# Please Don't Touch



## saladshooter (Feb 13, 2019)

Why is it that folks want to touch the most fragile areas of a vintage bike? I LOVE showing and talking to people about my bikes. But why good Lord above are people attracted like a magnet to the most delicate flaking paint or decal on my bikes and feel the need to rub it to confirm its fragility?? I'm not the most bestest communicator. Maybe it's the tone of my voice.. When you show non bike people and even some bike people your stuff do you tell them please don't touch? But hey if you want to go for a ride later start thinking about the one you want to ride. You can ride it, but please don't touch it.

Chad


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## bike (Feb 13, 2019)

At  a show years ago a guy came up to my friends twin 40 and started squeezing the lens...


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## Sevenhills1952 (Feb 13, 2019)

Apparently human nature. My brother has a mineral collection and people love to touch the most fragile crystals, some were destroyed. Now they're in showcases.
Carry "PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH!" card, also say look...don't touch.
My wife still has her first new car, ordered in 1972, a Formula Firebird with a rubber nose ...27k miles, original paint except the nose had to be painted. People "oh wow! A rubber front bumper"!, then squeeze it, cracking the paint. It stays in garage, car covered.

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## 5760rj (Feb 13, 2019)

bike said:


> At  a show years ago a guy came up to my friends twin 40 and started squeezing the lens...



delt with people ringing the bell, squeezing the brake handle over and over like they need reinsurance that it really works and just plain touching everything with there hands after eatting junk that is still on there hands be sides on the front of there shirt, what part of Please Dont Touch That You Can't Understand? if I fondled your girlfriend that way would that be ok with you? some of these small local shows are more trouble than there worth, there not here for the vintage original or expensive restoration, but food. the crappy vendor food, and to let their kids run around like it's a out door play ground unattended drives me nuts, but the adults are just as bad and I've been asked to leave because of my mouth, yeah ok it's true I did lose it when I looked over and a mom had put her very young child on the seat of my bike for a photo and not asking plus the the child had a wet bottom because of pee because the parent was to busy stuffing her face to attend to her child, or take her to a restroom because of eatting non stop that F#$! greasy vender food, yeah I lost it alright when I saw my leather seat having a wet spot and it wasn't a small spot either, I walked my bike home that day fuming, as for my remarks about that idiot's girlfriend, it put an end to my invatation to comming back.......that's ok, im just happy to ride around and enjoy the day with a dry seat......


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## fordmike65 (Feb 13, 2019)

A few years ago I brought my Pacemaker out for our local ride. A non-bike friend was admiring it & commented on how the shroud didn't quite fit right...as he squeezes it, cracking it further. Boy was I mad...but I knew he didn't mean it.


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## kreika (Feb 13, 2019)

fordmike65 said:


> A few years ago I brought my Pacemaker out for our local ride. A non-bike friend was admiring it & commented on how it didn't quite fit right...as he squeezes it, cracking it further. Boy was I mad...but I knew he didn't mean it.


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## bricycle (Feb 13, 2019)

I have a sign that reads: "if you value you hand as much as I do this, then keep them off please."


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## OldSkipTooth (Feb 13, 2019)

I have a shop and sell vintage stuff, mostly furniture. When a family comes in I just turn to the parents and say this: I don’t own these items, your welcome to sit and explore, but if you damage it you have just bought it! They rein their kids in or run for the door at that point.


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## cyclingday (Feb 13, 2019)

Yep!
All of my bikes are for people to see and enjoy, but it is always so annoying when somebody does something like press their thump into the saddle or press down on the handlebar to see the springer work.
Most times it's no big deal, but I cringe a little every time it happens.
One time up at the Yosemite ride, a bunch of Chinese tourists started sitting on my bike as a picture prop.
No harm no foul, but the idea, that they could just swing a leg over it without asking was annoying.
I should've put a coin box there and charged admission.


