surreal

... If it weren't called "Beach Cruisers". Just plain "Cruisers" would be a more apt name, as "Beach Cruisers" is needlessly limiting, plus there's such a nerd/ shoe-bee/benny connotation to the term. and, really,most of the bikes/discussions going on here are about cruisers, but not necessarily beach cruisers per se...

What do y'all think?

Brennan

Agreed.

juniorswv

Cruisers in much better!!!! Agreed

surreal

Cool. Let's hope a few more ppl weigh in on the matter, and then we'll ask a moderator.

bajajoaquin

I agree with the "Cruisers" part, but I don't know about the "benny" association. It was all sun-bleached hair, flip-flops and riding with a board under your arm to go surf after school when (and where) I grew up.

surreal

When I hear the term "beach cruiser", I think of the cheap rental bikes that bennies intend to rent, but seldom do.

Nightshade

Popular opinions aside I think that the older members here will think "Cruiser" while the younger generation will think "Beach Cruiser" since that is how this type of cycle was called in their youth.

That said, the proper name for this type of old school cycle is......."Cruiser".......and always has been.

When I lobbied for this forum I asked for "Cruiser" it is someone on the BF side that made it "Beach Cruiser".

surreal

I'm, like, 36. Guess I'm middle-aged. I own a couple of cruisers; none have been to the beach.

Bicycle Addict

Beach Cruisers are a very limiting title . . . . . . these bikes have turned around into shopping bikes, commuter, shingle track, small tour bikes , Klunkers, Bombers, Board trackers, modern custom . . the list goes on a lot of these never went to the beach (I know a far few did too).
So would not be a way to house a very expanded Genre.
Just my 2c though

MattCycle

Disagree. Wide wheels, single speed and casual simplicity are the hallmarks of most beach cruisers and beach lifestyle, even if not necessarily at the beach. Do you have to ride a mountain bike on a mountain?

tim24k

Yes just Cruisers would be much better.

RaleighSport

o.O I'm fairly curious what you all have been smoking... look at how inactive the where's the cruiser forum thread was, to be honest the cruiser section should probably even just be a subsection of C&V and not even it's own forum... as for why it's called Beach Cruiser, you'd need to have a word with Tom about that and I'm not going to disagree with his naming choice. As was said earlier, do you need to ride a mountain to ride your mountain bike? And between the weight, the balloon tires and the seating position... yes indeed cruisers are made for the beach.

rumrunn6

I'd rather be at the beach

surreal

Amazing.

-not smoking anything.
-I never saw the "where's the cruiser forum" thread, but it wouldn't surprise me, if it was in a non-cruiser forum, if it didn't get much traffic. TBH, I don't expect a cruiser forum on BF to ever get huge, but the term "beach cruiser" is poisonous.
-I'll ask Tom about it once we get a feeling for how most folks feel.
-"Mountain bike" is probably the most widely-used term for the pure offroad bikes, but they've been called other things (atb, trail bike...before "trail bike" took on a more specialized meaning). More importantly, "mountain bike" is not typically used as a derisive term (except for maybe on the cv forum). When I'm cruising, appreciative folks say things like "nice bike" or "i like your cruiser", while hecklers tend to refer to it as a "beach cruiser". As in, "ew, you're riding a beach cruiser." Not that I'm worried about how ppl judge my bike, but that's how the terms tend to be used.
- You mentioned the CV Forum. The fact is, the CV tribe despises cruisers. That forum needs a name-change more than this one does.
It should be called "Mid-to-high-end roadbikes from 1960-1987 and the weird rules we've applied to the accessories thereof", but of course that won't fly. Sad fact is, at least on BF, the terms "classic and vintage" have taken on a new, narrow meaning. In the CV world, a balloon bike from 1952 is neither classic nor vintage; it's a "beach cruiser".
- You don't know much about cruisers and cruiser culture if you think that weight, tire/wheel size, and ergos are universal on cruisers. Sure, they're mostly heavy, but a lot of folks are building cruisers that weigh half of what a beach rental does. Some folks (myself included) have built cruisers that are twice the weight of a beach rental. I've seen cruisers with 24x3" wheels out back, with 27" road wheels up front. I've seen cruisers with narrow tires front and rear. I've seen cruisers with high seats,low seats, banana seats, and every kind of handlebar ranging from apes, bmx bars, flat bars, and even drop bars. A lot of flipped northside bars on "boardtrack" builds, too.

Cruisers are pretty diverse. Beach cruisers, maybe not. Anyone who has been by a beachfront bike rental outfit already has seen all there is to see of the "beach cruiser", but cruisers run much deeper than that. Why would I, or anyone else, click on a forum called "beach cruisers" more than once? It'd only make sense if it were misnamed.

