N_C

I know, Huffy, who cares right? But most of us didn't start out on expensive high end bikes. For a lot of us our first bike was a Huffy. If kids don't wan't to ride bikes, what happens to the bike industry and the sport in the future. I started out on a Huffy, then mom bought me a used Krate bike at a yard sale, ( I kick myself for ever getting rid of the Krate bike). After reading the article it does not surprise me that kids are obese these days. In the second paragraph it states what kids prefere to have. Only one of the items is remotley physical activity. Very sad.

https://www.nypost.com/business/24484.htm

jfmckenna

that is sad. and a lot of it is parenting. My mom did not let me wathc tv all day when I came home from school. I had a friend who had a colecovision then atari and all that. I used to ride my huffy over to his house and play it.

catatonic

I was allowed to watch TV and such, but my parents were not willing to drive me to my friends whenever I wanted to see them (one of them living 12 miles away)....so eventually I just became a bad kid and rode to his house...my parents didn't like it very much, but I never rode at night out there, so it was all good.

khuon

My parents were never big into bikes and/or cycling. They never did understand my brother's and my obsession with them but nevertheless I did get a blue and white Columbia cruiser for Christmas when I was six years old and I was supplied with cheap dept. store bikes including those from Huffy until I was a teenager, got my own job and started making my own money at which point I purchased a Specialized HardRock.

I have mixed feelings about Huffy going away. On one hand, I remember the really shoddy quality of their bikes but on the other hand, the fact that they represent and act as a sentinel species of bikes to the industry and sport makes me sad for their demise. It's kinda funny but I feel the only people who should really ever buy a cheap dept. store bike are ones who know a lot about bikes because they're going to need the knowledge to keep those things running and make sure they're safe. That said, the general public do buy them and they do introduce children to cycling so having that segment of the market go away indicates a general decline in the interest level. The only silver lining I can possibly see is if the interest ever resparks, people will have to go to the LBS and consider real quality bikes.

this_is_me

Hey John-
You ok. out there?
heard there were several tornadoes touching down near you, this weekend?
bad weather for biking.

forum*rider

My parents don't really want me out by myslef either. Fortunately we worked something out so that I could go out riding every day.

Bike to school then back home. On weekends I drag my dad/mom/uncle out of bed and get them to go on a longer ride with me.

BTW I don't get to watch TV. We don't have one and personally I don't see whats so great about it.

DnvrFox

Do you suppose one of the causes of the downturn in biking popularity could be the continuous and never-ending warnings by the safety folks that kids need to wear their helmets while biking, thereby implying rather markedly that biking is an inherently dangerous sport, and kids really ought not to be biking! [But, statistically, biking is quite safe compared to other activities].

Nothing against helmets (I always wear one), but it would sure be nice to have some ads, "Exercise in a safe way - go biking" or something similar, accompanied by some training in the rules of the road for cycling safely.

Which do you suppose poses more of a health/mortality problem. Fat, obese, inactive kids (leading to fat, obese inactive adults) or kids riding bikes without helmets?

Yes, you guessed correctly!

khuon

I don't know... I mean other sports increasingly require protection and yet attendence for them goes up. I mean, you have to wear a helmet and a cup and shin guards and stuff for baseball and football but I don't see those activities in decline amongst our youths. Then again, never count on logic when it comes to Joe Public and perceptions.

SipperPhoto

I don't get it.. when I was a kid... we never thought of riding a bike as exercising... it was what we used to get back and forth to school, to friends' houses, to the store if mom needed a loaf of bread, and didn;t wanna go get it herself. Kids today are lazy, they ave too many indoor distractions. When was the last time you went by a schoolyard or park, after school or on the weekends, and actually saw kids playing... It's been awhile for me... mostly adults "playing" out there...

it is sad.. and kids will get fatter and lazier...

jeff

RobotSonic

most kids i see in the park playing baseball and football have no protection on though. and nobody really cares. but there is a big fuss about having to wear a helmet (and laws where i live that if you are under 18 you must wear one or can be fined). ive always worn a helmet and not really given a hoot about what people think about it. some kids would rather not ride then wear safety equipment. if they made it law for kids under 18 to wear protective gear when they played football and baseball i think that the popularity of the sport would go down aswell. just my 2 cents

khuon

Then how do you explain the continued popularity of such sports in school-sponsored settings?

gwhunt23

When I got old enough to ride a two-wheeler by myself through the neighborhood, I was begging to ride to my friends' houses by myself. My parents let me as soon as they knew I could handle it. Now it's go biking whenever I can just for the fun of it. My parents don't want me to go too far out of the neighborhood, cause of all the moronic drivers that do 50mph on a 30mph 2-lane road.

I never really have wanted a new game system or whatever. The newest game system we own is the original Playstation. I wan't begging for it, my brother was the one begging for it. I still have a Gameboy if I dig far enough in my closet. In fact, I want to get rid of it. Anyone wants it, shoot me a PM and i will give it to you for free.