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## fordmike65 (Feb 13, 2019)

cyclingday said:


> Yep!
> All of my bikes are for people to see and enjoy, but it is always so annoying when somebody does something like press their thump into the saddle or press down on the handlebar to see the springer work.
> Most times it's no big deal, but I cringe a little every time it happens.
> One time up at the Yosemite ride, a bunch of Chinese tourists started sitting on my bike as a picture prop.
> ...




I came this close to telling that guy off when he started jerking it like a coin-operated ride! The nerve of some people!


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## OldSkipTooth (Feb 13, 2019)




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## redline1968 (Feb 13, 2019)

I like it when the Come up and push down on the bike to see if the spring fork works  or pound on the seat to say wow it's has a spring on it....however I did let my Canadian buds use my bluebird speedo area as a beer bottle  holder...lol   ...


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## OldSkipTooth (Feb 13, 2019)

On another note, cars and motorcycles get much more respect than a bicycle, sadly enough.


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## redline1968 (Feb 13, 2019)

Won't let them touch my 71 ta


Sevenhills1952 said:


> Apparently human nature. My brother has a mineral collection and people love to touch the most fragile crystals, some were destroyed. Now they're in showcases.
> Carry "PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH!" card, also say look...don't touch.
> My wife still has her first new car, ordered in 1972, a Formula Firebird with a rubber nose ...27k miles, original paint except the nose had to be painted. People "oh wow! A rubber front bumper"!, then squeeze it, cracking the paint. It stays in garage, car covered.
> 
> Sent from my SM-S320VL using Tapatalk


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## mickeyc (Feb 13, 2019)

Same happens at car shows, believe me I could tell stories!


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## A.S.BOLTNUT (Feb 13, 2019)

When the family comes over for get togethers all the Grandkids always go too the " toy room " and help ther self's to my collectable toys , tin lunch boxes, bb guns , tonkas , rockem sockem robots , whatever they want and play with them , their's always some one who asks " I can't believe you let them play with those things "  ?
I always reply,  That's what they're for , they're Toys !


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## bulldog1935 (Feb 13, 2019)

a sign is actually not a bad idea - or open carry - God bless Texas


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## Flat Tire (Feb 13, 2019)

I like folks who just have to honk aahooga horns, with absolutely no intention of buying, or squeezing nice tires so hard over and over looking for cracks, I told one guy the reason it has cracks is because of folks like you squeezing the S### outta them, haha. Of course pay back is fun, I had an old train whistle at a swap once, sitting with my friend I had folks ask " does it work?" I said sure does! blow it and see, I bet 20 different people put their lips to it and blew away, yuk!!!! We laughed like crazy!!


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## Rivnut (Feb 13, 2019)

I just love it when folks poke the 55 year old padded dash in my '63 Riviera to see how much of an impact it will with stand.  I told one guy one time "Let me push your head into the pad and we'll see if your skull or the dash is stronger."  He soon decided that he didn't like the idea of riding in my car so much.  It's human nature to be ignorant around things you don't understand.


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## Sevenhills1952 (Feb 13, 2019)

redline1968 said:


> Won't let them touch my 71 ta
> 
> View attachment 948307



Beautiful!. Her Formula is Florentine Red.
Her '68 is yellow.

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## vincev (Feb 13, 2019)

bricycle said:


> I have a sign that reads: "if you value you hand as much as I do this, then keep them off please."



Be that way.Thats the last time I will sit on your old 100 year old seat.HMPH.......


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## Autocycleplane (Feb 13, 2019)

One thing I've noticed over the years is how smaller children always seem to go for the chain first. I tend to let them grab it for a bit before pointing out to their parents what is going on and that they should probably put a stop to it.


