back to the original post, i think this topic of generational interest or attitudes towards bicycles is interesting. i'd guess it's both about generations and about regions, and the tipping point is actually attitudes towards cars, not bicycles. i know for sure that while my parents enjoyed bicycles at various times in their life, coming of age in the 50s and early 60s meant that they saw the automobile as an unbridled good, believed that any problems it created could be solved by better technology and more roads, and (particularly my father, who spent most of his adult life living on the sf peninsula, surrounded by some of best and most avid cycling anywhere) that cycling was by and large for recreation only and should not in any way be allowed to interfere with the free passage of the automobile. for whatever reasons, good or bad, i know many people born between 1935 and 1960 who are deeply threatened by anything that stands in the way of free movement in their ICE cars, regardless of the larger unmeasured impacts on anyone else.
my older colleagues feel somewhat similarly, and would ride only for exercise and social value, although because of the field we're in they have to at the very least pay lip service to the merits of cycling, bike lanes, bike parking, showers, all that.
my peers who live outside a handful of urban cores also feel similarly, but are more likely to cycle for sport since they're a bit younger, fitter, and all that. but again, just for fun.
but my peers (born between 1970 and 1990) who live in actual cities with semi decent infrastructure, more enlightened transit policies, and non-deadly weather view bicycles as transportation and recreation, and many ride basically everywhere, by themselves, with partners, and with their kids in tow. as you skew younger and younger, it's more and more likely that those people don't have cars, don't want one of their own, and rely on a mix of walking, cycling, public transit, and ridesharing services. of course as they get older many will get a car and drive it everywhere, but i don't think it will ever reach the level of primacy that the silent generation and the boomers constructed.
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