Is drinking PBR required to be an "urban cyclist"?

So yeah, last night I rode out to meet a buddy for a beer, and a fellow in the bar commented to me how the lack of clipless pedals and the "loud" lighting on my road bike precludes me from being a true cyclist. Also, he mentioned that I ordered a Newcastle instead of PBR, so I wasn't "keeping it real".

I didn't want to get into a whole debate with the guy because since he had obviously had a few too many PBRs, the discussion would go nowhere. I did ascribe the pedals and the lights to the same factor, my almost getting hit by cars in the past. My bike does have SPDs, but I choose to ride with the adapters on them so I don't have to lock my feet to the pedals as doing that makes me nervous about close calls with cars. The lights are somewhat obnoxious I guess, but they have the same effect as that laser bike lane thing, so for me, the tradeoff is a good one.

The one thing I couldn't even counter on, was that not drinking PBR makes me a fraud as a cyclist. Most of my bike-related choices are very pragmatic, I don't drink PBR not to make a political or social statement, I just happen to prefer various other beers. Not to knock anyone who enjoys that beer of course, I just didn't realize it was such a hot button for some people.

So then, should one compromise a bit to be official in the cycling community, or was my next-stool neighbor last night just a blue ribbon snob?

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Permalink Reply by Filka Bean on November 15, 2018 at 5:21pm

I just saw this on AHTBM; thanks for dusting off the old thread!

So we all have to start drinking Newcastle now?

Permalink Reply by Tom A.K. on November 29, 2018 at 7:05am

Both parties have amicably resolved all issues in this case.

PBR has been saved !

https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-pabst-millercoors-la...

Permalink Reply by David Henri on November 16, 2018 at 6:43am

Vondo, at first I thought this was a joking post, but from the responses I read, it seems to be taken as serious.  When I ride in warm weather (beer drinking weather)  I wear cargo shorts, a seersucker short sleeve shirt for coolness, a baseball cap and Birkenstock sandals.  I never clip in the city, and would never drink that rot-gut PBR.  Two Hearted Ale for me.  I guess I'm not a real cyclist....

Permalink Reply by Yasmeen on November 16, 2018 at 6:55am

David, I'm right there with you on the topic of PBR. I only have one bike now that I clip into and mainly wear skirts and dresses for comfort and coolness. And I don't care what the definition of Bike Snob's cyclist breakdown is. He is not the boss of me. :-) I  just know that riding my bike in summer is one of the best feelings in the world. So I do it as much as I can. 

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