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## Duchess (Feb 13, 2019)

When I was a kid, wealthy friends of my decidedly unwealthy family had a '57 300SL and a pogoda roof 280SL. The owner would leave me alone int he garage to hang out in the cars. I spent a lot of time "racing in the Mille Miglia" in that car and opening and closing the doors because I loved the pop out door handle and how solid the door was and how the only sounds were the singular thunk and the latching mechanism would click with machined perfection (sadly, I had little appreciation for the 280 until much later). Later, he offered me a Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud for the prom (now _that_ was really a test of faith!), but he ended up getting too good a price for it a couple weeks before (or came to his senses). I also got to sit inside a Lamborghini Jalpa and really check out one of the three endurance speed record-setting first generation Subaru Legacy RS-RA race cars. Yeah, I was more respectful than many adults, but I still marvel at his faith when I hear about how other people are about their toys.


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## Frank and Pam Skid Kings (Feb 13, 2019)

The Skidkings get really neat hang tags from Gary when we ride. Always see people looking at them and guessing because their interested in what the bike is and hoping it says on tag. Thought for a time of tagging our bikes with a info hang tag of year model ect. Could also incorporate a "please do not touch bike" bottom line. Make it better for people checking them out and less worry about jackasses. By the way, absolute worst is people around your prize bikes with the rear drop stands... am i right ! ?


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## redline1968 (Feb 13, 2019)

Thanks love them at any color...Nice.....” birds forever”....the 71 needs a color change...but...this one is done...no touching for sure....☠️☠️☠️☠️










Sevenhills1952 said:


> Beautiful!. Her Formula is Florentine Red.
> Her '68 is yellow.
> 
> Sent from my SM-S320VL using Tapatalk


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## the tinker (Feb 13, 2019)

Old bikes and toys [ pre-60s] are most likely covered in lead based paint. In some states, any object painted with lead paint cannot be knowingly sold to a minor. The seller opens himself to a lawsuit if he sells, lets say, a bike or toy with lead paint on it to a minor. Very easy to test for lead based paint. I know it's BS, but we had visitors at my house one time and the grandmother insisted that her young grandson play with a bunch of lead soldiers I had sitting on a low shelf. When I politely asked her not to let her grandson play with them [ he was banging them around ] she got pissed, like I was being a jerk. After all, they're toys.  I just pointed out to her that they were made of lead, and most likely painted with lead paint too.  Problem solved.


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## mr.cycleplane (Feb 13, 2019)

I had a problem with people wanting to squeeze the front brake lever on my motorbike. they would squeeze it till the cable stretched(exaggeration here)-same people-every time. I finally got some balling wire and wired it so it wouldn't move. next time they came over and went over to do their thing-they got bent out when they tried it. I didn't care. they did get the message. I've had the mentioned problem of fragile/flaky paint.....scraping it off with their nails in front of me!!!!


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## fordmike65 (Feb 13, 2019)

mr.cycleplane said:


> I had a problem with people wanting to squeeze the front brake lever on my motorbike. they would squeeze it till the cable stretched(exaggeration here)-same people-every time. I finally got some balling wire and wired it so it wouldn't move. next time they came over and went over to do their thing-they got bent out when they tried it. I didn't care. they did get the message. had the mentioned problem of fragile/flaky paint.....scraping it off with their nails in front of me!!!!


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## A.S.BOLTNUT (Feb 13, 2019)




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## Mr. Monkeyarms (Feb 13, 2019)

Believe it or not ladies and gentlemen, but not everyone had a proper upbringing. I wouldn't think of touching someone's property without asking permission. It took me a long while to realize that not everyone was taught how to be a decent, respectful, responsible person. It's a dangerous world out there. Think ahead and proceed with caution.


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## mr.cycleplane (Feb 13, 2019)

you must be a child of the 50's! we all had these values when I grew up then. somewhere about the time of the 'summer of love'-it began to fall apart.


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## Mr. Monkeyarms (Feb 13, 2019)

mr.cycleplane said:


> you must be a child of the 50's! we all had these values when I grew up then. somewhere about the time of the 'summer of love'-it began to fall apart.




