donnamb 

According to the Breezer site, there's only one shop in Louisiana that carries them. I also know if you contact Breezer and can find a willing shop, they will work with them to get the bike built. Nexus hubs are a little different from your vintage Sturmey Archers, but with your skills, I am sure you will quickly learn how to do all necessary maintenance yourself. (certainly faster than I have)

Robert Foster

I tend to agree with intrepidbiker. When I used to go to the HPV events everyone seemed to be interested in bikes and where they were going. That simply isn’t the case any more. But what mondaycurse said also has to be looked at. Why is it cool to spend 800 bucks on wheels and stupid to spend 800 bucks on a bike? Back in the early 70s and early 80s many of my friends’ road bikes and it was not uncommon to see five or six parked where I worked. But then I was surprised when I had to spend more than $250.00 for a 10-speed road bike. My sons BMX bike was made with 531 and cost as much as my Wife’s touring bike. We could ride all three to the shopping mall or grocery store and not have what I spent on my new Giant Revive in all three. When you go into a LBS today it is easy to drop 2K just to get out of the door. But $500.00 seems to be about the minimum. However even though I use my bike to shop during the week I realize it isn’t all that secure sitting outside of the store while I am in shopping.

At our high schools the parking lots are patrolled and a set of 800 to 1500 dollar wheels comes with free wheel locks. Ride your $1500.00 bike so the store or school and you have to buy your own lock and hope they have something to lock the bike to.

Like intrepidbiker said, we have to get society to see that biking is cool or at the very least a responsible activity. It could work. All we have to do is see how the no plastic bag campaign is working. Cities are passing laws against plastic bags and one store near me gives an extra 10 cents off of every cloth bag you use. Now if they would show the same interest in making sure our bikes were secure we might be in business. Well that and a move away from Lycra. LOL

lisitsa

Don't know about that. I think its that they're not willing to give away personal freedoms without a big fight. If you're not a biker, then you're very limited when getting around. If I didn't hate cars I'd consider getting one too, because its a big deal to be able to go to the shops or to an event whenever you want-- not being limited by twisted bus routes or parents permission. Luckily for me a 30 minute drive is like 30 minutes of staring at a brick wall -- boring.

Move away from lycra! I agree. Its just not practical commuting wear. Doing that whole change room business when you get to work is too much bother and no one except for diehards will fall for it. If you're a diehard you'll probably disagree with me. Just don't expect the whole world to join you any time soon.

thebikingtechie

Whenever I've talked to teens around here about the price of gas, they've usually told me that their parents pay for all their gas (and probably insurance). I think the thinking behind this is that if parents give their kids a car, the parents won't have to drive them everywhere.

I've tried to tell them that for the price of 5-10 tanks of gas (depending on size of vehicle) they could buy a nice bike and not have to pay for gas anymore. I think that once they move out and have to pay for everything themselves, this will mean a whole lot more to them.

ericy

I still have a concern that the Volt is vaporware. They keep boosting the estimated price of the thing...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Volt

With a price that high, kids won't be driving the thing - that's for sure. And with a price that high, the size of the production run isn't going to be all that large.

Elkhound

When I taught HS in Charlotte, NC, some of my students

1. had to have cars to get to work
2. had to work to afford their cars.

The idea that there are other ways to get around than cars never occured to them.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools also specifically forbade students from cycling to school. Younger kids took the bus or were driven by their parents; older ones drove themselves or took the bus. Those who lived within a certain distance could walk. But bikes were specificaly forbidden. I don't know why.

robinthehippie

I was weird in high school (graduated '99) because my sister and I had to pool our money to purchase a cheap used car, plus pay all the gas and insurance ourselves, and we already had jobs when we were 15 trying to buy the thing. Most kids got a car from their parents as a 16th birthday present or at least a graduation present. Gas was about .98 a gallon throughout most of my high school years, though, the price of gas wasn't even a consideration.

Wish I'd considered the bike option then, I went through a lot of money on hoopty cars and repairs. I lived embarrassingly close to school, too.

ad9

i own carS i dont use them to much because bikeing around is more fun and cheeper with both my cars in the high teens in mpg. i have a plymouth and a 64 beetle i got my plymouth in 6th grade with my own cash, and its my fun car it sits in winter and is really only used for the days when i feel like eating the freeway. i also have a full time job at the age of 17 so getting the money to play with cars and bikes never was a problem. my beetle is junk...yea bikes for the win!

chouettey

This same thing happened to me. My friend was amazed when I told him that I was going to spend $1500 on a bike, when he was about to spend hundreds of dollars on speakers to put in his brand new $30,000 Mazda RX-8 that his parents bought for him.

mondaycurse

Tonight I told my car friend that I'm looking for a <$500 road/fixed bike to accompany my mtb and based off his reaction, you'd think I told him I got 2 girls pregnant.

mike

We will have to see if gas prices have an effect on teen motoring. In the '70's, gas prices doubled almost overnight. We still drove cars and loved every minute of it.

