Originally Posted by
I-Like-To-Bike
The most vehement objections to considering getting on a bike again for any reason that I have heard from adults came from people who got burned/disgusted by the so-called 10 speed racer bikes of the 70's and never got over how brutal those bikes were to anyone used to or expecting a comfortable riding bike and who never looked at another bike in their life.
Many times I have been queried/told by older people (my age) who upon learning that I bike commute who ask in some form or another: You don't ride one those bent over the handlebar skinny tire bikes do you? I had one and I hated it.
They'd never ridden any other type of bike before they got on that 70's road bike and then they were disgusted for life?
Sorry, I just don't buy that. Road bikes were *the* bike to have in the US for a relatively short period of time. The boomers who bought them grew up riding something other than a road bike and had some basis for comparison.
I'm not surprised that some people don't like road bikes just like there are lots of people who won't like a certain type of vehicle. And I'd hazard to guess that most people who are vehemently opposed to getting on a bike could give you all sorts of reasons, but what it comes down to is that they're just not interested.