top506

Boyo, I really couldn't disagree more.
For starters, there are more cyclists on the road now than there were 30-odd years ago.
And not all of them buy wally-world ATBs. I sell lots and lots of hybirds of all stripes to folks who are looking for bikes for the purposes you mention.
Last summer when gas got stupid I set up a large pile of those old ATBs as commuters with narrow slicks, fenders, lights, and a little fitting. Made lots of regular customers, a good many who have been back to get new bikes.
As to kids and bikes, around here if you live within a couple of miles of the elementary school it's odds on your kid rides his bike in the non-snow months. in fact, I dimed the principal for letting the kids leave school property without helmets in violation of state law (and yeah, I know, we didn't wear them either back in the day, we didn't ever HAVE them, but this administrator really needs the harassment)
Lastly, 'transportational' cycling, to use your spelling, would be better addressed by an old-school 3-speed with fenders and a basket.
Folks who really want to bike will find a bike they like to ride.
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Poguemahone

It's freakin' Virginia. Where the motorists whine unceasingly about the roads, but want as much subsidy from other sources as possible. Where they talk seriously about their "right" to drive without a liscence or insurance, and when faced with a thousand dollar fine for doing so, shake the state legislature so hard that the fines are overturned. Where any money spent on alternate transport is met with a howl so loud it doesn't stand a hope.

And frankly, given a couple of the lanes they've tried to shoehorn in around RVA, cyclists are frankly better off without 'em. Door zones, lanes in a broken gutter, thru lanes placed to the right of right turn only lanes, lanes with limited visbility, you name it.

rothenfield1

I like this bike. I just spent more then that building up a 99 Allez sport Alum. If I had only known!

I place part of the blame on city planners. There just aren't many safe riding paths for kids to ride on. You'd think that at least elementary schools would have riding paths connecting them to their nearest housing developments. I do agree that times have changed. When I was growing up in the late 60's in So. Indiana, it seemed like every kid had a banana seat bike. And, some of them were lucky enough to have Schwinns. I was lucky enough to have a Mom who cared enough to buy me a yellow Schwinn Continental. I recently reminisced with her about it, and she was shocked when I told her how far away I was riding it. I think little kids are naturally inclined to like cycling. It's just not being promoted to them by their parents or society for that matter. If you don't make a connection with cycling early in life, it's harder to make that connection when you are adult. My avatar is a picture of my 4 year old grandson who is quit proud of himself for riding his "Two Wheels" as he calls it, when all his friends are still riding trainers. Gotta start them early!

danarnold

Many thoughtful posts here. Thanks. Indeed part of it has to do with wealth. Cycling as a transportation option has historically been an alternative of the poor. The rest drive cars. In addition to the poor, cycling attracts intellectuals, the environmentally conscious, the frugal rich =o) , the politically driven, those interested in fitness, and the poseurs. These are not mutually exclusive categories.

When I was in high school, I had a heavy 3 speed Huffy. Rode it everywhere until I got a car and a license. In grad school, I had a 40+ pound Motobecane I commuted on for financial reasons. The financial reasons became secondary when I really started to enjoy it. The heavy bike did not stop me from putting my son on the back and regularly riding to the top of Griffith Park to the observatory.

Almost anyone can afford a cheap road bike. Anything with skinny tires will do, so lack of money is not an impediment to riding. It's having money that keeps the masses from riding.

In the U.S. bicycling as transportation will continue to be done by the poor and those who have other agendas.

jgedwa

I would have said that cycling was making a pretty strong showing recently. More people doing it as a style thing. More people doing it as an environmental thing. And perhaps more people doing it as a bad-economy thing.

But the main claim of the OP still stands: cycling has been on the margins now for a long time in the US. I think the causes of this are far larger than merely the crap bikes sold at X-marts. Here are my off-the-cuff guesses on the causes:

-we are too busy to bother pedalling around where we need to go.
-we think we are too busy to bother pedalling around where we need to go.
-we think its not safe.
-we are under the addiction to cars and the seemingly cheap transportation they provide
-and, we built our lives (towns, roads, neighborhoods, etc) around the belief that these things were normal and permanent.

jim

danarnold

I don't blame this on city planners, though I can certainly understand the rationale for having safe riding paths for elementary school kids. On the whole I don't think the quiet residential streets that lead to most elementary schools pose a great threat to educated, competent, youthful cyclists.

