Are men bike snobs?

[trista]

I don't see many other cyclists at all when I'm out, so I can't comment on actual riders, but I have learned that at the LBS it's best for me to ask for a female to assist me when I need something. The first time I went shopping for a road bike, a man "helped" me. He told me that a novice like me shouldn't be considering a road bike, that it's not normal to go from a hybrid to a road bike, and that I was foolish to consider that the increased hand positions of a road bike was going to offer me any relief from my wrist hurting on the flat handlebars of the hybrid. I left there without having tested ANY bikes, feeling dejected and amateurish. I was so mad!!!! No woman at the LBS has treated me that way.

[Catrin]

When I am riding in the country most of the other cyclists I see wave or say something to me when we pass. In the park where I go to practice intervals, it has taken all summer for many of them to start acknowledging my presence - but most of them do now.

Apparently the fact that I ride a Surly gets attention and most of the roadies want to know where I got it. Guess it has a reputation around here of being hard to get - and of being a great all-day bike (which it is).

Sadly that snobbery is just one of the not so nice part of human nature - but it is also true that I've noticed far more of it over the years from men. Not saying that there aren't female snobs - but I think it tends to come out differently. Or not.

[maillotpois]

there are so many cyclists on the roads here I would never consider waving to everyone. it would be a parade instead of a bike ride. if someone's stopped with a mechanical, I am going to ask if they need anything and will stop and help if they do. but I am not waving at everyone, sorry. I dont think that makes me a bike snob.

[buffybike]

All the cyclists in my area are pretty friendly (I DO live in the South, though). The older men are the nicest and most encouraging. The worst treatment I ever got was actually from another female cyclist.

The younger racing crowd tend to keep to themselves, but that's fine with me--I'm not trying to keep up with them.

[Owlie]

Where I'm currently living, we road cyclists are such a novelty that most of us wave or nod to each other. Back home, most nod or wave, except for the MUST-GO-INSANELY-FAST-type guys, who are in their own little bubble of awesome, apparently.
And let's not talk about the guy with the Pinarello who seemed to think it was his job to be a tool...