, eg I don't ride through Southback Parklands on a weekend etc, simply to avoid this palava.

[Aushiker]

I still laugh about one time my mate was riding his recumbent trike on a shared path along side a road and the passenger of a passing car yelled out "Get up ya lazy bastard!". Better than the normal abuse

Love it

Andrew

[Aushiker]

actually sometimes its irks me because you get the gawkers holding back in their vehicles getting an eye full while you are trying to negotiate them passing you

I have had that as well. I wasn't impressed as the queue of cars was building and it was a narrow road .. just increased the angst and the risk.

Andrew

[Aushiker]

I tend to avoid these situations, eg I don't ride through Southback Parklands on a weekend etc, simply to avoid this palava.

That is a pretty nice reaction but

Andrew

[burnt]

What Rhubarb said! Exactly my experience as well, no negative comments from road users so far, plenty of toots, waves etc.

Stopped by the Police for the third time today, no dramas, I think they just wanted to have a good look at it-very pleasant guys!

I was riding with an upwrong friend today, he rode the Mango for the last 10km or so-he's checking the Sinner website and analysing the exchange rate!!

[recumbenteer]

I tend to avoid these situations, eg I don't ride through Southback Parklands on a weekend etc, simply to avoid this palava.

That is a pretty nice reaction but

Andrew

My experience exactly, and where time permits, I'll stop and "preach to the mob", Always happy to answer questions.
Hopefully it will lead to ENLIGHTENING the masses, and more velos will be seen "out there"