General Cycling Discussion - The biggest problem with cycling

...is?

Not enough people doing it!

It is the most expensive sport I have ever played. Damn parts breaking and upgrades blah blah. :)

Not enough people doing it!

I'd say that's the perfect short answer. if there were more people doing it, that means there'd be more of a market, which means higher demand, which should mean more competition in the industry, which is generally good for us as consumers.

there'd also be more willingness on the part of city planners and the transportation departments to design bicycle-friendly roads, etc. and I don't think I need to get into all the myriads of health, environmental and economic benefits.

it's all about money. more people would do the trick.

--alex.

Motorists.

To many people it's cost prohibitive.

1) TIME

2) $$$$$$$

:confused:

automobile traffic:mad:

Originally posted by Maelstrom
It is the most expensive sport I have ever played. Damn parts breaking and upgrades blah blah. :)
I see it just a little bit differently. Because I ride everywhere, we are a one car family. Even with breakages, upgrades etc, I'm still hundreds of dollars ahead. If I spend a couple of hundred on my bike I can replace the chain, cluster and a few other bits and pieces. Spend that on a car and the mechanic has only just started.

As for the biggest problem with cycling, headwinds.

It is addictive

Not enough good trails.

Originally posted by MediaCreations

I see it just a little bit differently. Because I ride everywhere, we are a one car family. Even with breakages, upgrades etc, I'm still hundreds of dollars ahead. If I spend a couple of hundred on my bike I can replace the chain, cluster and a few other bits and pieces. Spend that on a car and the mechanic has only just started.

As for the biggest problem with cycling, headwinds.


Simple response ;)...I am not a driver. In fact an avid non driver. But also driving a car isn't considered sport unless of course you race your family car ;)

Originally posted by Dirtgrinder
Not enough good trails.

Amen to that. :) I would add...too many beginner trails. For every 10 beginner trails there is 2 intermediate and 1 advanced. That isn't enough :)

Because I do my own repairs, ride reliable old classics, buy high-quality used parts, and ride for transportation as well as for exercise, I do not consider bicycling expensive.

The biggest problem by far is incompetent, careless, inebriated, distracted, and/or aggressive motorists. In most states, it is too easy to obtain and to retain a driver's license, and too many judges and juries regard driving as a right, instead of the privilege it legally is and morally should be.

Problem? What problem?

Costwise, it is whatever you make of it. I cycle very happily on my 1980 touring bike (paid roughly $400 back then, racks, fenders and generator included). It was rather expensive, but since I didn,t have any repairs to do on it until 2000, it means an average cost of $20/year.

Consumables (tires, tubes, occasional chain and water bottle, gloves...) cost a grand total of $50-$100/year, which is much less than any kind of subscription I could pay to a ski resort, a gym, a tennis court, etc.
Moreover, a lot of these consumables are consumed because I commute and often shop around by bike. So not only I enjoy my time, but I save gas, automotive costs, etc.

OK, now I must confess: I endulged myself in a newer touring bike in late 2000, and added a trailercycle and a child trailer to that. Still, it is cheaper to buy that than to buy ski passes for the entire family. Besides, they love it!

Regards,

The biggest problem with cycling is that people keep calling it a sport. It is not. Bicycling is bicycling- only RACING is a sport. Treating bicycle riding as sport leads politicians and city planners to think of bicycles as sporting equipment (toys) and therefore not worthy of respect.

A bicycle is not a toy. It is your ticket to freedom, health and happiness.

I disagree. Anything physical can be a sport as long as you put some degree of competetiveness to it. I don't cycle for pure fun. If I didn't see a progression in my ability and speed I wouldn't do it.

Just because we don't all keep score vs others doesn't remove it from the sport category. For me it is a sport and very competetive. I don't race nor do I ever plan to. :)

If you politicians are that stupid then that is absurd. Since when does sport relate to toys? It is a tool, just like skis and snowboards. Neither of those are toys and your politicians would greatly offend almost the entire west coast of canada if they claimed we were 'playing' with 'toys' :)

No appropriate place to anchor the photon torpedo tubes.

