United Kingdom - bike culture in the UK

I'm for a combination of a holiday, a wedding and a visit to my sister in the UK for two weeks. Love it here! Nice country, nice people! (stayed a week in the Peak District, visited Lichfield for the wedding and now for some days in Brighton). Only the M25 is not that fun to ride ;)

Anyhow. As always when abroad I'm curious what people are riding in other countries. And looking at all the bikes on the street in the UK I'm wondering: Why is almost everyone riding those cheap bikes? Besides the occasional 'serious' rider on more premium, or should I say basic level good brands up to premium brands, there are a lot of noname bikes like Apollo, Universals and other exotic names. In The Netherlands we call them "bouwmarkt"-bikes (DIY or Home Improvement shops bikes).

At my sisters house she showed me her own mtb. That gave me a chance to have a detailed look at such bikes. Oh my.. a pretty new bike with, I kid you not, 5 speed rear wheel, full suspension (zoom fork and noname suspension in the back). The parts are all unknown names to me like a "dnp" front derailleur. Lot of plastic pieces, etc.

Is there a reason these bikes sell so well in the UK?

because people don't see the need for better bikes when all they do is go to the shops. When I ride to uni / work I see plenty of nice bikes. I think commuters spend a bit more as it is their "car".

Where are you? In the States? (Ooops ... in the Netherlands) I'm like you ... I look around and look at what people are riding. I also help out in a LBS.

80-90% of bikes people bring in for repair/service are cr@p. Similarly, on the road a similar proportion are big box store clunkers.

Since I'm actually British living in the US I see both sides and don't really think the ratio of nice bikes / clunkers is much different here, although you'll prolly see a few more nice Italian bikes on the road in the UK than you will in the US, and UK users may be using their clunker for a trip to the shops or other utility journey / commute, rare in the States.

In most other respects the US can't hold a candle to UK bike culture, which in turn is dwarfed by that on the Continent.

most of the bikes i see in my town are either old commuters, or mountain bikes, and 90% of the brand new, full suspension mountain bikes that you see here never leave the pavement:roflmao2:

i did some further research
this afternoon the misses went shopping with me standing outside shops with the stroller and our son.
In the lanes of brighton i spotted a lot of SS and fixies. nice!

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_SoNC3R4puko/SonmmPbLL-I/AAAAAAAAEyI/_6NEUfPAmMY/brightonfixie.jpg

nicest spot was a Giant Chaos (never heard of that model before). Looked like a 90s bike but with slicks etc and its race geometrie i liked it!

Is there a reason these bikes sell so well in the UK?

Yeah: they're cheap.

People don't care about bikes unless they're into them, in which case they'll spend on them. Like us!

Trying to convince people that £500 is not a lot of money to drop on a bike is so tough because the price of cheap bikes hasn't risen much for twenty years or more. £500 is still a lot of money so £2k+ is just out of the question, even though the same people will routinely spend such money on a TV / car repair bill / drink / drugs.

True story.

the best one i'm allways hearing is;

"i just want something cheap as i'm only cycling to work and back every day"

I'm surprised that bike was not stolen. All you gotta do it pick it up!

Unfortunately there is a large prevalence of these awful cheap full suspension bikes and I think they are probably damaging the cycle industry long term.
A general lack of education among the population means that people see the sub £200 price and all the shiny springs and forks and think to themselves "wow, what a bargain, all that lovely suspension will make my ride very comfy". What the sales assistants in Halfords/Toys R Us don't tell them is that the suspension will make the bike incredibly heavy, soak up all the energy they put in to peddling and the crappy east asian build quality will mean that the bike will manage about a month at a time before having to be taken apart and rebuilt. All added up this results in people using the bike once or twice and then thinking "sod this, far too much like hard work for me" and parking the bike in the garage till it gets skipped a year or two later when they do a clear out.
I had a friend who worked in Halford's and knew a thing or two about bikes. He said that despite actually being honest with people and trying to put them off the awful things people just wouldn't believe him and thought he was just out to make commission on the more expensive bikes.

At my sisters house she showed me her own mtb. That gave me a chance to have a detailed look at such bikes. Oh my.. a pretty new bike with, I kid you not, 5 speed rear wheel, full suspension (zoom fork and noname suspension in the back). The parts are all unknown names to me like a "dnp" front derailleur. Lot of plastic pieces, etc.

Is there a reason these bikes sell so well in the UK?
Two reasons actually:

1) Bike theft is rampant in the cities. You do NOT want to have the nicest bike in the bike parking area. I ran an 80s steel 6-speed racer for a year without any hassle. Upgraded to a modern carbon framed bike for an upcoming trip and it was stolen within a month.

2) The condition of many roads is very poor. Potholes and torn cement everywhere. I can see why people would want some kind of suspension.

Speaking for London here.

The price argument often makes me laugh (hello, by the way). £500 is a lot of money for most people in the UK. It certainly is for me.

The bit that gets me though is that these big, springy, more often than not yellow and blue, machines cost from £100-£200. I have a very old simple single speed raleigh that cost £60. It's been going for 30 years, and it will another 30 with minimal care. I wave these people goodbye on the road while they seem to be putting more effort into travelling vertically than horizontally.

