Fred?

[Batbike]

Fred (bicycling)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Fred" is a derisive term used by cyclists to describe other cyclists, usually male, that appear amateurish and oblivious to cycling culture.

The exact qualities that define one as a "Fred" vary widely among regions and cyclists, but recently, particularly in the US, a Fred is somebody with higher quality and more expensive gear than his or her talent would warrant. For example:

A person watches the highlights of a few Tour de France stages, goes to a bike store and buys a Trek carbon fiber Madone in Team Discovery colors, along with Team Discovery shorts and jersey, and then rides it on a cycling path at 15 mph (25 km/h).
Such a person would be a prototypical Fred, especially if the jersey is yellow.

In the UK the earlier usage is more common—used by 'serious' roadies to refer to (often) bearded, sandal wearing, touring cyclists. The rare female Fred is a Doris.

This usage still survives in the US - David Bernstein, presenter of The FredCast says the term is "used by “serious” roadies to disparage utility cyclists and touring riders, especially after these totally unfashionable “freds” drop the “serious” roadies on hills because the “serious” guys were really posers."


[edit] Is a Fred just a poseur?
A Fred is generally too naive to be considered a poseur. A Fred is largely unaware of his or her status as an object of ridicule, and likely unaware of the Fred moniker. While it is common for cyclists to claim varying degrees of "Fredness", such self-derision indicates a higher degree of cycling cultural-awareness and would indicate that the commenter is, in fact, unlikely to be a Fred.


[edit] Word origin
The roots of the term "Fred" are unclear, though it purportedly originated from[1] a grumpy old touring rider named Fred.

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[wannaduacentury]

So soon in my venture into road cycling, I learned that "roadies" refer to things that are "roadie faux paux" as "Fred." I subsequently learned what "roadies" regard as "fred."

However, my personal feeling is that function trumps style. In other words, even if something is considered "fred" I'm not going to adhere to that if it's something that helps me. (i.e. I'm not a snob)

For instance, I was told that for a roadie to wear a visor on their helmet was fred, but I felt that the visor helped shield my sensitive eyes from the sun. So I wore my visor anyway. However, as time went on, I found that the visor really did restrict my vision, so I eventually did away with it and prefer not having it now.

In any event, apparantly, I refered to using a mirror as being "fred" and Mr. thinks I told him couldn't use one because of that. My perspective was that roadies consider it to be "fred, " but that doesn't mean that he shouldn't use one if he wants one.

Oh, and another thing, I considered turning up your shorts elastic to be fred (and not functional, I mean why did they put that expensive elastic there if it wasn't to keep the shorts legs from riding up) but Fred (the real guy named Fred who sold Mr. his bike) told Mr. to turn it up.

so, I wanted to know what others thought.....

and maybe a list of all things "fred"

Fred list:
visors
reflectors
turning up your shorts elastic

My helmet is a mtn bike helmet and I use it for everything, I love the visor-even for road trips, I usually ignore those petty comments. I'm also prone to wear my camelbak on the road too, even if it's more mtn bikish. I like to have water, so that's more important than "style". I do want a new helmet though, soon. I want a bright color-yellow would go. Jennifer