Originally Posted by
banjo_mole
If not everywhere, than certainly here. This is my theory:
Cycling today is dead because people think,
"Oh, I'd like a bicycle to ride to work/school/etc."
They go to dept. store X and buy some *** welded 40lb steel monster that's out of adjustment for $100. It's a mountain bike, by the way, because road bikes are usually not there, or look "too unconfortable and twitchy."
It is slow, hard as hell to pedal, and out of adjustment. Saddle's too low. Miserable. It gets lost, thrown away, or never ridden.
Road bikes were the standard bicycle until the MTB boom. People could cycle transportively.
The development of the MTB killed any remaining transportational cycling in america.
The lack of affordable road bikes for the youth keeps youth interest in cycling minimal.
And no one rides bikes. Kids drive everywhere at 16.
This is my theory, it makes me sad.
I wish a company could start making affordable lugged steel bikes again, a la Scwhinn or Univega.
What do you think?
-Banjoi
I think two things killed cycling in America.
The first one, believe it or not, is the local bike shop. The fact of the matter is that as almost a universal rule, local bike shops due a horrifically poor job of fitting their customers to bikes they sell. Employees who should, and do, know better 'eyeball' standover height over the top tube and convince the customer that the bike "fits".
Most customers will never even get the opportunity to try out a single other stem length/rise, let alone actually encounter a sizercycle or an Ergostem to properly fit the bike.
Shops like Vecchio's in Boulder are few and far between. I was talking to the guys and they said they've sold only a handful of bikes "off the floor" in their entire history of business (opened in 2000). That's saying something. There is a high end sizing cycle in the front window. They understand that almost everyone knows someone who has an actual high endish bike in their garage that they just don't ride, because the bike makes the wrists/back/butt hurt.
The truth is not that low end Wal-Mart bikes killed cycling in America, but rather that the indifference, carelessness, abuse of trust, and greed of the local community bike shop did.
The second thing that killed cycling in this country is endemically American. Everyone needs to believe there is something unique, special, or intrinsically gifted about their person. For whatever reason in this country we all feel the need to have outlier large babies that are x% percentile, that our kids all have to be 'gifted', and we all have to have the perfect wife/house/job/life. Very few people in this country are raised with the ethic to be honest good people, but rather to have or be something that is desireable. The vanity of America, we'll call it. People would rather have or be something that other people would consider worth having or being, than to truly be happy, believe it or not.
As this relates to cycling, every idiot fool who couldn't play sports a lick feels the need, whether he's 140lbs or 240, to have a 'race' bike with race geometry and high zoot parts. They feel the need to train relentlessly to compete in their Cat 5,4,3 or Masters categories to reaffirm whatever is insecure about their persons. There is something to be said for being the starting highschool quarterback in a small Ohio or Pennsylvania town. There is something to be said for being a talented infielder in a Dominican beisball academy. There is real competition, and other people are competing. For whatever reason dorky uncoordinated people like to grow up and compete in sports for which there is no real competition other than other dorky uncoordinated people also having something to prove. The real athletes already proved it, years ago, often at high levels of competition, and have moved on to enjoying their families, their communities and their lives.
That need to have a race bike, with near on Tour or Giro level components and kit, I think have done more to destroy cycling in this country. People are sold silly fantasy race bikes that are very uncomfortable and aren't the least bit appropriate for the type of riding they really do.
The truth of the matter is that even with Titanium frames, thousand dollar wheelsets, and high zoot aethereal brakesets that pro teams don't even use, they can't begin to produce the average speed of a real competitive cyclist.
So you have thousands upon thousands of people on bikes that are uncomfortable, and that ultimately drive them away from cycling.
Think about it like this. Imagine if everyone who played slow pitch softball or rec league basketball had to wear Nike orthotics that created knee and ankle issues, but allowed them to perpetuate the 'be like Mike/Ichiro' fantasy. How many people would keep playing?
Sadly road cycling was strong in the US, but the vicious cycle of the magazines killed it. The bike and component companies need to constantly sell new stuff so 7 speeds went to 8, then 9, then 10/11. The need to sell advertising, and cell goods, and sell magazines created a viscious cycle of latest/greatest that destroyed BMX, road cycling, and ultimately cross country mountain biking.
The only thing that is healthy now is inherently not. The big rage is full suspension free ride bikes you don't even pedal. You take a chair lift up a downhill course only to coast back down, launch off obstacles or platforms, and in general act like an X gamer.
If I was a college kid who had a 32lb freeride bike like all my friends, cycling wouldn't be a lifelong pursuit for me either. Those bikes are miserable TO RIDE.
My last point, however, is that cycling is not dead. The whole hipster/fixie craze in this country is for real. More college kids are riding bikes than probably for any generation since the 70s. Its the cool hip thing to do.
They source vintage Bottechia, Peugeot, or Bianchi framesets and basterdize 'em into fixed. Some even go all out and acquire real 120mm track bikes and with 1/8" drivetrains.
Aside from the fact that they'll all have issues with torn meniscus, at least they are out riding. A whole generation of kiddos are buying quality bikes and spending time on 'em.
I can't think of anything better than young kids on bikes that aren't part of the latest greatest race cycle of cycling.
Cycling isn't dead. Its alive and well. Its just not where you think it is. Its on campuses and urban environments. Young people today are clammoring for 'new urbanism' where they can ride their bike, or take a light rail to get everywhere they want to go.
The problem with cycling in this country really is you, the suburban American. Commuting in a car to a job to have a suburban house in a community planned around the car, all to earn a salary to afford a high zoot road bike through which to validate one's self of self.
What's wrong with cycling in America is the American.
There isn't a single bike company selling bike in this country (other than Rivendell), that sell good quality bikes that 95% of the people really want/need. Grant has something in his 'country bike' perspective.
Most people are going to be turned off to cycling, not because of Wal-Mart, but because the hybrid, road race bike, or free ride mountain bike was a poor fit for the needs of the cyclist and a poor fit for the cyclist.
However, their college kids will probably continue to ride. Freakin' hipsters.