tjspiel

I don't disagree with you, but I've seen it suggested in these forums several times that spandex clad cyclists discourage some people from commuting. Apparently these potential cyclists feel that spandex is part of the uniform (so to speak) based on the other cyclists they see. Since they want no part of spandex, they don't cycle.

At first I thought it was a bunch of BS, but I kept hearing the same sentiment from different posters so I started to wonder if there was something to it. Now where I live there are countless examples of people who don't wear spandex. In fact, most of the cycling population doesn't.

I was camping out of town few weeks ago at a park reserve that was popular with cyclists because of the trails. It was a different world. It seemed like the majority of people I saw were wearing spandex. These people weren't commuting or making a quick trip to the store, they were doing it for the exercise. They probably drove there.

So this got me to wondering how much of this is regional, 'cause based on what I see day to day, it makes no sense at all that someone would feel they'd have to wear spandex. No one around here does. But if the only cyclists one saw wore spandex, I'm sure one would be more likely to feel that they should wear it to. I kind of get it, I just wonder how many places there are like that, hence my question.