Originally Posted by
EGreen
I am going to take the OP's question as innocent curiosity.
I've noticed lately that there are a lot more African American roadies around here than there used to be (or seems to be). I'm happy about that.
I have a racial/ethnic curiosity myself... by far the most luminous praise I have received for my ride has come from those of Indian/Pakistani origins yet I never see them on a roadbike. One of these days I have to ask why.
I'm Indian, and I ride a road bike... There are a lot of black guys out here in Brooklyn riding too. Not too many hispanics on road bikes, and the younger non-white kids seems to be on those BMX bikes. So basically around prospect park I see a bunch of middle-class old white guys, the black guys in their teams, and me on road bikes. The younger white guys are almost always on fixies, and the younger non-white guys are on mountain bikes or BMX bikes. These are all generalizations, but this is generally how it seems to fall out.
I think you don't see many asians on bikes because they think of bikes differently. When I lived in Japan, most people just had a granny bike that they use to get everywhere when they are younger, and when they buy a car, they never ride again. The utilitarian nature of the bike makes it less of a hobby (there are some road bikers in Japan, but I never saw them, I did meet one guy who ran a high end bike shop). In China they are ditching bikes for cars as quickly as possible, hence "Greyjing"- the pollution is insane.
Cycling has a rep of being the athletic alternative to golf, something like tennis also used to have. It takes a long time for barriers to break down, but once they come down, it can happen quickly. I can't even count the number of black and latino kids on BMX bikes I have road by on my road bike who would get excited by the thought of riding a road bike, and I think it is because I have dark skin that they suddenly thought that they could also do it.