Born in Ethiopia in 1965 with strong Christian values. And 10 years service in the USAF. I blame the ills of our "modern" society on "The Almighty Glowing Rectangle". Like putting on blinders and an easy way to control people. Young and old. We have lost the ability to think for ourselves. It amazes me how many people can't figure out what to do next without someone(or a prompt from the glowing rectangle)telling them the next step. How many people do you see per day that have no idea that everything they do has an impact on someone else? And that it can be a good impact or bad.


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## GTs58 (Feb 13, 2019)

Don't touch! I was personally thrown out of Ron's junkyard when I got caught gently brushing off years of dirt on a dropout to read the damn serial number.
A few years later the place went up in flames!


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## mr.cycleplane (Feb 13, 2019)

geeezzz…. for wiping off a little dust!


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## 5760rj (Feb 13, 2019)

GTs58 said:


> Don't touch! I was personally thrown out of Ron's junkyard when I got caught gently brushing off years of dirt on a dropout to read the damn serial number.
> A few years later the place went up in flames!
> 
> View attachment 948658



that lady in the background is sitting on a tote goat, wasn't that fast but could climb almost anything, sure did have fun on them......


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## GTs58 (Feb 13, 2019)

mr.cycleplane said:


> geeezzz…. for wiping off a little dust! View attachment 948661





LOL...................Yup. Ron was a crazy bird, but he loved his bikes. 





It's all gone now, nobody will ever touch again.


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## mr.cycleplane (Feb 13, 2019)

incredible! bicycle heaven turned into bicycle 'hell'...….


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## OldSkipTooth (Feb 13, 2019)

5760rj said:


> that lady in the background is sitting on a tote goat, wasn't that fast but could climb almost anything, sure did have fun on them......



Yea, my grandpa had tote goat about 1970, he would start it up and put me on it cause I couldn’t touch the ground then push off, I’d ride a while then he would catch me!


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## 5760rj (Feb 13, 2019)

GTs58 said:


> LOL...................Yup. Ron was a crazy bird, but he loved his bikes.
> 
> View attachment 948663
> 
> ...



photo of the yard kind of reminds me of parking at Woodstock hahaha.....


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## mr.cycleplane (Feb 13, 2019)

OldSkipTooth said:


> Yea, my grandpa had tote goat about 1970, he would start it up and put me on it cause I couldn’t touch the ground then push off, I’d ride a while then he would catch me!



 that's a pretty cool memory of your grandfather!


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## mr.cycleplane (Feb 13, 2019)

5760rj said:


> photo of the yard kind of reminds me of parking at Woodstock hahaha.....





Woodstock!  now we're talkin'......


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## Free Wheel (Feb 13, 2019)

People screw around with stuff, especially kids. A long time ago I had a neighbor who owned an old Lincoln with an ornate hood ornament. Another neighbor's kid took to climbing on the car when it was parked out in the street. One day the kid slipped while climbing on the front bumper and grabbed the hood ornament to keep from falling. Christ on a raft, the kid bent the thing right off the hood as he fell. He ran double time back into his house when he saw what he did. He was a brat and his ol man did jackall to keep him out of other people's stuff. But life's funny like that.


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## Boris (Feb 13, 2019)

redline1968 said:


> I like it when the Come up and push down on the bike to see if the spring fork works.




Yeah, but I bought it.


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## vincev (Feb 13, 2019)

Boris said:


> Yeah, but I bought it.



I am guilty of pushing on springer forks.lol


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## mr.cycleplane (Feb 13, 2019)

better springers than dry crispy old seats!


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## Sven (Feb 13, 2019)

He is  dumb


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## GTs58 (Feb 13, 2019)

mr.cycleplane said:


> better springers than *sniffing dry crispy old seats*!




Fix'd                   ..............................................


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## vincev (Feb 13, 2019)

Was at a car show and left my VW bus and went for a hot dog.When I came back there were two little kids sitting in it !


