Scenester dibate
Thread started by
SPOOK at 01.17.08 - 4:45 pm
So I'm on my bike this afternoon, pondering the important questions of the infinite universe, like I do, and I being to think about the LA bike "scene". Specifically, the people in it. I began to wonder, when does a person, typically thought of as a 'scenester' or 'hipster' by others, actually
become the scene? Do they, at some point, get assimilated into the crowd? I understand that a "scene" is a term generally reserved for a collective of people in a particular clique, but can't you break that down? Can people be 'scene' and not 'scenesters'?
I could list off fifty names of people that I would say
are the LA bike scene, but would never call them "scenesters". How do you differentiate? Are 'scenesters' then just people within the bike community that don't offer and contribution to it's culture or personality? Or, are they so self-involved that they'd rather focus on what's in style rather than the camaraderie and sense of famliy that bikes bring?
Your thoughts?
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PS, I can't spell debate. Leave me alone.
SPOOK01.17.08 - 4:45 pm
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ive always operated under the impression that this term was reserved for young people in the music scene. case in point:
ruinedbyidiots01.17.08 - 4:55 pm
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@RBI, So that's, what, like 80% of the population?
SPOOK01.17.08 - 4:58 pm
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Spook, I feel ya.
All I really chose to identify myself in this community by is that I like to ride bikes and have a good time. Whatever else somebody is into is just extra stuff. People have a need to want to belong to something and then they identify themselves as being that thing. I think we are all different but have one major thing in common - Bikes. O.K. and sometimes Beer.
Joe Borfo01.17.08 - 5:05 pm
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I think I've seen all those people on MR rides.
NEWB31001.17.08 - 5:06 pm
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Don't take it all too seriously. We are just people enjoying riding bikes together. The more a person shows up a ride that you are at the more you notice them. The more you notice that person, the more you may attach them to the scene. The more you see that person interacting with the rides the more you may think they are the rides.
Then one day, that person, stops showing up, stops participating in the rides, and you think, "hey where is so and so?". The reality is, they where part of that moment(s) in your life, where it had to do with bike riding, in which you saw them at the ride. They where never the ride, never the scene, never really a hipster. They where just at the ride. You saw in your own way, as did each other person who was at the event, saw them in their own way. The other people might have thought they where cool, a jerk, cute, obnoxious or not have noticed them at all.
Good news, new people will show up and be part of the rides in their own capacity, and you will most likely equate them, to the experiences you will have with them.
sexy01.17.08 - 5:07 pm
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I feel like a dirty scenester now that I have a T.W.B.G shirt
I've sold my soul to the devil. His name is Borfo
spiraldemon01.17.08 - 5:07 pm
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"Bikes. O.K. and sometimes Beer."
Sometimes? WTF?
toweliesbong01.17.08 - 5:11 pm
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@Sexy,
Good points. Any group of large size, such as MR will have a turn-over rate to match. New people are awesome and essential to the dynamic. I welcome them as much as you all have welcomed me. After all, I've only been riding since this past summer.
@Borfo
Bikes, booze and Borfo. Bx3 to pass!
SPOOK01.17.08 - 5:12 pm
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Down in the Basin, you might consider them a scenester/kid/person.
Myself, I just refer to them as a "Bandwagoneer".
If you enjoy the persons company, bug the shit out of them to keep them on the spot.
If they keep to themselves, seem introverted to a degree, let them blossom, or shrivel on their own.
bentstrider01.17.08 - 5:17 pm
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Anyone who takes joining a "Bicycle Gang" seriously, deserves to have his soul eaten.
