I got the current copy of L.L. Bean and on the cover is a woman with a very nice commuter bicycle sitting beside her. (Lights, rack etc.) Is bicycle commuting getting so hip it appears on a national mail-order catalog? I just thought what we are doing is fun.

It's run and it's hip.

It's hip for those of us who do it. For others, it's dorky and weird.

Others = those who don't "get it."

is there any cycling stuff in the catalogue?

i've noticed when a female model is pic'ed with a bike almost never is she on it.

Who cares, it's fun and good for your health and the environment.

Cycling is being used in a lot of marketing messages these days. It's becoming an aspirational symbol of health and eco friendliness. Not that it convinces people to do it or try it, but symbolizes the idea that by purchasing a certain product or brand they will be associated with those that do.

Also as an aside, Mpls is a big ad town a lot of people in the ad business are avid cyclists and completely embrace the concept as "cool" so they repeatedly incorporate it into their concepts and their work. Bike culture here has trickled up. It's not a bad thing.

It's hip unless you care if it's hip, then it's not hip

Now that cycling isn't underground, I'll have to stop doing it.

I'm older and a Manager. It's not considered hip with 99% of my peers, and I could care less.

It's a symbol for being "green", healthy, independent, and prudent. That's how I see it at least.

The hip crowd doesn't care about any of these. Maybe 1.

Lets start skateboarding to work! It'll be the new black!!

commuting around europe has always been hip.

Just did some cycling around the Scottish highlands last weekend ... here are a few photos of the SO and I (none of the bikes as they were just rentals).

I question the major premise of your argument. Do you really think L.L. Bean is hip?

I got one of their jackets on sale and while I'd never wear it in public (as with any of their clothing) it's great on the bike. Was around 50 USD at the outlet, IIRC.

Precisely, I have been seeing a lot of advertising around town that I would consider bike washing, which is the new green-washing. Bank ads with bicycles in them, ads for new homes in subdivisions dozens of miles away from anywhere with shopping and jobs showing people riding their bikes, bike washing.

If you are a hip person and dress hip and have a hip bag and a hip bike and you can ride to work without becoming a sweaty mess, sure bike commuting can be hip.

If you are instead like me, and you are fat, wear bike shorts and an athletic shirt from Target, and have a Trek hybrid that you commute on and carry your crap in panniers and wear a dorky helmet and can't ride anywhere without becoming drenched in sweat, then no you are not hip.

Bike commuting in the rain and snow is definitely hip. Fair weather, not so much. Just the other day, while waiting at a light during a downpour, someone on the sidewalk told me they thought what I was doing was really hip, and asked how could they be more like me. I just smirked, and rode on.

I'll never be hip then. I've been a little overweight but not obese, and I've been thin and ripped when I was much younger and a regular athlete. Through it all, I've always sweated profusely, especially from my head. My son has the same condition. Yesterday, he and a bunch of friends were outside playing and running around. Most of the other kids' heads were totally dry, but my boy looked like he had just climbed out of a pool. And he's not fat, at all. He has awesome six-pack abs at age five!

Signed,

Ol' Sweaty, who will never be hip.

As cynical and calculated and insincere as it may be, I'm all for it. Anything to make biking more "normal" in this country...

I see sailboats often used in similar campaigns... "clean, green, peaceful, quiet, recreational..." of course the reality is that more people seem to want and buy stuff like jetskis, hummers... etc.

/thread

It garners a lot more admiration than it did 10 years ago... although I suppose that depends on where you live. Where I work now it's seen as a great way to keep fit and a lot of people talk about doing it.. although a much smaller number actually get it together.

Hip? Gawd.. I hope not. Now that the fixed gear thing has totally flamed out, I can get back on my track bike again after a multi-year repreave. I've been commuting daily for 14 years and I would hate to have to give that up.

Plus, this is obviously first-world advertising. For 99% of the world's population, bike riding is an unpleasant and dangerous activity, and a stigma of poverty. Everyone really lusts after a BMW 7XX.

My caucasian pal who after a visit with his in-laws in China, was coached with 2 key messages: that we eat meat we are not seen out in the 'hood on bikes. Poor people eat veggies and ride bikes.

Don't forget insane.