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## Boris (Feb 13, 2019)

vincev said:


> Was at a car show and left my VW bus and went for a hot dog.When I came back there were two little kids sitting in it !



Must have been awfully little kids, or a very big hot dog. At least you knew what was in your hot dog, a lot of times you don't!


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## mr.cycleplane (Feb 13, 2019)

Boris said:


> Must have been awfully little kids, or a very big hot dog. At least you knew what was in your hot dog, a lot of times you don't!




mystery meat!


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## Krakatoa (Feb 14, 2019)

mr.cycleplane said:


> you must be a child of the 50's! we all had these values when I grew up then. somewhere about the time of the 'summer of love'-it began to fall apart.




Gee thanks man I was born in July 1967 LOL!


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## Jay81 (Feb 14, 2019)

We have a local "Bicycle Night" at at bar, sponsored by a local bike shop every Tuesday night, spring through fall. (I have a thread about it in the Events forum if anyone is interested)
We get a little bit of everything, ranging from bikes like the ones in my signature line, to modern day bikes, everyone is welcome.
With the bikes that I bring, I get a lot of questions. So I made up signs to display with each of my bikes, explaining when it's from, what it is, and some of the features. I put at the bottom "Please look but do not touch. Thank you" and wouldn't you know, some people just can't keep their hands off. 
Now, they're not doing anything that's going to hurt the bike, but it's the principle of it. Have some respect.
I no longer collect what I consider "entry level" bikes, and while their not "high end" either, I have decent money invested in them. I enjoy bringing them out for people to see, and they enjoy seeing them. Just gets annoying sometimes when they just gotta touch the bike. 

I was born in '81 and was brought up to leave other peoples stuff alone. Used to go to car shows with my dad when I was a kid and I knew better than to go around touching the cars. I am raising my kids the same way, I can take them to car shows and bike events and they know better than to touch other peoples stuff.


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## videoranger (Feb 14, 2019)

Good sign say "You toucha my bike I breaka you face."


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## mr.cycleplane (Feb 14, 2019)

Krakatoa said:


> Gee thanks man I was born in July 1967 LOL!




wow! in 1967 I was 'coming of age' and probably thinking about 'touching' girls!


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## Sevenhills1952 (Feb 14, 2019)

Maybe the best solution is to simply cough and sneeze, saying "I knew I shouldn't be here with the flu, Doc says I may have pneumonia too (cough/hack)...any questions 'bout my bike (sneeze)". [emoji16]

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## mr.cycleplane (Feb 14, 2019)

I think I had a couple of people with a nasty cold touch my parts at the last bike meet....felt like abandoning them there at the end of the meet.


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## Mr. Monkeyarms (Feb 14, 2019)

mr.cycleplane said:


> I think I had a couple of 'sickies' touch my parts at the last bike meet....felt like abandoning them there at the end of the meet.




Ooooh, you mean someone with a COLD touching your BIKE parts. I totally misunderstood this the first time I read it. Lol! Sorry.


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## catfish (Feb 14, 2019)

bike said:


> At  a show years ago a guy came up to my friends twin 40 and started squeezing the lens...




I was just about to post about this. I'll never forget it.


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## Pedals Past (Feb 14, 2019)

5760rj said:


> delt with people ringing the bell, squeezing the brake handle over and over like they need reinsurance that it really works and just plain touching everything with there hands after eatting junk that is still on there hands be sides on the front of there shirt, what part of Please Dont Touch That You Can't Understand? if I fondled your girlfriend that way would that be ok with you? some of these small local shows are more trouble than there worth, there not here for the vintage original or expensive restoration, but food. the crappy vendor food, and to let their kids run around like it's a out door play ground unattended drives me nuts, but the adults are just as bad and I've been asked to leave because of my mouth, yeah ok it's true I did lose it when I looked over and a mom had put her very young child on the seat of my bike for a photo and not asking plus the the child had a wet bottom because of pee because the parent was to busy stuffing her face to attend to her child, or take her to a restroom because of eatting non stop that F#$! greasy vender food, yeah I lost it alright when I saw my leather seat having a wet spot and it wasn't a small spot either, I walked my bike home that day fuming, as for my remarks about that idiot's girlfriend, it put an end to my invatation to comming back.......that's ok, im just happy to ride around and enjoy the day with a dry seat......



