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The "elevator pitch" (not sure what the exact name is) for this site , which you can see at the top of the tour, is as follows:

Bicycles is a question and answer site for people who build and repair bicycles, train bicycling, or commute on bicycles.

I think that "train bicycling" is ungrammatical, and should be replaced with something else - perhaps "train at bicycling" (though that sounds sort of stilted).

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  • I'm not sure if it's grammatical or not... "bicycling" in that form looks like a gerund (noun-equivalent), which would require the transitive form of "train", but we're not training the bicycling, so that's not right. Can it be an adverbial present participle in this context? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…
    – freiheit
    Jun 3, 2014 at 2:57
  • 1
    Either way, I think you're right that there's room for improvement, since it does sound odd and/or unclear to some native English speakers... I don't think "train at bicycling" is an improvement, though.
    – freiheit
    Jun 3, 2014 at 2:58
  • 3
    Maybe we should ask on english.stackexchange.com?
    – freiheit
    Jun 3, 2014 at 2:58
  • 4
    How about "build, repair, and ride bicycles"?
    – jimchristie Mod
    Jun 3, 2014 at 18:08
  • @jimirings That certainly seems a good deal punchier.
    – senshin
    Jun 3, 2014 at 18:09
  • Wow, I didn't know people read the elevator pitches. But it does sound odd.
    – Batman
    Jun 6, 2014 at 3:05
  • 1
    And now it's different. :)
    – freiheit
    Jun 11, 2014 at 18:47

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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So, let's change from this:

Bicycles is a question and answer site for people who build and repair bicycles, train bicycling, or commute on bicycles. It's built and run by you as part of the Stack Exchange network of Q&A sites. With your help, we're working together to build a library of detailed answers to every question about bicycles and bicycling.

To this:

Bicycles is a question and answer site for people who build, repair, or ride bicycles. It's built and run by you as part of the Stack Exchange network of Q&A sites. With your help, we're working together to build a library of detailed answers to every question about bicycles and bicycling.

Or, even better, move the most important thing first:

Bicycles is a question and answer site for people who ride, repair, or build bicycles. It's built and run by you as part of the Stack Exchange network of Q&A sites. With your help, we're working together to build a library of detailed answers to every question about bicycles and bicycling.

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  • That last version is now live
    – freiheit
    Jun 11, 2014 at 18:47
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'Train cyclists' seems as though it would be a very good fit here? Possibly also 'train cycling' would be appropriate

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  • I don't like either of those suggestions. "Train cyclists" sounds like coaching, which is on-topic but doesn't include people who are riding a bike in order to improve their bicycling performance. "Train cycling" just changes "bicycling" to the less clear "cycling" and doesn't fix the grammar at all.
    – freiheit
    Jun 4, 2014 at 17:55
  • I really like your answer but would suggest 'build, repair or ride' (I can't comment on others posts yet :( )
    – Stamfordone
    Jun 4, 2014 at 18:01
  • And @freiheit... Sorry, me being pedantic, you should remove the comma before or
    – Stamfordone
    Jun 5, 2014 at 5:46
  • @Stamfordone Comma or not depends on the writing style you use for your english, cf. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_comma I for myself like it ;-) and don't mind having it there.
    – Benedikt Bauer
    Jun 5, 2014 at 11:31
  • Fair enough, you learn something new every day!
    – Stamfordone
    Jun 5, 2014 at 12:04
  • @Stamfordone That comma was a deliberate choice. I default to the Oxford/serial comma unless it might increase ambiguity.
    – freiheit
    Jun 5, 2014 at 17:13
  • That works for me, never heard of it before so always went with what I thought I knew
    – Stamfordone
    Jun 5, 2014 at 17:28

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