In high school, a friend and I rode 110 miles one day on our heavy steel, lugless old road bikes, on old US 99, North of Seattle. We had no problems other than sore butts. We would have taken a car, if we had one.

91MF

i did a couple charity rides this year and was treated like a fool by some of the older 'cyclists'. i was talked down to for 'modifying' my road bike with pursuit bars and when i mentioned i liked to mess around on a fixed gear bike i was mocked 'do you have orange wheels on it?' 'o you are one of those brakeless jackasses' i dont give a **** what people think of me but some kids might feel like its not a sport for them if they are treated poorly.

Loose Chain

There have always been junkers. People, especially young people never go outside anymore. The 70s and 80s saw an outside boom, fitness, health, back packing, jogging and all but now people just sit on their ever larger rears drinking and smoking and playing video games and whining.

I go out for a ride and I am struck by the lack of diversity in the bike gene pool. Not only do I only see MTBs 9:1 but every bike is either a Trek or a Cannodale or a Specialized or a Wally World Special probably all coming from the same giant box factory in China.

RobbieTunes

1) One reason kids don't ride bikes as much because parents prefer couch potato kids to predators. When I was young, my 11-year old, 55-lb butt hauled papers at 5 am over an 8-mile route, alone. No way would that happen today. Kids ride bikes to the end of the driveway, in the subdivision, until Mom & Dad can afford a Barbie scooter.

2) Various US firms made a variety of affordable bikes for children. Need I elaborate?

3) We had 3 lousy channels to compete with baseball, football, basketball, hockey, swimming, and we had to ride our bikes to each place to play each sport. The closest thing to a video game was table tennis, or Clue (and you had to know how to read to play, not txt2pla)

BengeBoy 

I think you're confusing your own sense of aesthetics -- apparently you only like a certain kind of bikes, lugged steel -- with the issue you're trying to address.

danarnold

You make an excellent point. Even well meaning advice givers run the risk of making cycling appear elitist. It puts people off. I prefer to ride with a jersey, clipless shoes, and cycling shorts, but I guess that even the appearance of such gear can come off as elitist. I know I used to think so myself years ago when I commuted in jeans and a work shirt.

DavidW56

I'm a middle-aged man, and I do recall that I and my contemporaries had a lot more free, unstructured and unsupervised time outdoors, and much of it was due to having a bike to get me away from the house. If I wanted to play baseball, then I could darn well get my own self there, was my parents' position. I took the school bus to high school, twenty miles away. But as soon as I could drive, I didn't use the bike much.

Today, my kids have been in extracurriculars just about every season. Their backpacks weigh almost half what my daughter weighs. Driving is just about a necessity. And yes, bicycling is uncool to them, at least in high school, even though I do see the high school bike racks filled. My younger son has now started his first semester of college, just two miles away, and now he's thinking of bicycling there. He's already tired of the driving hassle -- construction detours, and the fight for limited parking spaces, which are on the outskirts of campus, and a long walk from the classrooms.

JunkYardBike

Counter-intuitive logic. I like it!

But pray tell, why does that LAB logo closely resemble a Mercedes emblem?

danarnold

Mercedes copied a good thing? BTW, I prefer 'League of American Wheelmen'

... or in my case, 'League of Ancient Wheelmen'

Still planning on having some jerseys silk screened with with it. =o)

gerv 

We are actually in the midst of a bike boom like the early 1970s. Everyone seems to be on a bicycle around here.

Granted there are a lot of people out there who bike infrequently and only on trails, but I'm guessing a large portion of them will one days discover it's relatively safe on the roads... as long as you know what you are doing.

JunkYardBike

Ah, the LAW predates Mercedes by one year!

Loose Chain

Tig welded steel is fine with me. Lugged frames were once required because welding methods and metalurgy required it. As well, it is certainly beautiful to have a lugged frame but I see no problem with quality TIG welded aluminum or steel frames.

In the youth/transportation market I don't think carbon fiber is an appropriate material for an entire bike and there is a lot of this that is perception driven. Elite racers can use a cf frame to maximum advantage, most of us would do better on a steel frame or aluminum frame. Aluminum can be bonded as well with internal lugs, I am not sure there are any bonded aluminum frames on the market now.

I think some less "flamboyant" cycling clothing would also help. There are a lot of guys out there who are not going to participate in a sport that requires bright colored lycra due to certain perceptions that began coming to the fore circa early 90s.