Respectfully,
Rob

PS- ppl were riding these styles of bikes on the streets and sidewalks for decades before the term "beach cruiser" was coined.

RaleighSport

I'm not going to get long winded with you, I'll just point out a few things.

1: I consider myself part of the C&V crowd and I made that statement, and you'd be shocked there's plenty of balloon tire bikes in C&V and not even close to most of them are high end.

2: No one used the term mountain bike derisively in C&V as far as I know and I spend almost all my forum time in there learning or discussing.

3: What the heck is your issue with the C&V subsection?

4: There's a reason people use cruisers for the beach, hint it's the design.

5: Declaring that I don't know much about cruisers or the culture simply because I don't agree with you and then declaring "Respectfully"... yah mon I'll totally be focused on what you have to say from now on... totally.

surreal

-I don't have an issue with the CV forum; I just noticed that the bikes discussed there tend to be a lot more narrow than what the term "C&V" implies. It's really more of the "old road bike" forum. And, fwiw, I know that some of the members there don't like mtbs, but I'm sure some of them do. They do have the "show us your vintage mtb" thread, and that's a pretty good one. But, for the most part, cruisers get no love on the CV forum. And, that makes sense, b/c there's a lot more to vintage bikes than cruisers; the cruiser folks shouldn't have to sift thru a lot of road/touring content to get to the cruisers, and vice-versa.

-I think ppl use cruisers at the beach in part b/c they're a cheap bike for the rental firms to obtain and maintain, and in part b/c of tradition. As I tried to tell you above, cruisers have a wide variety of designs, from ergonomics to drivetrains to tire size and design. Not all would work well at the beach. I think, from a practicality standpoint, a full-rigid mtb with slicks would work better for the beach, albeit it'd require more maintenance. These days, seems like the beach-bum bike of choice is a ss fatbike.

Ppl customize their cruisers. Sometimes wildly. When you implied that all cruisers have the same tires, weight, and seating position, I inferred that you were unaware of these trends. The "respectfully" may have been a little over the top, considering that you'd accused me of drug abuse from jump in your post.

RaleighSport

Lighten up Francis, it's a turn of phrase and I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you're in a bad mood thus why you keep running the direction you do with the words I type. Hope your day gets better.

Brennan

Just an observation, you referred to this sort of bike as a "cruiser" three times in your own post, and only once as a "beach cruiser," and then because it was in reference to the forum title.

RaleighSport

Just another observation... the terms are interchangeable, no? And thus why this thread was silly to begin with.

Brennan

Per wikipedia, the development of the cruiser bike had nothing to do with beaches, but was instead styled as a faux motorbike. (Whereas mountain bikes were designed specifically with mountain riding in mind, specifically Mount Tamalpais in California).

It also states that "beach cruiser" was conceived as a trademark name rather than a category of bicycle, and it came long after the cruiser bike had first been developed.

surreal

So glad that you're getting so involved with a "silly" thread. I think this thread is important b/c this forum is struggling, and I suspect that the name may have something to do with it. So, I posted the thread to see how others felt, and if my suspicions held any water.

I've put a poll up, so we can get a more reliable metric.

Simple fact: look at the "show us your cruiser" thread, or go to a forum like ratrodbikes.com, and take a look at the bikes pictured there. Most of them are undeniably cruisers, but the vast majority would look out of place on a beach.

surreal

Brennan, you're quite right about that. In fact, the first mountain bikes were Klunkers, Bombers, and "Hybrids", many of which had straightbar schwinns and similar frames as the foundation. Those original bikes were undeniably cruisers, as well as being primitive mtn bikes, and some of the other aforementioned classifications, but they were decidedly not beach cruisers.

I'm proposing a more generalized name, which will improve accuracy and hopefully broaden the appeal.

RaleighSport

You forgot the leading paragraph of the article.

A cruiser bicycle, also known as a beach cruiser, is a bicycle which combines balloon tires, an upright seating posture, a single-speed drivetrain, and straightforward steel construction with expressive styling. Cruisers are popular amongst casual bicyclists and vacationers because they are very stable and easy to ride, but their heavy weight and balloon tirestend to make them rather slow. They are associated with the larger category of hybrid bicycles.
The bikes, noted for their durability and heavy weight, were the most popular bicycle in the United States from the early 1930s through the 1950s,[SUP][1][/SUP] and have enjoyed renewed popularity since the late 1990s.[SUP][2]


[/SUP]

Brennan

But what follows reveals the term "beach cruiser" as a misnomer as applied to pre-1970s cruisers.

PS: My eyesight is fine. No need for the large font.

RaleighSport

Really? The leading paragraph (that you left out) of the article you quoted from says it is.