Living Car Free - Bicycles Are A Status Symbol

In Mozambique at least.

http://beta.news.yahoo.com/bicycles-sign-status-mozambique-185046065.html

I suppose they are in the USA too, but only within the bicycling community. Anybody not interested in bicycles wouldn't have a clue. I don't keep up with all the latest derailleurs and brake components. The best I can do is notice the frame and the number of sprockets on the rear axle. Even inexpensive bicycles come with disc brakes these days.

One thing I do notice is drum brakes. If I see those I know somebody likes to do customization on their bicycle.

Maybe Rivendell should open a store in Mozambique.

This article strikes me as a pretty lame attempt at a 'good news' story from a country with very little good news.

Very interesting article. Besides Mozambique, there are many countries where bikes play a big role in the economy. We tend to forget that here in the US.

To a degree bicycles are a status symbol here as well. Outside of the cycling community only some bikes are a status symbol. But then there is no cohesive cycling community so different bikes are a different symbol to each group. It isn’t much different from the car community. BMW, MB, Jag, Caddy, Lincoln, Audi, Corvette and Porsche are status symbols. Toyota, Honda, Chevy, Ford are not much of a status symbol. IMHO

This article strikes me as a pretty lame attempt at a 'good news' story from a country with very little good news.

I disagree. It really tells me that some countries are vastly different from mine. I recall reading elsewhere about the impact of a small $70 solar charger on lives in rural Africa. The difference between this device and the traditional kerosene lamp was amazing and made a huge improvement in lifestyle.

Same style, a $75 bike can give a poor person a new range of transportation possibilities. In fact, that's one reason why cycling became so important in the 19th century.

The article did an effective job of reminding me how utterly spoiled westerners have been (or lucky, depending on your perspective). I ride a bike partly out of a desire to consume less, but as I pat myself on the back for being relatively minimalist, I've spent more on my bike than the average person in Mozambique makes in a year. (In fact, I recently learned, from a person who's from Malawi, that a person who can even afford a bike in that country is considered solidly middle class.)

I do think, though, that the news in the article was mostly good. Mozambique has recently experienced significant economic growth, so more people can afford bikes; that's a modest move in the right direction, IMO. However, as in other parts of the world (such as ours), that economic growth seems to benefit a very small portion of the population, and not necessarily that portion who actually do the work that makes that economic growth possible in the first place. It's telling that in Maputo, where most of the really well-off people live, bicycles are a lot less popular than motor vehicles.

One thing I do notice is drum brakes. If I see those I know somebody likes to do customization on their bicycle.
Bikes have drum brakes now? :eek: Holly cheese whiz, I need to look those up!

Back on the thread topic though: Status symbol? I've been known to judge people for riding bikes that are "ridiculous" for them, i.e Someone commuting by a road bike that cost's more than a new car; And full suspension mtb bikes from walmart, This is miami people! No hills! :D

This article strikes me as a pretty lame attempt at a 'good news' story from a country with very little good news.

In 1977, only two years after the end of Mozambique's War of Independence from Portugal, the Mozambican Civil War began. By the time it ended in 1992, "over 900,000 died in fighting and from starvation, five million civilians were displaced, [and] many were made amputees by landmines[/URL]", so I'd say that the fact that there has been peace in the country for nearly twenty years is truly good news.

I'm glad to read that bicycles are helping some people there to a better life.

[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozambican_Civil_War (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landmine)

I suppose they are in the USA too, but only within the bicycling community. Anybody not interested in bicycles wouldn't have a clue.......


Probably a good thing since it makes most people, at the places that I frequently shop, clueless to the true value of my bike. To most locals, my bike looks like it might be only worth a few hundred dollars at the most.

so I'd say that the fact that there has been peace in the country for nearly twenty years is truly good news.

I'm glad to read that bicycles are helping some people there to a better life.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozambican_Civil_War


Yes, I couldn't agree more but this article wasn't about peace or landmines. If it had been it might not have been so lame.

The fact that people are using bicycles to survive dire poverty is good news but more the fact that they are surviving rather than that they have found a "new sign of status" as the headline puts it.