Joe Borfo01.17.08 - 5:21 pm
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What i also find interesting, being newly re-acquainted with cycling as of last July is that i have found this giant family of bike-minded people. And as witnessed on the La Noche De Los Bicicistas Muerte ride where we had 900+ (the biggest ride i've been on yet) its a big, fucking community. But i totally forget (until i pass the 60+ peletons racing through MDR every Tuesday morning) that there is still an even larger contingent of cyclists out there that are into the sport/hobby yet have no interest or are aware of our group.
stevo401.17.08 - 5:33 pm
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if you've ever been called or "mistaken" as a scenster (or hipster - There is a slight difference.) then you probably appear to be a hipster to some outsider. No one "within" a scene sees a hipster. What they see are "people like me" or poseurs. Think about it. That's about it. A Scenster is actually someone seen, from the inside of a scene AND outside, at a lot of scenes. Some scensters are literally "Seen-ster"... they have the serious urge to be at every "hip" event or "scene". Which includes venues, bars & certain parties. Get it? To be seen, at the scenes.
And yes, I think that you can be absorbed into a scene, where you are no longer looked at as a poseur, but part of the scene.
I can name 50 of so folks, they're all Elite Core.
the reverend dak01.17.08 - 5:38 pm
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Like it was said in some earlier thread, those are probably the cyclists that ride competitvely, yet use a car/truck for Pt.A-Pt.B .
Or, they could be real dicks and view us as a bunch of, undisciplined, disorganized, hooligananies!!
bentstrider01.17.08 - 5:40 pm
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I’ve heard “hipster” used a bit differently. And I've used it to describe someone who puts being cool first. Like not carrying bike tools because a backpack isn’t hip. Or not having breaks even if they don’t know how to stop down hills. Hipsters do great things for the advancement of fashion and design. "Hipster" is a huge insult and even bigger compliment.
alec01.17.08 - 6:48 pm
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I think I'm too old & tubby to be a scenester. I think.
I own a Chrome bag, but I wouldn't be caught dead on a fixie. I wear jeans to ride, but I don't ride my Dad's old steel beater, and I only have one tattoo that I got in 1997. I simply enjoy seeing the streets of this city at night. And doing it in the company and relative safety of a fun group can
usually make it more enjoyable.
I don't really drink much and I don't really chat/act silly at the 7-11 stops. In fact, those stops usually tend to last a little long for my taste. But I have met some really interesting/creative people on these rides whom I admire and enjoy seeing. When you ride often, you can't expect every ride to be more amazing than the last.
From an outsider's perspective, we're probably all scenesters. Especially you skinny ones with the funny haircuts.
hatehills01.17.08 - 6:53 pm
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you un-un-hipster!
I always expect every ride to be more amazing than the last.
alec01.17.08 - 6:58 pm
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Lemme tell you youngsters a story.
Way back when I was a lad, I used to run around in a subculture of people known as Goths. People would always ask us what we are about, try to make us explain it. The only good explanation I ever heard was this:
"There is no underlying philosophy, belief system, moral code, or aesthetic. We just all like to wear boots."
I think the same thing applies here, except we just all like to ride bikes.
ephemerae01.17.08 - 7:54 pm
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this isnt a scenester scene. scenesters sit around and do nothing they just watch and talk about nothing. everyone here is an active participant that RIDES. so lets just put the mouse down and step away from this thread.... shhhhh
Roadblock01.17.08 - 8:09 pm
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RB is right!
God does not like little boys and girls questioning his existence. You don't want to go to hell do you? I didn't think so! Now be good subservients and make sure you go to church this Sunday.
User101.17.08 - 8:44 pm
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damn i can taste those docs now........I used to love wearing boots.......when is doc marten gonna release a TIME adaptable clipless steel-toe boot??!
Eric Hair01.17.08 - 9:40 pm
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I WILL SAYZ UNPOPULAR FENG
DIZ A SCEEN
U DUZN'T AGREEZ?
