Article: Easy Bikes, No Spandex Required

[PotomacCyclist]

More Dutch-style bikes, more casual cyclists, more demand for bike infrastructure, more political support, more funding for bike infrastructure and safer streets and neighborhoods… I can support this.

[S. Arlington Observer]

@Tim Kelley 117534 wrote:

“To get more people riding, bike-makers peddle relaxed models without all the gears or carbon fiber”

http://www.wsj.com/articles/easy-bikes-no-spandex-required-1433777624

The industry is lurching towards the future.

Agreed! My department store bike has served me well for years. It has 10 speeds but I regularly use only about four. Still, I wish Capital Bikeshare would offer a gear higher than low (in addition to very low and ridiculously low). It is very wasteful to have to peddle so hard on flat or downhill slopes.

[jrenaut]

I love that the main photo has a dude in spandex on what’s probably a carbon bike in the background.

[PotomacCyclist]

How did the article get past Dorothy Rabinowitz?

[lordofthemark]

Eh.

1. Haven’t upright bikes, hybrids, “city bikes” etc been around for quite a long time now? How is this news?

2. If people are going to do short rides for errands, and especially commutes, you need a lot of activity centers within say, 3 to 5 miles of each other. Sprawl can make that difficult. Note to WSJ – time to take on Agenda 21 paranoia, and promote urbanism.

3. A fortiori, relaxed riding requires either segregated bike infrastructure, or urban style development with alternate routes in the grid, slower auto traffic, etc. See 2 above.

4. If you are in a place with a lot of hills, more than 3 speeds is hardly something needed only by athletes and racers. Maybe these younger people are just so much stronger than I am, but had I had to deal with the hills of Fairfax or even Alexandria and Arlington on a 3 speed, I would probably have given up.

[ian74]

@jrenaut 117538 wrote:

I love that the main photo has a dude in spandex on what’s probably a carbon bike in the background.

Man…the symbolism..The spandex clad hero riding off into the sunset…His day is over, his battles won, a relic fading off into the distance. Yet, running right to you staring into your very soul is blondie in a tank top and yoga pants, she is smirking…SMIRKING. Her day has come…They are the new tomorrow.

Good article though, I got my wife a Public last year just for these reasons.

[jrenaut]

@ian74 117554 wrote:

Good article though, I got my wife a Public last year just for these reasons.

My wife got an 8-speed Linus last summer…

… and now she wants a road bike so we can do a metric century together this fall.

[Emm]

There is nothing surprising in this article. Many people stop riding their bike in middle school, and consider starting again in their 20s when they realize driving isn’t all it was made up to be. Comfort bikes are GREAT bikes for people who haven’t touched a bike in years. They’re sturdy, easy to use, and not complicated.

My sister and best friend were in town this past weekend and I took them on a CaBi tour of the National Mall. They both hadn’t been on a bike in years, and were terrified. By the end of our tour they both wanted a bike and thought riding in DC was AWESOME. They were even riding in the streets around the Mall comfortably. The limited gears, steadiness, and ease of use make many comfort bikes like CaBis phenomenal.

Sure, as someone who loves their upright, internally geared disc-braked commuter and aluminum/carbon roadie I found CaBis to be clunky and slow, but I also remembered my own first commuter…an upright, clunky comfort bike . And that was the start of what has turned into something AWESOME (and significantly more spandex-ed…).

[wheelswings]

@ian74 117554 wrote:

Man…the symbolism.. running right to you staring into your very soul is blondie in a tank top and yoga pants, she is smirking…SMIRKING.

Hmm… maybe she’s penetrating your soul, but not mine. :+)

Seems odd that her basket is on the back of her bicycle.

But I agree it’s a good read, lycra-clad insects and all.

It’s an interesting point about the explosive growth of running as opposed to cycling. I wonder how we can turn that around. Bicycling has the huge advantage that it gets you places.

[PotomacCyclist]

The data came from the Sports & Fitness Industry Association. Maybe they only focus on fitness/athletic cycling? Are they tracking bike commuters, including those who use bikeshare? There are an increasing number of bikeshare systems and an increasing number of Americans who are using bikeshare. Doesn’t seem that the bikeshare numbers fit the chart in the article.

Bike advocacy groups have also released charts indicating a rapid expansion of bike commuting in many cities across the U.S. That doesn’t fit the story of this article either. Unless I’m missing something here.

[Emm]

@wheels&wings 117568 wrote:

It’s an interesting point about the explosive growth of running as opposed to cycling. I wonder how we can turn that around. Bicycling has the huge advantage that it gets you places.

Could it be the high start-up cost for cycling? For running, most people own sneakers, or a decent pair is under $100. Even a intro bike can be $300-$500 though, which for many people is ALOT of money to invest in something they aren’t sure they want to commit to. The start up cost is what kept me away from cycling for years.

[PotomacCyclist]

Another problem with the chart is the low threshold for considering someone a runner or a cyclist. While I don’t think someone needs to be ELITE to be a runner or a cyclist, I wouldn’t consider someone who runs once a year a runner. And I wouldn’t call someone who rides once a year, a cyclist. But that’s what they are counting as “participation.”

I know they have to pick some number as a threshold, but once a year is too low. Someone with such limited participation may not think that much about supporting running or cycling, or supporting better transportation infrastructure, or safety for pedestrians and cyclists.

A 2013 Runner’s World article seems to be covering the same data. They report that 29.4 million Americans ran at least 50 days in 2012. While 50 days still isn’t a really high number, I would accept it as a definition of a casual/occasional runner. (Another confusing factor: triathletes. Many of them are consistent runners and cyclists, but they don’t run as often as a running specialist does.)

As for cycling, the League of American Bicyclists reported that the number of trips made by bicycle in the U.S. more than doubled from 2001 to 2009, from 1.7 billion trips to 4 billion trips.

http://www.runnersworld.com/general-interest/participation-shoe-sales-keep-increasing

http://bikeleague.org/commutingdata

[TwoWheelsDC]

“When you look at a marathon or half-marathon, you will see people walking, and they’re not ashamed,” says Fred Clements, executive director of the National Bicycle Dealers Association. “They’re not made to feel embarrassed. And that’s something that you won’t really see at a bicycling event. I don’t think we’re as far along as running is in making events that appeal to everyone.”

This may be the dumbest quote about cycling that I’ll read today.

[PotomacCyclist]

He may be onto something though. I found this footage from last year’s Challenge Ride, near the Air Force Memorial, of someone speaking to a slower group of riders:

[Terpfan]

@TwoWheelsDC 117576 wrote:

This may be the dumbest quote about cycling that I’ll read today.

Agreed.

I sat there puzzled why they included that quote after explaining these targeted folks would only be riding a mile or two to the gym or farmer’s market.

[Author]

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