So, today was my first day biking to work, ever, while living in the U.S. I was just cruising around the interwebs to see what I could see about commuter biking and got all sucked into this thread. I thought I might offer some perspective, as I am in fact the Average Joe (or Jane as the case may be) that y'all have been talking about. I haven't owned a bike since college and I was never a bicycle enthusiast. I'm relatively fit and I work out, but only because I have to, not because I like it. I do not own spandex of any kind.
What I do have going for me is the fact that I live 2 miles from where I work. I was able to pick up a used 1997 Huffy hybrid bike for $20 yesterday and away I go. I know next to nothing about maintaining bikes. On top of that, I'm poor (hence the bike for $20) and can't afford to trick out a bike with all sorts of add-ons. This bike is pure utility for me and that is all I want it for. I'm going to have to get hooked up with
Free Ride to keep it maintained.
When I was living in the UK and in China, it was easy as pie to find a used utility commuting bike with basket, lights, and all the little things that I don't really know the names for that make it practical to bike in street clothes and to run errands. Here? Not so much. I am going to have to spend some precious dough to get fenders and a basket at the very least. I will wear my work clothes, come hell or high water. We have showers here, but frankly I just can't be bothered. I just ride slow and will get fenders.
I live in a town (Pittsburgh) where bicycling is a little bit of a cult. It's a hard town to bike in because of the hills, and automobile drivers are generally unfriendly. And I have to say, the 'tude of some of the bikers is way off-putting to someone who just wants to get from point A to point B without wasting gas. It's all about fixies and being bad-ass and mail-ordering superdeluxe gizmos for one of your, like, five bikes. And that is not how regular folks, if all they want to do is commute, see themselves.
Just because I commute on my bike doesn't mean that I'm at all interested in doing anything else with it. I'm really not. It's not my hobby, it is a car substitute. It save me gas money, and gives me a mild daily workout. The end.
Anyway, please try not to rip me a new one. I know that when you get really into something, you loose a little perspective on what it was like to not really know or care much about it. I'd love to have one of those dutch/uk style bikes for under $100. I do see them in use a bit because this is a university town with a lot of foriegn students and some bring their bikes. I'll have to keep my eyes open.