Scott Allison wears gloves ..... I ve always wondered why ..... maybe the spot on your seat got there the same way the blood stains got on my pool table cover? now a friend of mine plays pool at my house with latex gloves ........ if the spot on the seat was on a girls and red does it make it more valuable?  never leave your stuff to be watched by someone else ...... once i watched a guy steal a strawberry reflector off a seat when no one was at the booth i told him to hand it over ..... he tried to tell me he wanted to look at the back of it ...... in his pocket? I waited for the guy to return and told him he might want to keep this in his pocket instead until someone buys it......


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## redline1968 (Feb 14, 2019)

I’m guilty on my own stuff..I touched the hood ornament on a 70 year old toy and broke it... I was sick learned a lesson..lol


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## mr.cycleplane (Feb 14, 2019)

redline1968 said:


> I’m guilty on my own stuff..I touched the hood ornament on a 70 year old toy and broke it... I was sick learned a lesson..lol








how many times did we tell you to not play with that hood ornament......we forgive you!


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## Sevenhills1952 (Feb 14, 2019)

Maybe a sign "Don't mess with bike, me...it's o.k."[emoji3]



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## HARPO (Feb 14, 2019)

Many years ago I use to have a sticker on my car that read "If you value your life as much as I value my car, don't touch it".


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## Mr. Monkeyarms (Feb 14, 2019)

Maybe I am fortunate. I can only think of a couple times someone started touching one of my bikes because it's their right. More often than not, I will be asked if they can touch my bike. I try to keep in mind that it's just a bike. But I also plan for knuckleheaded behavior and don't give the opportunity for this to happen, or at least reduce the chance it will happen. Like thieves, if you take away the opportunity for thievery, they move on.


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## Boxtubebob (Feb 14, 2019)




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## mr.cycleplane (Feb 14, 2019)

Boxtubebob said:


> View attachment 948878


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## Barto (Feb 15, 2019)

I was giving a factory tour in our shop and one of my customers reached over and wiggled the trailing edge of an in-process Composite Propeller Blade...the Trailing edge snapped off and the guy goes - what a POS (this was the 1st stage in the manufacturing process)!  The techs that saw it were less than pleased and I had some "splaining" to do....


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## partsguy (Feb 16, 2019)

Free Wheel said:


> People screw around with stuff, especially kids. A long time ago I had a neighbor who owned an old Lincoln with an ornate hood ornament. Another neighbor's kid took to climbing on the car when it was parked out in the street. One day the kid slipped while climbing on the front bumper and grabbed the hood ornament to keep from falling. Christ on a raft, the kid bent the thing right off the hood as he fell. He ran double time back into his house when he saw what he did. He was a brat and his ol man did jackall to keep him out of other people's stuff. But life's funny like that.




Oh God if his dad didn’t whip the snot out of him, I’d sue!


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## CURTIS L LINDGREN (Feb 16, 2019)

Mr. Monkeyarms said:


> Believe it or not ladies and gentlemen, but not everyone had a proper upbringing. I wouldn't think of touching someone's property without asking permission. It took me a long while to realize that not everyone was taught how to be a decent, respectful, responsible person. It's a dangerous world out there. Think ahead and proceed with caution.



                 It Seems simple to me.   Keep your hands off other peoples stuff.  It's just a matter of respect.  I understand the "Curiosity" factor ,but jeez..................when ya been asked 3 or 4 times does it really have to go that far.    There are people like this.............I'm thinking this might be what is referred to as  " The Dumbing down of America"


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