Originally posted by Maelstrom
.... driving a car isn't considered sport unless of course you race your family car ;)
I don't ... but so many motorists seem to.:D

i race, ride for health/fitness and for transportation --- i just love to ride

as a recreational sport: not many problems...
* for MTB, trail access/ettiquette

as a spectator sport:
*not enough people understand cycling (good example the idiot journalist who claimed cycling shouldn't be considered a "real" sport b/c it doesn't require speed or strength)

as transportation:
* people are lazy
*cities are designed for autos instead of people (cyclists and pedestrains)
* motorists endanger cyclists and pedestrians
* people associate AUTO with IMAGE

... the utter lack of respect one gets on the road from soccer moms, and others who just don't pay attention.

Road debris. Glass, cars, etc......

The point cycletourist makes is pertinent. If the people who plan cycle facilities and traffic policy regard cycling as only a sport, what they provide are leisure facilities, not transport facilities.

This is not to detract from the sporting aspects, just to bear in mind that you can use a bike for getting to work and doing the shopping. I cant thing of any definition of the word Sport which describes me doing the weekly grocery shopping.

Toys are things you play with, and if you do your playing with a bike, its a (expensive and sophisticted) toy. If you do your shopping on a bike, its a (generally cheap and unsophisticated) vehicle.
Toys are not tools, and you can see that by comparing any hardcore commuters bike to a sport bike. Skis (xc, not alpine downhill) can be tools, for people who live and travel in snowy regions, but what is the job for which snowboards are the right tool ?
The policy makers generally regard bikes as toys for leisure, not vehicles for transport.

Bad roads- potholes, etc.

Not enough good off-road areas within the city limits.

Too many SUVs.

1. $$$$

2. lack of media coverage

not enough hot chicks doing it. its hard to find a decent girl that enjoys the same sport you do.

I can never seem to go fast enough or far enough or to ride as long or as often as I'd like.

Originally posted by killerasp
not enough hot chicks doing it. its hard to find a decent girl that enjoys the same sport you do.

Try shopping. :D

It doesn't pay the bills!

Originally posted by bac


Try shopping. :D

how would shopping find me a girl that likes cycling?

...women in bike shorts riding in front of me. It slows me down!

The biggest problem I see isn't with bicycling it's self but rather with people's perception of it. I say that from my perspective as a devoted gear head who now preaches the gospel of two wheeled, self propeled transportation. People love thier cars, especially out west. They honestly believe they cannot get by without one. In our society, it is a common rite of passage for a young man to "graduate" from the bicycle to his first car. In fact, very often his entire image is based on it. That was certainly the case with me. The automobile is so deeply ingrained in our collective consiousness that many people I encounter cannot even imagine not driving. These same people look at me with a sense of profound pity when I arrive at work and often will offer to pick me up if I need a ride. While I appreciate thier trying to help, they sometimes don't understand that I ride because I want to. Untill people are willing to change the way they think, I'm afraid the situation will not improve.

Originally posted by killerasp


how would shopping find me a girl that likes cycling?

Go shopping at a bike shop?

Cyclists who don't follow the rules of the road. They go through red lights, don't stop for stop signs, ride on the wrong side of the road, etc.

What I hate about the sport the most............

Posers.

Mountain Bike Posers:

Examples of a mountain bike poser include:

1. Those people that drive around with that mountain bikes on the top of their SUV because it makes them look cool like those adventure types in all the Ford and Nissan commercials. They drive 50 miles to ride five.
2. The guy that gets out of his car, gets on his bike, and while waiting for friends to get ready does some crazy trails hopping routine, and falls over when he stalls out and can't get out of his hew SPD pedals.
3, The rider that just bought new tires at $65 ea, mounted the front one on the back, back on the front, and they are both mounted in the wrong direction.
4. People that ride on trails with new bikes and don't remove the reflectors.
5. Riders that think it's cool to see how fast they can blow by the hikers.
6. The rider that leaves his old tubes in the woods.

