The other day I passed FOUR, yes FOUR bikes on my way up Weems Road. One was my wife, but it still counts. Now Weems is a village of 400, and Weems Road is, well this is Weems Road:

Seems like the fixedgears have trickled down to the high school and middle school crowd. Good to see younger kids on bikes.

I see more on my side of town.
I live in a lower end suburb, and most bike riders stay in the neighborhood, not commuting or shopping across town.
The trend I see here, and like is the conversion of MTB's to single speed uprights. Our town is flat, with no need for multi-speeds, and most of the derailler equipped bikes are rusted in one speed anyway .

hey, beaumont, at least you're seeing bikes at all when it's 110 in the shade.

Bike growth in SE michigan is amazing. They're everywhere in Ann Arbor downtown. In the last couple of years, the town has added an REI, Performance Bike, and the local Trek and Giant dealers have expanded. UM students on a lot of Wallyworld, Target, and Meijer BSO's. Milleniums on poorly maintained vintage, and lots of newer Trek hybrids for the ladies.

In the Grosse Pointes, a mix of Carbon Fiber lycra groupees, women on Electras, lots of new cruisers, some old Schwinns and lots of hybrids. Helped a neighbor with his $5 Schwinn Continental replace a broken pedal and a new shifter cable. A few c + v devotees. Saw a nicely dressed mature couple, retired(?), on a pair of vintage fortyish Huffy 3 speeds at Trader Joes. Nice to see it's safe enough here for pre-secondary school age kids to ride on their own as well.

In Detroit, mostly new Nexts and a lot of those recycled BSOs. Certain neighborhoods have teens on minibikes.

Areas are very different. When Auchencrow came to visit, he said in a twenty minute ride he saw more bikers than he'd seen in aggregate all year where he normally rides.

I was driving my Ford Ranger delivery truck down the road once, and saw glinting chrome on the back of a junk truck headed to the scrap heap. I pulled over and gave it a glance or two. Early 80's Torker BMX bike it was! I walked into the Jack in the box, found the guy, and he was tickled pink to sell it for ten bucks. Sold it to my friend the next day for $200. It's one of his favorite bikes now, and he keeps it on a stand in his bedroom right below his Lightning downtube CW Racing. Only married guy I've ever seen that could get away with that. My hat's off to him for pulling that off.,,,,BD

There's one place I am seeing less bikes, and that is flea markets and thrift stores. It's how I used to supplement my income. I need to find out where they are hiding, so I can afford my hobby once again!

And in case no one has ever seen a lightning downtube CW, they're quite a styling statement, and very cool!

https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/y...psbd78b550.jpg

Dang, I'm not a bmx fan but that's a sweet looking bike.

Very interesting thread. I asked the question 6 months ago at my lbs if we are experiencing another bike boom in this country.

The one in the late 70's, early '80's was fun. I worked in a bike shop during the latter surge in cycling activity.
Can you imagine riding in cycling events on weekends, then drinking beer and eating pizza in the evening.......I can. For a college kid, it was a pretty good living.

The answer from the bike shop was a guarded yes!!!

It seems all the old rr track right of ways are being converted to bike paths.
The retired boomers are buying bikes. Probably knee issues and they want to get some exercise in the great outdoors.....
Younger people, I believe, are more environmentally conscious.

Plus - people are finding out it is a blast, and a great way to meet very nice people.

Cycling, on a bad day, beats the heck out of video games!!!!!!!!!!!

BTW - my cycling heros are the old guard that are on the paths every weekend, and you know they have been doing the same since the 60's! Sometimes you see them on an old Bob or Paramount or something really vintage and cool. The stories alone at the stops are worth the day spent.

On the streets and MUPs of my small town, I've noticed a lot more oldsters (60+) on newish bikes. Mostly newish hybrids and mountain bikes, but they're out there, chugging away, wrapped up in nylon, helmets and High-Vis yellow windbreakers, grinding up and down the hills of my very hilly town.

Yes! Here in Detroit the number of cyclists goes up every month, that includes winter. Our critical mass rides are getting HUGE also...

Welcome DetroitSchwinn. What critical mass rides are you referring to?

Both the critical mass that is the last Friday of the month AND the slow roll, the last 2 Mondays have been especially crazy...

P.S. Thank you for the welcome!!

I may try to make it this Monday. Look for a melon green Miyata with pink bar tape.

Here was tonight's scene on Kercheval. Lots of families biking together in some cases 3 generations, few hipsters. Nice night weather wise.