Martino's Bike Lane Diary put me on to this.
https://bikelanediary.blogspot.com/20...he-drives.html

Hypocrisy or just Americanism exceptionalism? Maybe I'm getting too bent out of shape but since I live in Atlanta I've sworn to identify and make sure all my friends know just which bike shop this is so we can avoid it.

It's a poor vehicle choice for the use but I'm not sure it's hypocrasy. Perhaps, instead of outright condemning the owner, you could suggest that she put it to actual use. Suggest that she slap some advertising on the sides and donate its use as an offroad MTB sag-wagon and rescue/recovery vehicle to help transport MTBers to hard-to-reach offroad trails. That might garner a little better publicity.

Lots of high horses around here.

I don't see where it's anyone's business what she drives. If she has the money and wants to drive a Hummer then more power to her.

Not hypocrisy, just decadence. It would be hypocrisy if she was lecturing people on responsible transportation while using it.

Owning a bike shop doesn't mean that you have to be a believer in sustainable transport. It just means that you believe that selling bicycles is an acceptable form of capitalism.

On the otherhand, if your opinions regarding social responsibility are so strong then you are entitled to such a course of action. But in order to be absolutely fair, you should encourage a boycott of the business of anyone who drives a vehicle of unreasonable size/fuel consumption/ etc.

+1

Such crap.

Don't blame just the bicycle shop owner for all the mess. People obviously freely chose to be such idiots since they want to sit in the thing, or even being seen around that huge thing. It's suppose to be a free country. If I were in Atlanta, I might go to that shop if it offered the hard-to-get parts my specialty bikes require. But I would freely choose happily not to go anywhere near that tank.

It may be a free country, but we still have the ability to restrict anything that's detrimental to public health. If smoking bans are OK, why not a ban on these polluting behemoths? Or slap a big tax on them, double their price and see who still wants them.

I'm not sure, but i believe there are other vehicles that would be just as useful for LBS owners, even if used as a sag vehicle for MTB races.

Being a LBS owner doesnt have a dam thing to do with what one wants to drive except in somebodys else's mind. If i own a gas station does that mean i cant use a bike? Same fricken thing.

...and they're not. Like you said, free country.


I don't see how it is hypocrisy. Maybe she likes bikes. Doesn't mean she's a fan of biking to work.

Just as fair as encouraging a boycott of a shop run by people who live lifestyles that are not in accordance with traditional mores, "approved" religous beliefs, or published laws or any or all, eh?

What shall we paint on the shop windows? The Germans have already used up some of the all time favorites of the morally intolerant.

WHOA Guys, wait a sec.

Who ever said that if you support sustainable transportation means you can{t own a Hummer? The problem is not the car OWNERSHIP but the unreasonable use it gets.

Ricardo

Precisely my point, albeit a little less subtle.

"But in order to be absolutely fair, you should encourage a boycott of the business of anyone who drives a vehicle of unreasonable size/fuel consumption/ etc."
And who has the right to decide what is "unreasonable" for the other person? Maybe the Hummer is reasonable for her and she can afford it.

If this were an entirely free country, I'd have the right to drive a car with no muffler or catalytic converter. If this were an entirely free country, I could rig up a sports car with a huge two-stroke engine, notwithstanding the burnt oil i'd be spewing into the air. If it were really a free country, maybe I could even drive without a license, hunt without a license, hunt people without a license...

If it were feasible, maybe i'd do exactly that. In this country of freedom within reasonable limits, we can boycott almost anybody we want to.

The fact is, other people's wastefulness affects me and I can complain about it and make purchasing decisions based on it if I darn well please. People out there who drive single-occupant automobiles to and fro all the time are putting combustion by-products into air and some of that air, I breathe. People that use a 15mpg SUV where a 22mpg station wagon would suffice are misusing a resource that is for all of us, namely, clean air.

You do realize that a modern SUV is actually pretty clean burning? If you compare a 2006 Hummer to a 1990 Escort Wagon I bet you get similar pollutant output even though the hummer uses more gas.

Maybe you should be able to. I won't bring my strict liberatarian views into this conversation, but maybe just because the government says we can't do something, doesn't mean we shouldn't be able to.

Well, you can say it the other way, too. Just because the government says you can't do something, that doesnt necesarilly mean that you really should just because you think governments are inherently evil, or cannot be trusted(some of the time anyway).

Of course, you're correct. I don't kill people, because it's illegal AND wrong. On the other hand, there are laws I break because I believe the law is wrong.

What's the libertarian position on second hand smoke? Serious question...not trolling. How does libertarianism deal with situations where one person's freedom impinges on other people's rights or freedoms?

If you want to discuss Lib'ism further, we can take it to P&R, but in short, it doesn't impinge on your rights, if done properly. Theoretically, any buildings would be privately owned, and it would be up to the company/owner to determine smoking rules. If you don't like it, don't go there. Outside, there could be laws against littering, but as an avid anti-smoker, even I'll admit that people smoking outside is not a real problem. And of course none of this interferes with the right of the people to advertise, peer pressure, and wag their fingers at smokers.

She owns a bike shop and drives a Hummer? Big whoop.

What else do you know about her? What are her other vehicle requirements?

Saturday I saw a much maligned, by the sanctimonious on these forums, Ford Excursion at one of the local boat ramps. Launching a boat that made the Excursion look tiny. It really looked like to safely pull a Boston Whaler of that size, the couple needed a bigger truck.

Some people just make do with the smallest suitable thing.

My only question on the matter is what does she price her merchandise and services at to afford a $100,000 truck? I knew a preacher who bought the same model pick-up every year in the same color so his parishiners would not know he could afford a new truck every year.