axel

I realize that there is already a dizzying array of subforums on BF. What I notice about them is that they are mostly geared toward bicycling as it is practiced in the US. Obviously, most of the members here are native English speakers who appear to live in the US. So this should be no surprise.

While I am a native English speaker and US citizen I am very partial to the following features:

Internally Geared Hubs
Upright Posture
Chainguards
Fenders
Hub Dynamo Powered Built-in Lighting
Racks for Panniers and Baskets
Preference for Comfort and Low Maintenance over High Speed and Low Weight

I think a lot of other people share my preference for these features. You're most likely to come across threads pertaining to these features in the Commuting, and Utility Cycling forums but even there, the subject is often esoterically hidden.

Here's a little condensed history that I think explains why there is this gulf between US bike conventions and bicycling as it is practiced in W. Europe and many other countries around the world:

After WWII the US decided to make the automobile the default form of transportation for anyone who wants to be considered an adult. Bicycling was thus pushed to the margins as a leisure activity of children and weekend hobbyists.

But in Europe, where the destruction of WWII was all around, it took them a couple of decades just to get back on there feet again. By the late 60's and early 70's the Western European nations were about where the US was with respect to cars in 1950. But then the oil shocks hit, and before they could embark on a Continental Highway System they were forced to cut back on their oil imports. As a result, most of these countries took a very different direction from the US, and decided to deal with growing traffic congestion by discouraging car-use and reinvesting in bicycling infrastructure.

To be fair, W. Europe was settled many centuries ago so most cities were already built on a pre-automobile age scale that easily lent themselves to bike culture. The US was settled in just a few generations in a frenzy of land acquisition. And the US rise to world prominence happened so recently that most of it's cities were built in the age of the automobile. Furthermore, the US has always been a much more heterogenous society where collective amenity has been held captive beneath the wheel of individual sovereignty.

But in this new century we've seen a huge reversal in the long term price trend of oil. The prosperity of the Reagan/Clinton years was made possible in large part by the surge of both Alaskan North Slope oil, and the North Sea. But as 9-11 rung in the new century, oil prices rose steadily through the first decade. After a brief pullback in 2009, oil prices once again are over $100 per barrel. I believe this is due to the reality of oil as a finite fossil fuel. We've found the low hanging fruit and now have to turn to increasingly lower grade oil (tar sands) and drill in increasingly perilous conditions (2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill) to get the oil we burn - all of which can be summarized by the term peak oil.

Concommitant with these recent events, we've seen a huge surge in the popularity of bicycling. This is no mere coincidence. Transportation accounts for the largest chunk of our energy use. More and more US cities are rediscovering the principles of people- centric city design. Transportation planners like Jeanette Sadik Khan of NYC, are taking a page out of the book of cities like Copenhagen and Amsterdam by reclaiming traffic lanes for bike lanes, and pedestrian plazas. We're beginning to wake up from the long 20th century obsession with speed. In our zeal to expedite traffic flow, we turned everyplace into no place, and made cities places to pass through - rather than be.

The European City bicycling culture as exemplified on sites like: https://www.copenhagenize.com/is largely anathema to the concerns of many of the subforums on this board. Bicycling isn't a high risk activity (anymore so than driving or walking) that should require use of protective gear like helmets or the wearing of special clothing (lyra-spandex). You don't need to be able to compete in the Tour De France on your bike. A few extra kgs - ahem! lbs for fenders, chainguard, lighting, rack etc, make a world of difference toward making the bicycle an everyday convenience rather than a sunny warm weather hoppy.

For those that want to wear helmets, and ride derailleur bikes w/out chainguards while wearing spandex - I say you already have a ton of subforums catering to your interests. I maintain than the future of the US will include more bicycling and as people rediscover the benefits of it, they will increasingly adopt the conventions of European City Bikes. The hilliest of cities will still favor lightweight bikes but for the vast majority of geographic regions, I believe that once people see that bikes don't have to be a hunched over spandex fetish, they will embrace the reliability of modern hub geared bikes with upright posture, chainguards, fenders, lights and racks.

So, I propose that we create a new subforum that recognizes this breed of bicycling. It isn't necessarily about hauling thousands of lbs as in "Utility Cycling", nor is it about "Alt Bike Culture", trying to re-create something that doesn't need to be re-created. It also isn't necessarily about "Classic and Vintage Bikes" as if these European City Bike features are just archaic anachronisms to be oggled and coddled as museum curiosities. "Living Car Free" and "Commuting" both touch upon these aspects but both still tend to have a US-centric obsession with speed and light-weight because most Americans are still so used to commuting dozens of miles everyday to work and thus need to view bike commuting as something of a mini-Tour De France. While more admirable than commuting by car, I would suggest that anyone who needs more than an hour to bike to their job - try living closer to work (in a smaller space if need be) than being so dependent on mechanical high performance.