I never saw what was so good about getting off the rabbit ears and going to DirecTV. Never have loved TV, I would rather be outside doing a physical activity.

There is a group of kids that I can expect to see outside on bikes that I join in. We will just see each other in the neighborhood, and go biking or whatever. But that's just a small fraction of us kids. Everyone else in inside playing Xbox and crap.

I agree about kids getting fatter and lazier, part of it is just that the parents don't encourage physical activity themselves. I mean, if I saw my dad climbing out of the attic and dusting off his bike, I would come running behind him with my bike. If I see my dad going for a walk, I will go with him. I feel that this is the same for all parents. So many parents get home around 5 or 6PM and eat dinner, then watch TV and stuff then go to sleep. The kids play Xbox until they get home and copy what the parents do pretty much. So all the parents on this forum, take your kids with you whenever you go cycling. They will enjoy it and come out every time you go after that. Or that's the way I think it would work.

All the kids out there are the future of our world. Lazyness=crappy jobs. What are we gonna do with everone working low-end jobs at McDonalds and X-marts?

RobotSonic

maybe i didnt word my statement well. what i was trying to say was in a non competitive sense. like kids playing in a park. sort of like how kids in a soccer league have shin pads and cleats but go to your local park and most kids wont be found dead wearing them when playing with their friends. hopefully this clears up what i was trying to say.

khuon

Okay... yeah. I get what you're saying but I still don't see how that changes things with respect to requiring protection. Obviously interest can be maintained in an activity despite the "uncool" requirements for protection. I think there's something else and I think it has more to do with lack of societal acceptance of cycling as a whole than just the requirement for helmets. Cycling is somehow made out to be uncool and/or marginalised to youths of today. I think it's because it's not as popular in the US which of course just feeds the whole cycle of non-acceptance. How do we break that cycle? I for one when I have a kid(s) will try to encourage, promote and support cycling as an activity/sport/lifestyle (hopefully they will accept) to them but I know that will not be true for the majority of parents out there. It certainly wasn't true of my parents. To be honest, while I can name several things that have always personally influenced/captured and held my interest in cycling all throughout my life, I can't really name a "magic bullet" that I think can be used universally.

RobotSonic

another thought here. with a lot of sports it is not very costly to get started with. you can buy a soccer ball for under $20. so from the view of a lot of parents they would rather buy their kids cheaper sporting equipment so that if they dont like it its not big deal. whereas even with wally world bikes kids will outgrow them and parents will ahve to buy them another bike. or if the kids dont like biking they have lost a much more significant amount of money and are stuck with a bike. Im really glad my parents didnt have this mentality with me and saw that i enjoyed biking from the start. I always got the toys r us bikes but at least it was something i could ride until i outgrew. I've still got the huffy my parents got me. nobody rides it but it was my first "full size" bike.

Avalanche325

This is the same reasoning the auto manufactacturers used to fight manditory seat belt laws for years.

What I find amusing, and I just pointed out an example to my wife on Sunday, is this. There is a family crusing down the street on their bikes. The child has a helmet on. The parents do not. What is that teaching the kids? Helmets are for children, big people don't wear them. That instantly makes them uncool to the kids.

Safety gear was either nonexistant or uncool when I was a kid. But if you fell off you bike back then, the parents didn't sue the bike manufacturer for making the bike and the city for putting a street there.

Oh, and why ride a bike anyway? Mom has a minivan to haul your overweight Big Mac eating, video game playing, TV watching butt, over to your friends house to eat frozen pre-made peanut butter sandwiches. (Yes, they make them. HOW lazy are we?)

jim-bob

I'm not too worried about huffy, i just want some huffy decals for one of my bikes.

catatonic

part of why schools can still have kids play sports with safety gear is....who is carrying this safety gear? usually ita all in one bag and one kid drags it.

Now...for jsut kids meeting up...each one has to get all his gear, either put it on or drag it there....it's just far more of a hassle.

I know someitmes my bike helmet gets in the way, like when I'm at a bank. I don't wear hats or helmets indoors, it's jsut common manners...so I have to put it somewhere....so i put it on the bank counter...and it's blocking my way
It's things like that which cause kids to not like bikes.

Maybe if we came up with a helmet carrier or sometihng. have it clip to your belt, and you cna hook each end of the clip to it, and it will hold it securely or something. That would remove some of the cumbersomeness of carrying a helmet around.

ultra-g

As a "born-again" bicyclist (after a 13 year lay-off) I ride whenever I can.

But it's sad and true that if I had kids I wouldn't want them riding bikes out on the streets when I'm not there supervising. It's just too dangerous in NYC (and elsewhere in America).

I think the solution is to change the perception in the US that bicycling is for kids, because obviously it isn't.