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Freshmen get a free bike if they leave their car at home
Incoming Ripon College freshmen get a brand-new Trek 820 mountain bike, a Trek Vapor helmet and a Master Lock U-Lock -- all to keep -- if they pledge to leave their cars at home. So far about 60% of the class has signed up for the deal. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
August 28, 2008 | Permalink
Comments
Ok, I just skimmed the article but I didn't see one word about what happens when the windchill is 50 below zero and there are 3 ft of snow on the ground......this is WI...not FL
Posted by: cherie | Aug 28, 2008 8:23:03 AM
Sell it for scrap and buy a beer.
Posted by: trustno1 | Aug 28, 2008 8:24:26 AM
I was thinking the same thing, Cherie...and wondering if the college has made a pledge to keep the bike paths clear of snow during the winter. Two wheels, a body and 50 pounds of book is gonna be real interesting on that ice.
Posted by: | Aug 28, 2008 8:35:52 AM
oops...that was me. Sorry.
Posted by: Cluckie | Aug 28, 2008 8:36:13 AM
Americans don't deserve health care. If they can't treat free bikes well, they will just abuse any health care aid given to them.
I say, double the insurance premiums and let the under-achievers die off.
Posted by: Sean, Torrington | Aug 28, 2008 8:36:55 AM
Well, I suppose you could bottle unicorn farts for heat in the winter.
Posted by: Soo | Aug 28, 2008 8:39:04 AM
Cluckie...I wasn't even taking all the books and misc they have to carry into consideration. 'Nifty bike book packs" weren't mentioned on the list of bike accessories they receive.
Come hell or high water there is no way the college can promise to keep all the pathways from these students living quarters completely free of snow and ice during those crazy winter months they have up there. Let alone the horrible tempatures they'll have to endure. I get the idea, and it was based on a good thought...for the most part...but since most students attend school from late August to late May or early June and given the weather in that area, its possible that 5 of those months wont be conducive to bike riding.
Posted by: cherie | Aug 28, 2008 8:40:55 AM
Sean, honey... wasn't that bit of vitriol meant for the other bike thread, the one about stolen bikes? This one is about getting a free bike in exchange for no car on campus. I'm not sure how health insurance factors here. The colleges are trying to reduce the need for parking spaces.
Posted by: Soo | Aug 28, 2008 8:42:28 AM
Weather notwithstanding, adherence will help ward off the freshman 15.
Still Wisconsin. Never biked in the snow that far north. I've seen some wicked looking Bike tires for ice.
Posted by: nellagain | Aug 28, 2008 8:47:05 AM
I've worked at the same place for a number of years as well as walked around before that and I have noticed a shift in manners, notably college age people now think it's acceptable to ride their bikes through crowds of people on sidewalks. Now I've spent a lot of time on a bike through the city and I can tell you when I rode that was *not* considered acceptable behavior. In fact, at least in Philly, that's still a pretty good way to get your a$$ kicked. People get mad about it, but these kids are either too stupid or too wrapped up in their love affair with themselves to notice. What's changed? Goldarn Kids today...
Posted by: sometimesilie | Aug 28, 2008 8:48:27 AM
I'd use dragon farts myself but Ginger Brandy pours in the hip flask better.
Posted by: trustno1 | Aug 28, 2008 8:53:06 AM
Dick Taster will be their next hunting for victims.
Sean you'll make a good right winger some day. ; )
Posted by: tustno1 | Aug 28, 2008 8:56:03 AM
I have seen people ride when it's very much below zero. At those temperatures, you can't get snow off the paths. But a lot of folks are hardcore, creatures of habit, etc. I guess it depends on the local culture. But the number of biking people does drop when it gets really cold (defined as into single digits and below). Then most people get on buses, or take their cars only when it's way too cold to ride.
Posted by: Displaced | Aug 28, 2008 9:10:58 AM
I actually graduated from Ripon College 15 years ago. They did a very nice job of keeping the paths clear, but it really is a small campus - I don't see much of a need for bikes. Cars there is a need for just because the campus is in the middle of nowhere.
Posted by: steveO | Aug 28, 2008 9:30:32 AM
I think Sean was referring to human nature. People don't respect what they don't earn. Probably half of those bikes, or more will be sold for beer money. And a bunch of the guys will start some bonzo racing thing in the woods and trash them in short order.
Kids especially don't respect what they don't earn. That's why my brother replaced several cars my niece carelessly destroyed. I told him he was nuts. Henpecked as well.
Posted by: Mikey | Aug 28, 2008 9:48:55 AM
I know Sean was just being Sean , the winky eye was a razz. Maybe ??? ; )
No winky eye for the taster : (
Spetled there rong too. Oppps lol
Posted by: trustno1 | Aug 28, 2008 10:09:25 AM
I say, double the insurance premiums and let the under-achievers working poor whose back this country is built upon die off.
Fixed that for you.
Posted by: jdotglenn | Aug 28, 2008 10:24:51 AM
Expect to see a spike in BWI arrests.
Posted by: Dick Tater | Aug 28, 2008 10:42:00 AM
If the students bike in the fall and spring and take the bus or campus shuttle in winter, it should work out OK.
Posted by: Phranqlin | Aug 28, 2008 11:31:30 AM
dammit DT everyone was having good time bashing you and along you come and post something that's actually not off-the-wall offensive for a change. i'd go so far as to call it funny.
Posted by: elchampino | Aug 28, 2008 11:31:52 AM
Look for some sweet deals on Trek bikes on e-bay, includes helmet and lock. Shipping from WI.
Posted by: jared | Aug 28, 2008 12:00:40 PM
I once attended a university which prohibited students from having cars on campus (or anywhere in town). We all rode bikes in order to get from place to place on time for class (can't recall why just now). In winter the sidewalks were so icy, we couldn't ride the bikes without risking catastrophic injury, so we were late to class, anyway. I transferred.
Posted by: Sheila | Aug 28, 2008 12:05:54 PM
HAS to be a Dick Taster impersonator....he's never that witty.
Posted by: cherie | Aug 28, 2008 12:09:22 PM
Ripoff, er, Ripon has always been one of the drug centers of the world.
They made speed queens there.
Posted by: A.V. | Aug 28, 2008 12:12:24 PM
Speed queens, you say. I didn't know they had a roller derby. That's one hell of a town.
Posted by: Soo | Aug 28, 2008 2:22:55 PM
