[MENTION=152773]noglider[/MENTION], in a rarity, I'm going to disagree with you. There is certainly room for personal preference but I think that for some purposes there are bicycles that GENERALLY are better for that purpose than others. For road racing a drop bar carbon fiber road bike is usually best. For off road a mountain or fat tire. For long distance touring it's likely a touring bike.

For daily errands like riding to school, church, dinner, or the hardware store, as well as probably about 30% of commutes (that are less than four or five miles) a more upright bike with an enclosed chain, flat pedals, fenders, and sturdy racks is likely best for most people. They can be more easily ridden in any normal clothes and without having to tie pants legs up. They are more comfortable for most average people and don't leave you sweating and smelly in the folds of your skin from leaning forward. These aren't the bikes for Lance wanna-be's but for the average person who doesn't want to wear spandex they're quite appropriate.

The problem though is that bike shops in the U.S. don't sell these bikes. The average person shopping around a few LBS's won't likely see them. They'll see shops full of pseudo racing bikes, hybrids, and comfort bikes (that may look similar to a Dutch/English city bike but is vastly different in geometry and ride quality) and assume that something among these is the best option. As well, most U.S. consumers don't think about using their bicycle for anything other than weekend recreation. They'll drive a half mile to eat several times a week and then load their bikes on their car and drive 10 miles to a local recreational trail and spend an hour playing dodge-kid. Then when they do think about riding their bikes to dinner one night they find it a hassle because they have to roll up their pants and then end up with grease on their shoes and socks and they think that they have to wear a helmet (because it's too dangerous not to) and they get to dinner and have messed up sweaty hair from their helmet and sweat around their mid-section from leaning forward and grease on their socks (and then realize that they forgot to roll their socks down when they'd arrived 20 minutes ago) and then can't pick up groceries on the way home because they have no way to carry them. These people just decided that riding a bicycle for anything other than once a month recreation is for the birds.