COMe NOW? peeples nut always berry gud at intorduzing demselvs. meetarians sumtyms nut treeted saym. peepls hab opinyuns bout bicyz and talk bout beefs and talks shit. knittens purty gud at diz aktully.
i sez diz. diz sceeen prolly nut az excluzshunnary az udder scens. but it still sceen. where knittens iz eberybuddy fcuks eberybuddy elsse. cud be dangerus. franzie is self appointed legedn, n cubz sumtyms a little cub'o'centric. lots uf inside jokes and reminesncing bout old tymes is a little daunting to outsiders. newbs mayks naym by cumming to all teh rydes and doeng crazies.
u can see how dis iz sceen by watcheng new ones form. MR gets too big so den u get woofpack and cubz. cubz gets crowded u gets wyfebyke n scat ryders etc. fragmenting lyke dat is fundamental characterist of sceen.
Knittens01.17.08 - 9:56 pm
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Knittens for president!
Eric -
when is doc marten gonna release a TIME adaptable clipless steel-toe boot??!
Me -
I was seriously thinking about adapting clipless to people's favorite shoes. About the only requirement on the shoe is that it has to be a pretty stiff sole.
Have dremel will travel!
User101.17.08 - 10:04 pm
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I know. There's definitely a market out there for cooler clipless shoes...
If shoes were easier to make I'd start making them...but I'm not really sure where to start.
BunnyBubbles01.17.08 - 10:07 pm
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Do it Joe!
Charles was and still is one bad mofo!
PC can be Charles Bronson. We'll go around kicking all the bad guys asses in one huge bike gang.
User101.17.08 - 10:08 pm
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borfo - do you want to borrow that cd? charles bronson doesnt really strike me as the type of band youd listen to. "lets start another war so i can write a song about stopping it"
ruinedbyidiots01.17.08 - 10:09 pm
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Forget about clipless. The real untapped market is cool-looking shoes with stiff soles that will fit in clips with straps. There are plenty that meet one or two of those criteria, but none that meet all three.
PC01.17.08 - 10:17 pm
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I'm way too cultured and intelligent to be a hipster.
IMO, hipsters are people who feign such things.
kyber01.17.08 - 10:22 pm
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"Cultured" as in speech, or beer?
PC01.17.08 - 10:24 pm
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Howzabout an add-on sole so you can turn your super comfy shell toe adidas into proper carbon stiffed cycling shoes.......but who rocks cages anyway!?
Eric Hair
01.17.08 - 10:25 pm
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Kyber's not a hipster, otherwise he wouldn't have been late to his own thread.....
Eric Hair01.17.08 - 10:26 pm
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I'm a shitty speaker, but a decent writer.
kyber01.17.08 - 10:27 pm
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Beer is good though.
kyber01.17.08 - 10:27 pm
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i do notice that LA cyclists call more attention about their cycling than the people in SF.
superfish01.17.08 - 10:39 pm
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Maybe its because we like the attention? LOOK AT ME
Joe Borfo01.17.08 - 10:45 pm
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HAHA! I Killed this thead!
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THIS THREAD IS NOW DEAD
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Joe Borfo01.17.08 - 10:49 pm
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is that a 2 car garage on your face? wait, no...it just your nose...
=) haha!!! just kidding
superfish01.17.08 - 10:54 pm
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Thanks, I'm going to you that on PC now.
Joe Borfo01.17.08 - 10:55 pm
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share the road, share the station, share the joke!
superfish01.17.08 - 10:58 pm
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ooo, charles bronson for president!
laButtana01.17.08 - 11:22 pm
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shit, thats what i need to ride in the rain with.
RRH!!
superfish01.18.08 - 8:56 am
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"There are plenty that meet one or two of those criteria, but none that meet all three."
toweliesbong01.18.08 - 9:47 am
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cyper dibate!
ribbit...
ribbit...
I only ride my bike to drink more
spiraldemon01.18.08 - 10:52 am
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DUB DUB DUB DOT PINNACLE OF THE ELITE CORE SCENE DOT LA DOT CA DOT US SLASH CYPER DIBATE
neverclever01.18.08 - 11:58 am
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Ridazz Roulette!
Oh yeah! Let's roll with clipless-converted badass