Whoever said gentlemanly one-upmanship was dead?:rolleyes:

The other growing side of the UK bike scene is the messenger /fixie/SS grunge steampunk thing, spoke cards, Rollapaluza (http://www.londoncyclist.co.uk/cycling-london/my-rollapaluza-time/), stripped-down bikes, and a 'reclaim the streets' attitude. Coming soon are the World Naked Bike Rides in my local manor, Brighton and Southampton, in a protest against car culture. The Loveyourbike (http://www.loveyourbikeportsmouth.co.uk/love/)event in Portsmouth: bikes and art, had great local coverage. A cycling renaissance I think.

@loop, we mustn't be too sniffy about £80 High Street bikes. They get people involved, the London to Brighton run last year was awash with Apollo XC26's, springs and all.

My return to bikes in 1983 was a Halfords Apollo, kept it for two years, sold it for half what I paid and bought a cheap £150.00 MBK MTB. Kept and used that until 2003. Sold it to a guy in London who still uses it in 2010. Bought my third new bike in 25 years with the proceeds. :-) Heavy bikes aren't much of an issue for keep-fitters, and a cheap bike is a lot better than no bike.

Cheap bikes are cheap mobility. Paris is full of 120 Euro B'Twins.

Does it really matter what people choose to ride? If all bikes were in the £500+ price range many people would never discover the pleasures of cycling, which would then have the knock on effect of there not being enough cyclists wanting to up grade to the more expensive bikes and therefore not supporting the higher end of the industry so that they can develop bicycle technology to sell to cyclists at an affordable price.
Also spending £500 or more on a bike that is going to be locked to railings all day, and stolen every few days would probably convince a lot of commuters that it is best to use the car for work.

I spent £175 on a fixed speed, which was built from a vintage frame. Much better than a Halfords £175 bike.

I'm just new to cycling myself. I have to travel 10 mile to work everyday and decided to sell my car and my motorbikes are off the road at the moment. I bought a GT Zum S2, it's a sub £400 bike but I bought it as it's all I was willing to spend for something i was "trialling" but also wanted something reliable for the commute, if I decided to go stick with it. Fact is, having not done any cycling for years I covered 53 miles yesterday on my first run out. I just kept riding as it was a joy and never really found that with cycling before. If people did by "better" bikes they would indeed find joy in cycling I would say- I know I've certainly got the bug now and already looking at more expensive bikes with better components etc.

Around here I rarely see quality bikes, most people have cheap full suspension MTB's and all the teenagers run around in BMX's. On occasion I do see some dedicated riders with really nice bikes but that can be a rare sight.

I think there's some degree of mentality that people think you're poor or can't afford a car just because you cycle. Some just think you're nuts. There's too much focus on "class" in the UK in general I think.

The bikey mentality is a bit rare still, too. I ride my local old railway line for 15 miles, four times a week, it's utterly empty on weekdays but at the weekends the families and teenagers come out. Few of them have a clue. They'll ride four or five abreast completely blocking it, and not move out of the way as I pelt toward them at 16 mph. Bikes are for the weird. :)

Bring on Cycling Licences.

Cheap culture, bikes, food; cheap cost over quality seems to win out.

I am riding my old bike that has been chained up outside for around 5 years. I am now car-less so it gets used plenty. I also bougt a folder, when I had my car, it fit in the back of the car, but I found that the best way to use bike more is to get rid of the car. I have recently seen another new person pulling a trailer and even a recumbent. A recumbent is something that I have never seen here before, quite hilly if you ride beyond a couple of miles. Cycle lanes are rather poor, but hopfully things are getting better with separate bike lane off-road, funded by sustrans.

I would love a light racer, one of my thought is to ride 100 miles; I did 40+ a few weeks ago.

S

I personally ride a sub £100 folding bike which has those springs. I was on a very tight budget and decided to make the car free switch when the car tax ran out so my budget was the car tax money. I love my bike to bits and have spent more than its original price making it suit my needs better. There are a few places I go where the paths are deeply rutted bridal paths and suspension is vital on these when you only have 20" wheels and when you ride with people on £600-£2000 Bromptons and come to cobbles, cattlegrids etc.......

2) The condition of many roads is very poor. Potholes and torn cement everywhere.

Potholes are a problem.

I've been here in Norwich for almost two months now and I've noticed that the bike culture is smaller than in the US. There are people riding their bikes for commuting or shopping but there's not a whole lot of serious road cyclists. I mean there are, but you have to find them. The first week I was here, I didn't see a single road cyclist. Not. One. Not ANYBODY wearing spandex. The biggest group ride around here is maybe 30 or 40 people, but over half of them are recreational cyclists and aren't into racing, etc. The local training ride has between 2 and 8 people show up.

As for road conditions, yeah, some of them are a bit rough (and now that we're moving into winter, muddy) but the drivers (I've found) are very considerate. Of course you get the occasional impatient *******, like anywhere. And there are TONS of back-country lanes to cycle on. Lots of route variability.