Chaco

Just wondering. . .

UberGeek

Maybe.

danmc

Your post just blew Keanu Reeves' mind...

spare_wheel

I think they give motorists a bad name.

manapua_man

Do bicycles give cyclists a bad name?

degnaw

No, but a cyclist's overcreative parents might.

myriad67

Now my brain hurts just thinking about that.

B. Carfree

Have we jumped the meta-thread shark yet?

unterhausen

I thought that's what the last thread was going to be about, but it turned out to be another, "lance wannabes in lycra give cyclists a bad name" thread.

-=(8)=-

I give them a few bad names. Usually after various body parts, orifices, etc . . .

CB HI

Your avatar and screen name are a bad name.

Greyryder

*looks at the thread title*

When did we hit the Foo?

-=(8)=-

A&S has to climb about 14 rungs to hit Foo level.
Given the regulars and the usual posts, it prolly wont happen for a while.

Matariki

Do recyclists give cyclists a bad name?

bengreen79

Did Bon Jovi give cyclists a bad name? Or just ones that ride steel frames?

gcottay

So far, my name is pretty much intact.

G1nko

I asked that question because we suffer a lot of bad PR. I read an interesting article today that said, in essence, that people punish members of a group who give more generously because the most generous people are nonconformists. People who choose to ride bicycles as their primary mode of transportation are outside the norm in American society. As nonconformists, I think we, too, get punished: my friends and coworkers clearly state their opinion that they think I'm nuts for riding a bike to work.

A lot of people seemed to feel on that thread that the actions of a few shouldn't be held as defining an entire class of people. Yet that's exactly what we do as a society on a daily basis. A large segment of the American population, not all, allows the actions of a few zealots to define an entire class. I’m sure at least one person, beside myself, went home and said “Some idiot on a bike hit some guy on the path today.” From there the story spreads; it’s human nature.

I live on the east side of the Connecticut River. Currently, to get to the other side, you either have to take a seasonal ferry or ride all the way into Hartford and cross the one bridge that has a bicycle/pedestrian path. The state is redoing a local bridge and adding a bicycle/pedestrian path which will make it much easier to get to businesses on the other side of the river. People here have their panties in a bunch that even $1 of taxpayer money is being spent to create a bicycle path on the bridge. The level of vitriol in the local press is really breathtaking. When people act like that DB on the shared use path who hit me, we only lend fuel to the fire for the Dorothy Rabinowitz’s and Ben Wearings of this world and make it harder to create the kind of infrastructure that supports both motor vehicle and HPV traffic.

I don't think my viewpoint stems from an "inferiority complex" as one poster commented, but rather a defensive position derived from numerous encounters with drivers who, for one reason or another, see fit to use their vehicles as weapons. When I see somebody on a bicycle acting badly, it bothers me because we are already working from a position outside the norm. Acting badly only serves to perpetuate that and make it harder to bring bicycling within the norm.

Someone else commented about drivers not worrying about giving drivers a bad name. I sat at the outside local coffee shop the other day with some friends and watched car after car after car blow through the stop sign. Some slowed down and paid lip-service to the sign, others just blew right through like it didn’t exist. When I commented, everybody rolled their eyes: there goes the old coot again. Again, it comes back to behavior that’s accepted because it’s within the norm and behavior that’s punished because it’s outside the norm.
That’s why I use hand signals, stop at stop signs, and ride courteously and defensively. If we chip away at it little by little, eventually it may become accepted. Then along comes the DB on the path who in one split-second of DBgery wipes it all away.

So, do I give cyclists a bad name by wondering what I wondered? I know you’re just being glib, but having lived in Europe and had my non-carcentric lifestyle be the norm, I would really like to see a bicycle accepted as just another way to get from point A to point B and not be viewed as a crank or a kook for doing so.

DX-MAN

Name Bad a Cyclists Give Name Bad a Cyclists Give Cyclists Think Who Cyclists Do?

Now it makes more sense, I got it..............

RyderTheRider

I honestly never considered that. The amount of road rules driver's break and get away with because they are the majority. They run stops signs, don't head check and speed around like they are playing racing games. Even I've been accepting it.

rydabent

What cyclist do probably doesnt make much difference to a car driver. To the driver, the fact that we are there is an affront to their existance.

manapua_man

Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?

agent pombero

There is a logical flaw in believing that some cyclists, such as those who run red lights and stop signs, create a bad image amongst all cyclists.

The same principal applies when a man of X ethnicity robs a convenience store. Is it logical to assume that all people of X ethnicity are just like him?

CommuteCommando

Cyclists who give cyclists a bad name, give cyclists a bad name. Period. For some motorists, a cyclist older than eight years old not riding on a sidewalk gives cyclists a bad name. Nothing to do about that.

Don in Austin

I used to tow my dirt track stock car home from a race track out of town after Saturday night racing. When I would get on the Loop 1 expressway west of of Austin, Texas about 1:30 - 2:00 AM Sunday, I swear I was the only sober driver on that road. Should I hold that against all motorists? Doesn't seem fair to the many responsible motorists who are teetotalers or, for another example, like me, reformed alcoholics who haven't tasted ethyl alcohol in 20+ years.

Don in Austin