i really think that the image of the urban biker as any kind of rebel, edge, or outlaw is projection, a form of cooption - controling identity not in stripping away meaning, but in ascribing it unnecessarily.
it's just a kind of bike. people have been riding these for how long?
bike communities, on the other hand, should not feel threatened by companies selling bikes, clothing, this and that, articles about alleycats. scenes? maybe. but the thing about scenes is that they're weak and people fall out of them when they fail to provide meaning to them anymore.
communities, on the other hand, make their own meaning, and don't have to rely on oppositional identities (or, for that matter, fear the integration of oppositional identities) in order to have meaning.
but, on the other side, the style is really popular. i mean, i hear even french dudes from the early 1900s are wearing little hats...