I just dragged my ass all the way across town to ride an indoor skatepark. I made sure to check that it was bike night. I packed pump, tube, coffee, food, camera... I was stoked.
And then I get turned away by the monkey behind the counter. "You can't ride mountain bikes here, only BMX"
I see several problems with this:
1) Where the F is the line between BMX and "mountain bikes"?
Is this a mountain bike or a bmx?
What about this?
This?
What's that, you say? A BMX has 20 inch wheels?
Here's a tricky one:
This has 20 inch wheels:
2)What is the goal behind banning "mountain bikes"
You would have a hard time convincing me that mountain bikes are a safety issue. 75% of BMXers run no brakes these days. I have two disc brakes.
You couldn't claim a mtb messes up the park. I have no pegs.
Oh, maybe a 26-inch bike just takes up 25% more space by virtue of its longer wheelbase. That is a fantastic reason to ban them.
I ride the same speed as a bmx and hit the same lines.
I can't imagine that there's any legal difference between my bike and a 20-incher that creates some kind of liability issue.
Conclusion
I am forced to conclude that what's going on here is nothing more than the basest and most reprehensible form of discrimination. Next, we'll have skateparks that don't allow people with yellow bikes, people with yellow skin, gays, people over 6' tall, or people whose name starts with the letter 'M'.
I'm tired of the discrimination. I don't care how many wheels it has or how big the wheels are. BMX, MTB, razor scooter, rollerblades, skateboards, we are all brothers! Where does this antipathy come from?
In the short term, I'm tempted to start going back to that skatepark to mess with the guy's head. Like chuck a pike on a bmx bike and see if he lets me in. Then try it with a monster T. (What? It's still a BMX. Let me in.) Or perhaps throw some Slams on my p1.
Also, feel free to post up some contraptions in this thread that blur the lines.
And then I get turned away by the monkey behind the counter. "You can't ride mountain bikes here, only BMX"
I see several problems with this:
1) Where the F is the line between BMX and "mountain bikes"?
Is this a mountain bike or a bmx?
What about this?
This?
What's that, you say? A BMX has 20 inch wheels?
Here's a tricky one:
This has 20 inch wheels:
2)What is the goal behind banning "mountain bikes"
You would have a hard time convincing me that mountain bikes are a safety issue. 75% of BMXers run no brakes these days. I have two disc brakes.
You couldn't claim a mtb messes up the park. I have no pegs.
Oh, maybe a 26-inch bike just takes up 25% more space by virtue of its longer wheelbase. That is a fantastic reason to ban them.
I ride the same speed as a bmx and hit the same lines.
I can't imagine that there's any legal difference between my bike and a 20-incher that creates some kind of liability issue.
Conclusion
I am forced to conclude that what's going on here is nothing more than the basest and most reprehensible form of discrimination. Next, we'll have skateparks that don't allow people with yellow bikes, people with yellow skin, gays, people over 6' tall, or people whose name starts with the letter 'M'.
I'm tired of the discrimination. I don't care how many wheels it has or how big the wheels are. BMX, MTB, razor scooter, rollerblades, skateboards, we are all brothers! Where does this antipathy come from?
In the short term, I'm tempted to start going back to that skatepark to mess with the guy's head. Like chuck a pike on a bmx bike and see if he lets me in. Then try it with a monster T. (What? It's still a BMX. Let me in.) Or perhaps throw some Slams on my p1.
Also, feel free to post up some contraptions in this thread that blur the lines.