Living Car Free - Film: Return of the Scorcher

Friends,

Here is a film from 1992 by Ted White, titled "Return of the Scorcher" in which many of the issues discussed in this forum regarding bicycles in American, European and Asian cultures are examined.

Please enjoy and tell your friends:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1753917347928363206

_S

The part with the guy with the beard talking about giving people options is something that car apologists who claim a car equals freedom need to understand. The free part of car free isn't emphasized enough. When a car dependent suburban friend's car breaks down the first thing to do is rent a replacement until the car can be fixed. When my bike breaks down, I hop on a bus or walk or take the train. Its not just the physical cage of metal that traps car culture people, its also a mental cage.

We see echos of that mental trap when car people put erroneous posts here like "I'd sell my car but won't be able to xxx." Where xxx is something car free people do all the time. Then when some car free person posts about how that person does xxx the car person responds with a variation on the xxx scenario that doesn't correspond with the car free person's way of doing things and the ugly back and forth continues until the discussion becomes ridiculous. It is odd, that the car person doesn't see the extra transportation choices.

I remember reading something by a philosopher, I think it was Hegel, where the guy was saying that the tendency of humanity is toward increased freedom. What I recall was being reminded of the concept of entropy in physics where a system moves spontaneously to macro states that express a larger number of potential micro-states. Well the mental cages societies build for themselves- car culture being an example- seem to contradict the philosopher. It seems like whole societies can get trapped in a less-free state with fewer options. What is sad is people I know with bicycles in their garages gathering dust while they complain about the price of gas. We have had the options to move to a macro-state with more transportational choices but we don't.

~snip~ When my bike breaks down, I hop on a bus or walk or take the train. Its not just the physical cage of metal that traps car culture people, its also a mental cage.

~snip~

I just grab another bike out of the storage building...:love: Sometimes having lots of storage and cheap bikes is a plus:roflmao2:

Aaron:)

Thanks for posting the film. I like the way Chinese women ride on the back of their boyfriends' bikes. I wonder what kind of a rack I would need to carry my rather petite wife around on.

A highly illuminating and enriching read (book):

"A social history of the bicycle, its early life and times in America" by Robert A. Smth.

Written in the early 1970s.

I found it at the county library.

Just another thanks Srkredliner! I really enjoyed it! George Bliss was spot on! :thumb:

What a great film! I found it very edifying, but also a bit depressing in spots. In particular, I thought the bit about the alienation of our car-based culture, and how we were exporting a poisonous transport model, was troubling. The really sad part is, 16 years later, things haven't really changed much, except that the Chinese are even more enthusiastic about cars now than they were then.

Thanks for posting the film. I like the way Chinese women ride on the back of their boyfriends' bikes. I wonder what kind of a rack I would need to carry my rather petite wife around on.

Most of the dutch/danish bikes are built to take it. FWIW my current Redline R530 has a rear rack rated at 25kg:thumb: which is a huge improvement over many of the after market ones I have seen.

Aaron:)

Most of the dutch/danish bikes are built to take it. FWIW my current Redline R530 has a rear rack rated at 25kg:thumb: which is a huge improvement over many of the after market ones I have seen.

Aaron:)
My wife, though slim and trim, does weigh in, I believe, at slightly more than 25 kilos ;). She tried sitting on my Old Man Mountain front rack once, and it collapsed. I wonder if there's any way around buying a new bike in order haul her around. (Hope I'm not hijacking this thread).

My wife, though slim and trim, does weigh in, I believe, at slightly more than 25 kilos ;). She tried sitting on my Old Man Mountain front rack once, and it collapsed. I wonder if there's any way around buying a new bike in order haul her around. (Hope I'm not hijacking this thread).

I noticed that some European bikes have much heavier racks but some have the 25kg rack. The heavier racks have the same paint job as the frame and appear to be frame elements. I carry passengers side saddle on the top tube or sitting backward on the handlebars feet on the downtube or toptube when the rack isn't strong enough.

I sometimes carry my girlfriend on the saddle of my mountain-bike, me out of the saddle. Quite comfortable. Normal bikes around here, that is from before there were city-bikes, racing bikes mountain bikes and what not, have very sturdy racks indeed, no problem to carry people around.

When my bike breaks down, I hop on a bus or walk or take the train.

When my bike breaks down, I go back in my garage and get a different bike.

For a tiny fraction of what it costs to keep a car gassed, running, registered and insured, a person can afford to own and maintain several very nice bikes and be very well outfitted with gear to handle just about any transportation task. And they'd still have money left over to rent a car when they really needed one.

My wife, though slim and trim, does weigh in, I believe, at slightly more than 25 kilos ;). She tried sitting on my Old Man Mountain front rack once, and it collapsed. I wonder if there's any way around buying a new bike in order haul her around. (Hope I'm not hijacking this thread).

Here is the picture (http://www.flickr.com/photos/7846796@N06/639071460/) I was thinking of...or one of them.