We had to put gas in the car or Dad wouldn't let us take it out the next time, so we all pitched in for gas.

I suppose the same will come to repeat itself since many of today's teens belong to parents who grew up in the '70's and experienced the same thing.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

ProFail

Well, I'm fifteen and I've taken Driver's Ed, and such, and I plan on getting a license. But just to have one. I don't want a car of my own, especially with the gas prices today. I'll just borrow my parents cars or bum a ride off my friends if I really need to get somewhere. Otherwise, I'll bike there. It's definitely not cool anymore, but I stopped giving a crap about that in the sixth grade.



By the way, I was originally supposed to have a very generous $25,000 to buy a car with, courtesy of my parents. I'm going to put $20,000 into savings and buy a nice bike with the rest. Or put less into savings and buy a baby grand. I don't know.... That's a rediculous amount of money.

Elkhound

On Another Board, I was given grief for having a piano by some of the Car Free purists; the fact that I couldn't move all my possessions by human power was, in their eyes, a major flaw in my lifestyle. When I protested that as a musician, the piano was one of the tools of my avocation. They said that I should have chosen a portable instrument, like an accordion.

But that would make me--shudder--an accordionist.

Elkhound

IIRC, that's how the Numenorians managed it.

PaulAtreides

Not for me, I'm 16 and own a Schwinn skyliner and don't see myself ever owning a car. I saved up scraps of change and such to buy a rack to which I just added a milk crate to two days ago, I love not having sweaty backs from backpacks!

ProFail

I compose, I could never live without a piano. I actually was offered a small record deal for my music but turned it down due to crappy terms. Woot!

To the above post on sweaty backs..... Messenger bag.

bragi

Your English teacher should be severely reprimanded.

slickyricky

Colorado University here in Boulder is doing something pretty great. They are offering free bicycles to all new incoming students who do not bring a car.

mike

You rock, PaulAtreides!

Elkhound

The sound you hear in the background is your English teacher whirling in her grave.

I can barely understand what you are trying to say.

Grammar, puncuation, capitalization, and spelling are not merely things your teachers invented to torture you with--they are aids to communication.

In an informal forum such as these boards a little stylistic leeway is expected--but that does not mean that the rules are thrown out the window. Language is communication, and a modicum of adherance to the Queen's English is necessary for communication.

It is one thing when someone whose native language is not English stumbles over the subtleties--although I would rather read good Italian or German than bad English--but when it is obvious that a native speaker of English can't be arsed to use the language properly, that is a great big F**K YOU to the reader.

ETA: If you have some physical or mental disability that renders it difficult or impossible to express yourself in Standard English, I apologize. If not, if you just think that it is somehow beneath you to take the additional few moments to make your pose have some minimal resemblance to the Queen's English, then you are saying F***K YOU to the readers, and I say it right backatcha.

Elkhound

Ripon College in Wisconsin has a similar program.

Platy

gr8 pose that shiznit is teh suck

inunnguaq

I got a used car when I turned 17, after saving up by working through high school. It was my ticket to freedom. The day I turned 16, the first thing I did was apply for my driver's license. I love my car and would not want to part with it. I lived in NYC for 2 years and the hardest part of it was having to leave my car with the parents thanks to the expense of keeping it in the city. I did need it for a summer when I had a 120-mile roundtrip to the company where I was doing an internship.

I love my bike because it's practical, I can get around with it, it keeps me healthy and active, I save on gasoline which I like for both economic and environmental reasons, and in general I am trying to minimize my car usage. That being said, just like when I was 17 and loved being on a bike, life without a car would be very sad. I couldn't go to New Hampshire for the weekend on a whim from New Jersey to look at fall colours if it wasn't for the car. I couldn't drive across the country to visit relatives and get a feel for the land without the car, like I did a few years ago. I could bike across it, granted, and I would love to, but that would take me a summer, not a week.

I'm all in favour of reducing car usage, but just like when I was a teenager, a car is still a lifeline that makes me independent in ways that no other possession I own does. Your mileage may vary of course, and I continue to be impressed by those who make a commitment to the car-free lifestyle.

inunnguaq

I wonder if such purists are thus living in yurts or mud huts, or ensuring that the bricks and scaffolding required to build their houses were transported strictly by bicycle. Or, for that matter, whether they only ride singletrack on account of no mixers, steamrollers or other such motorized vehicle being required to make the path.

Any latent guilt you have about your musical choice could be mitigated by affixing a "ONE LESS ACCORDIONIST" sticker to your piano. On behalf of the world, I thank you for your decision.

Elkhound

And consider the industrial processes needed to manufacture the bikes. Or, considering that most of our bikes are made overseas, what it took to transport them here.