The culture of European City Bikes is a culture that recognizes that in creating a bike friendly city, it's not desirable nor even necessary for everyone to live in a low density sprawl of detached suburban cul-de-sacs and strip malls. Its about multi-modal Transit Oriented Development, and New Urbanism. It's about more frequent short trips rather than scenery blurring time trials. It's a culture that is about simplicity and convenience but not at the cost of comfort as the "Single Speed and Fixie" world would have you believe is necessary. When bicycling is viewed as a normal everyday activity for all kinds of people in all conditions, you don't need to ghettoize the needs of those who are "Fifty Plus (50+)" with a special subforum. Bicycling doesn't need to be a competitive event for testosterone laden males desperate for a way to impress the ladies. "European City Bikes" would be a subforum that is of interest to both men and women bicyclists of all ages who want to ride on a daily basis and who don't view bicycling as something dangerous that requires special clothing.

So mods and bf members - what do you think about broadening the horizons of this currently US-centric forum to be more inclusive of the wonders of hub gears, chain guards, fenders and spandex-free bicycling? Admittedly, some of these topics would overlap with current subforums, but many of them currently overlap anyway. But in all of the current diversity of subforums - what is apparent to me is the predominance of a certain provincialism of mindset. I'm hoping Bikeforums.net can transcend this.

Allen

Check out the Utility forum. It's all about swept back handlebars, panniers, racks, and upright bikes.

Roody

Instead of griping on this forum, why don't you be a little more proactive and write some posts on the other forums, particularly Utility, LCF and Commuting? If this forum is Amerocentric, one reason is that Europeans and others don't jump in more and participate. I notice that axel, the OP, has only posted 41 times in 4 years of membership, but seems to feel there aren't enough people like him posting.

axel

Allen: The Utility forum mostly seems to be about hauling stuff on your bike. That's an aspect of dutch/Euro biking culture, but kinda misses the forest for the sake of a narrow focus on the tree of portage. But I'll see about it.
You're right. I am griping. I'm just surprised by the gulf between European bike culture and that of North America. It would be understandable if this were the 1800's and we didn't have the internet, with digital photography. But we do, and Americans visit Europe but apparently seem to mostly go right back to their hunched over spandex riding ways.

I joined initially to learn more when I had bought a Xootr scooter. But that quickly lost it's appeal after I fell and hurt my shoulder. I've lurked occassionally for a while, but when I recently got around to buying a new bike I could no longer refrain. I've been sucked into discussion forums before and found them to be a waste of time. But this seems to have such a practical application. So perhaps I will just have to do as you suggest Roody, and start posting where I can find others on a similar wavelength and start some threads. Thanks for replying.

Tom Stormcrowe

Axel, we also have a Europe subforum, and the topic of Euro city bikes can easily be covered in our existing subforums. The problem is, if we fragment the forums too much, we wind up with a huge page of dead forums and little activity in any of them because it just gets too confusing.

axel

Tom, I didn't think to look in the Europe subforum. That helps. Thanks. But I do live in the US and would like to further the invasion of Dutch bike culture into North America.

Allen

Search for "bring back the english 3 speed" and "dutchifacation of my bike" in Utility.
The english 3 speed thread is 30+ pages long.

Sixty Fiver

There are many threads on English three speeds and these are the counterpart to the continental versions and they have a great following here in North America... these are among the most popular and longest running threads on Bike Forums and the C&V version For The Love of English Three Speeds is 66 pages long and has well over 1600 posts. It really speaks to the pleasure of riding these well thought out machines and has less focus on the utilitarian aspects of these bicycles.

It is a feast for the eyes and has a lot of technical information.

You should start a thread on City Bikes / Roadsters in an appropriate forum... it would probably get the best response in Commuting or Classic and Vintage as even though many are new they retain some old world charm and have not changed much over the past 5 or 6 decades.

Roody

Good points. There is also a lot of love for Dutch bikes on the Living Carfree forum, and there have been a few threads there over the last couple years.

axel

Thanks AllenG, Sixty Fiver and Roody for the suggestions. I'll have to peruse the English 3 speed now and again.

The fact that many of the existing threads that deal with Dutch/European featured bikes are for vintage bikes attests to how much the style has been maligned. As time permits, I forsee many threads up my sleeve in the future. But I can also see that I have much to learn from you all.