Aaron:)

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1303/639071460_2778d4c1aa.jpg?v=0

When my bike breaks down, I go back in my garage and get a different bike.

For a tiny fraction of what it costs to keep a car gassed, running, registered and insured, a person can afford to own and maintain several very nice bikes and be very well outfitted with gear to handle just about any transportation task. And they'd still have money left over to rent a car when they really needed one.

My sentiments exactly! The entire cost of my fleet of bikes is about the same as a year's insurance and maintenance costs on my work truck, not including fuel...my monthly fuel bill would buy a decent bike:notamused: (fortunately it is paid for by my company!) Hell my license and taxes were about the same cost as the last NEW bike I purchased.:eek:

Aaron:)

I didn't like this film. It was poorly edited. The segments didn't mesh well and overall it was boring. The topics could have each been a separate film.

As a car free person I understand how life is without owning a car. This film did very little as a good promotion for using bicycles instead of cars. Thumbs down from me.

Who was the target audience for this film? I've never made a film before but I know I could do a better job than this.

I didn't like this film. It was poorly edited. The segments didn't mesh well and overall it was boring. The topics could have each been a separate film.

As a car free person I understand how life is without owning a car. This film did very little as a good promotion for using bicycles instead of cars. Thumbs down from me.

Who was the target audience for this film? I've never made a film before but I know I could do a better job than this.

This film was made in 1992, and isn't as fast or fancy as a lot of videos today. I'm not sure what the purpose of the video was exactly or who the target audience is, but Ted White produced a few bike-oriented films like this.

Anyhow, if you think you could make a more effective one that will be enlightening to people who aren't car-free, please do it. I, for one, would enjoy it, surely.

Friends,

Here is a film from 1992 by Ted White, titled "Return of the Scorcher" in which many of the issues discussed in this forum regarding bicycles in American, European and Asian cultures are examined.

Please enjoy and tell your friends:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1753917347928363206

_S

I thought the movie was going to discuss about bikes at the turn of the century. However, it wasn't bad overall but he should have focused on the past because that is the direction we are going in about 75 years.

It's hard to believe was made in 1992. So much as changed but in the wrong direction.

I liked the one part where there was a man talking about how infrastructure dictates what is acceptable practice. Never really thought about that and how true it is. There are forces all around us telling what is the right and wrong way to behave our infrastructure screams to get off a bike and into a car.

I liked the one part where there was a man talking about how infrastructure dictates what is acceptable practice. Never really thought about that and how true it is. There are forces all around us telling what is the right and wrong way to behave our infrastructure screams to get off a bike and into a car.

That's a very good point. When I ride in my usual area (older grid-style urban streets), I feel at home with the other traffic--whether cars, buses, trucks or other bikes. When I go out into the suburbs with "new style" street design, I feel that my presence is jarring to the drivers, and their presence is definitely jarring to me.

That's a very good point. When I ride in my usual area (older grid-style urban streets), I feel at home with the other traffic--whether cars, buses, trucks or other bikes. When I go out into the suburbs with "new style" street design, I feel that my presence is jarring to the drivers, and their presence is definitely jarring to me.

Right -- it's what happens when planners say, "Well, everybody has [transportation option A], so let's design everything around [transportation option A]." Design a community exclusively for one type, and it's difficult to accommodate the others.

This is what car-lite and car-dependent people have been trying to say all along. Not that it's even a preferred way of doing things, just that that's how it is.

Right -- it's what happens when planners say, "Well, everybody has [transportation option A], so let's design everything around [transportation option A]." Design a community exclusively for one type, and it's difficult to accommodate the others.

This is what car-lite and car-dependent people have been trying to say all along. Not that it's even a preferred way of doing things, just that that's how it is.

Yes. I think it's much more sensible, when riding on a suburban arterial, to say "I hate roads" rather than "I hate drivers" or even "I hate cars."

In the 19th century, a "scorcher" was a cyclist who rode in an aerodynamic position, head down, not looking at the road ahead, riding as fast as possible, with complete disregard for others on the road. Collisions between scorchers and pedestrians were commonplace. Scorchers were not, as the film's opening implies, called scorchers because people were "amazed" by their speed. instead, they were the scofflaws of the 19th century, who angered people not because they were on bikes-- lots of people were on bikes, after all-- but because of the way they injured other people with their reckless disregard for safety. Calling cyclists of today "scorchers" does us a disservice, and betrays a basic unfamiliarity with our own history.

In the 19th century, a "scorcher" was a cyclist who rode in an aerodynamic position, head down, not looking at the road ahead, riding as fast as possible, with complete disregard for others on the road. .... Calling cyclists of today "scorchers" does us a disservice, and betrays a basic unfamiliarity with our own history.

Hmm... actually, that makes the title even more accurate, at least depending on where you look.

When I ride in my usual area (older grid-style urban streets), I feel at home with the other traffic--whether cars, buses, trucks or other bikes. When I go out into the suburbs with "new style" street design, I feel that my presence is jarring to the drivers, and their presence is definitely jarring to me.

This is how it is for me too.