Cycling is often referred to as a "sport" and that is a problem as well, yes, it is an amazing sport but people who ride for transportation may not see themselves as sporting or as bieng involved in a sport, it is simply a means of getting from a A to B for them.

Yes, we need more "frog ponds" and kinder and more gentle society again, if we ever had it to begin with, somehow, we managed to survive. The "boogeyman" phenomena driven by 24X7 news cycles is hyping the dangers to kids beyond reality.

jtgotsjets

The Varsity was far from the worst bicycle produced during that era. Quite the contrary, really—Varsities are still well-known for their tank-like (in a good way) qualities. It's just that they were heavy and ended up behind the times. That, combined with their ridiculous popularity in their prime, leading to a current surplus on the used market, means that they aren't well regarded.

But far, far from the worst.

Poguemahone

Heck, yeah. Syke and I were discussing Iversons the other day....

One thing I don't get is the bash the young argument. I've helped a number of younger folks build up bikes, and I've found in general, the interest level amoung the young far eclipses that of the older folks in regards to bikes. Of course, I'm somewhat spoiled by living in a town with what looks to be a rather vibrant, if under the official radar, cycling community.

danarnold

Dunno about frame materials, it's beyond my pay grade, but I agree about the 'less "flamboyant" cycling clothing.' Cycling shorts are functional and usually black. Swobo makes a wool cycling jersey in black and available at discount retailers online for only $45. Wabi in Portland, OR makes a great old time 'heirloom quality' wool jersey. These are not flamboyant and are functional.

I've ordered some Dromarti leather cycling shoes. Hardly cheap, but at least they won't 'look' flamboyant. I don't mean to get the helmet thread started and won't respond here even if provoked, but the current helmet fad discourages some potential riders with its implicit 'cycling is dangerous and elitist.'

jgedwa

Strikes me that instead of holding up the Varsinental as the long-lost ideal bike for the masses, we should be mourning the loss of the cheap 3 speed. I think that is the bike that suits more people's needs.

I would like to see someone market a reasonably priced bike with the following features:

-3 or 5 or 7 speed IGH
-aluminum rims
-flat or riser bars
-cheap but tough steel frame.
-no farging suspension of any kind
-big slick tires

If someone could produce this for about $400 and get it in an X-mart I think it might start a revolution.

jim

danarnold

You just gave me a great idea. I've got this 30 year old Lambert I just restored... almost. Has some campy gear on it. Took it out the other day and realized I've become addicted to brifters. I know some kids who need transportation and vision. Could be just the thing to give it away to the right kid.

Poguemahone

I'd be tempted to agree with you, but the folks who think nothing of putting down five hundred on car repairs would probably never buy such a bike. For some reason, they'd see it as "too expensive". Plus, some folks just love the "features" on bikes that they dont really need-- like full suspension.

Chicago Al 

Could not disagree with the OP more, but maybe that's because he deliberately set out to be provocative. Or because I am a 'new' cyclist myself, having just started in at age 52 this summer.

I also have three kids, now 18, 15, and 13. They all have bikes and ride a lot. Also spend hours on Facebook and watching cancelled TV shows on DVD!

15 year old rides her vintage mixte to school most days (not in the dead of winter), about 2 miles, mostly on a riverside MUP. That's a nice benefit of our neighborhood, one we had no thought of when we moved here--actually I don't think the path was there 20 years ago, and I know the magnet HS wasn't.

Older daughter is now in college, along with her Miyata mixte. All her friends in HS were cyclists; the wealthier kids had brand-new fixed-gear bikes (the boys, that is), her closest friend rode a Bianchi Milano--but that girl is from family that doesn't even own a car. In fact our daughter and some of her friends have not even gotten their driving licenses; having grown up with easy public transit and bikes, they didn't need to drive.

13 y o son rides a 90s Hardrock to his swim and karate classes. We have another HR that we're going to turn into a SS and possibly a fixie. He has been devouring Danny McAskill videos on youtube and wants to start hanging out at a BMX park that's a short ride from our house.

It may seem counterintuitive but our very urban experience is that cycling is very strong right now: practical, fun, and fashionable.

And I was the right age for the bike boom but completely missed it, so am glad to have another chance at one!

daveinduluth

i enjoy the "kids these days" discussions. people seem to forget that children learn many of their behavior by modeling the examples of their parents. so maybe it's a "parent's these days" problem. also, if kids have too much tv, get it out of the house. good examples go a long way, sure did for me when I was growing up.