Road Bike Posers:

Examples of a road bike poser include:
1. Riding without a helmet (com'on they do it in the tour!)
2. Someone who owns a bike that has more mileage on top of a car than by actually riding it.
3. The guy who shows up on your club ride and thinks he's Lance and tries to race everyone up every hill.
4. Throwing away your water bottle on the last lap of a CAT5 race.
5. The pedal mashing guy with the $4500 Trek that sways back and forth in a waaay too tall a gear and complains why his knees hurt all the time.
6. The guy with the complete USPS outfit, TREK 5500, and hairy legs!

Sorry, but I had to vent.

1. Having to ride downhill after completing a climb

2. Incompetent motoring primates

3. Not enough females do it (at least not around here)

4. THE FACT THAT IT NEVER F**KING RAINS!!!

:cry:

As far as posers go, hey, at least they're out on their bikes, not sitting at home stuffing their fat faces and watching tv!

Howver, there are some real posers- the ones who spend shmillions on a bike, then ride it for 5k on the weekends, right to a local restaurant and then sit there on the terrasse with their buddies, wearing their Banesto strip and SMOKING!

As for chicks, I wish there were more women to ride with- I ride with groups of mostly guys. I see women on their bikes sometimes but a lot of them aren't very friendly or they're really serious racer types who would leave me behind as a corpse. I agree that not enough women are into cycling.

No problems whatsoever. If there was a problem with it, not so many people would be on this board!

steven

Originally posted by wabbit
Howver, there are some real posers- the ones who spend shmillions on a bike, then ride it for 5k on the weekends, right to a local restaurant and then sit there on the terrasse with their buddies, wearing their Banesto strip and SMOKING!

That's OK. I just loooove dropping them on the next hill! Assuming they actually bother to ride any hills of course. :eek:

The best poseur I ever saw was in France, at the summit of the Col de Galibier, one of the classic climbs of the Tour. This was in August, not during the race:
A car pulls up with a French family. The guy is dressed in his favourite team kit, unloads his ultra-light carbon fibre/Record equipped bike, then cycles down the mountain.

...being torn between the seeing the yellow tailed black cockatoo, sky blue rosellas and kookaburras ...and seeing how fast I am not going and not training hard enough...

Originally posted by MKRG
To many people it's cost prohibitive.

As far as consumables go - I get 4000 miles plus on a tire (front one much more than that). So that gives me 5 cents per mile. I get about the same on a chain which is another 5 cents per mile. So I am at 10 cents per mile. As for the bike, it costs $2000 and it has lasted over 30,000 miles so that is a 7 cents per mile. So I am at 17 cents per mile. Or about $2 to do a century. When I did all of my own maintenance that was nice and cheap and cost virtually nothing. Having a shop do the harder stuff might add bring the total up to 20 cents per mile. Of course, one could easily halve the above figure by riding large inexpensive tires, doing all your own maintenance and riding an inexpensive bike or buying a used bike at less than half price. I think if you work it out, bicycling is very reasonably priced compares favorably with belonging to a health club or even running (and going through shoes all the time).

Having to stop when I reach work...

Originally posted by Richard D
Having to stop when I reach work...
Work cuts into my riding time. :mad:

Traffic.
Rain.
Cold weather.
End of daylight savings time. It's coming soon. :crash:

I can't take my wife and my youngest son for a bike ride.....

Friggin pedestrians and their unleashed dogs and small children that take up all the path. I would rather take my chances with motorists on the road.:fight:

Don't remind me of rain and changing the clocks! Tomorrow we're supposed to get deluged with rain (thanks to tropical storm Kyle) and then WET SNOW tomorrow night! That won't last long, of course, but the season is nearly over.

We have all missed by far the biggest problem with cycling, however. The fact that it's f**king summer for six months of the year.

:mad: :crash: :cry:

Originally posted by Chris L
We have all missed by far the biggest problem with cycling, however. The fact that it's f**king summer for six months of the year.

:mad: :crash: :cry:

What a difference a hemisphere makes! :p

-Rob

I agree with some of the posts and in particular, Big Johnson. The biggest problem with cycling is the image it has with the non-cycling public. Bikes are considered toys, and anytime they see us riding they assume that we must be 'playing.' This is the predominant view in the US. Even my own wife thinks that cycling to work is somewhat silly. Even most of our local club riders never consider the bicycle as practical transportation.

Dave