Bad News

[bentbike33]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/06/04/fewer-kids-are-riding-buying-bicycles-industry-is-worried/?utm_term=.af889b062159

[secstate]

For people who like to know what they’re clicking on, this story says the bicycle industry in the US is worried about declining numbers of children who are riding, the impact of Chinese tariffs, and overall declining numbers of regular cyclists.

[Starduster]

Dasgeh? All my bike shop friends? What say you?

[bentbike33]

@secstate 191304 wrote:

For people who like to know what they’re clicking on, this story says the bicycle industry in the US is worried about declining numbers of children who are riding, the impact of Chinese tariffs, and overall declining numbers of regular cyclists.

Sorry, the forum vastly shortened the link, which was actually rather descriptive of the content.

[dasgeh]

@Starduster 191305 wrote:

Dasgeh? All my bike shop friends? What say you?

I’d be surprised if the numbers hold true in this region.

Also, we need safe places for kids to ride. Traffic gardens/learning loops at all schools. Safe routes especially to schools, libraries, parks, ice cream.

[Brett L.]

“The number of children ages 6 to 17 who rode bicycles regularly — more than 25 times a year…”

So hopping on a bike twice a month is consider regular?

[accordioneur]

@Brett L. 191402 wrote:

“The number of children ages 6 to 17 who rode bicycles regularly — more than 25 times a year…”

So hopping on a bike twice a month is consider regular?

Outside of devoted cyclists, many people consider cycling to be a seasonal activity. Twenty-five times per year means going for a bike ride about every weekend during the nice weather part of the year. That’s pretty regular by many standards.

[mstone]

@accordioneur 191414 wrote:

Outside of devoted cyclists, many people consider cycling to be a seasonal activity. Twenty-five times per year means going for a bike ride about every weekend during the nice weather part of the year. That’s pretty regular by many standards.

or a couple of times of week during summer vacation

[cvcalhoun]

When I was a kid, bicycling was the way you got freedom to get around the neighborhood without having to have your parents drive you, when you were ages 6 to 17 (i.e., before you could drive a car yourself). These days, parents often believe that kids can’t be on their own at all at those ages. So the parents drive them to “play dates,” instead of letting them roam the neighborhood on their bicycles. I consider this a terrible development in all sorts of ways, the diminution of biking among kids being just one of them.

[mstone]

@cvcalhoun 191417 wrote:

When I was a kid, bicycling was the way you got freedom to get around the neighborhood without having to have your parents drive you, when you were ages 6 to 17 (i.e., before you could drive a car yourself). These days, parents often believe that kids can’t be on their own at all at those ages. So the parents drive them to “play dates,” instead of letting them roam the neighborhood on their bicycles. I consider this a terrible development in all sorts of ways, the diminution of biking among kids being just one of them.

The flip side of this is that we’re actually getting multiple collisions involving kids (on bikes or on foot) and cars every year in my area. It’s a lot harder to make the case for free roaming kids when there actually are sociopathic drivers speeding along VDOT’s stroads, and kids in the neighborhood have to cross those stroads to get to, say, the library. (But at least the county provides crossing guards for a half hour a day when school’s in session–that fixes everything! [until the crossing guard gets hit–true story])

[Author]

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