nashvillwill

I would pay attention to urban/street design where you are riding for an explanation of attitude.

I would attribute the more bike friendly attitude in poor areas to neighborhood design. Like much of the south, the poorer neighborhoods tend to be the older neighborhoods that were built pre-auto. These neighborhoods were originally designed to be walkable and slower auto speeds are common. Not to discredit the people that live in these neighborhoods, but i think it has alot to do with design. Odd's are, they know their neighbors much better than their suburban counterparts as well, because they are out walking around more (because they have sidewalks). Newer suburbs are designed for high speed, low obstruction, traffic patterns. Bicycles are obstructions. Therefore the attitude.

ItsJustMe

I read a lot of journals of people who travel in all parts of the world. UNIVERSALLY they say that the less money people have, the more generous and friendly they are. In rich areas, people will call the police if they think you look funny. People who can barely afford to feed their families will insist that you join them for dinner.

acidfast7

I think the friendliest people I'm met so far were in Burma. I think they also had the lowest HDI out of anywhere I've been.

On the other end of your argument, I think you're America biased. In rich Europe, I hardly see a police presence (Norway, Netherlands, Germany, Switz, etc...) and I doubt they'd call the police. Never seen the police in Japan except at the border control and I doubt they'd call the police because I'm sure that I look quite funny to them. In America, I see a huge police presence and I agree with you that if I look strange I'll get the police called on me. However, I think I'd also call the police in America if I was being harassed more than I would in the aforementioned countries. Just goes with the territory I guess.

jolly_ross

I can tell you that in the European Cycling countries (France, Italy, Holland etc ) the attitude is completely different to here in the UK.

One sunny spring morning in France we were climbing up Col d'Izoard - there was a pro team out training on the same mountain, every now and then yet another 20-year-old tower of muscle and adrenaline would dance past on a bike barely a wisp of carbon fibre. The team van passed us up and down the hill many times during the climb - always shouting encouragement to us, foreign middle-aged tourists though we were.

As the crest was nearing the van idled along beside us for a while - the driver was leaning out the window "Allez! Seulement un kilometre! Allez, Allez!" which to my schoolboy french means "Only one kilometre to go! Come on! Come on! "

I thought this was really encouraging and friendly until I realised ...

During the last 100m a couple of the racers passed in a desperately dangerous place - I'm sure what had happened was that the driver had told them "There's a pack of English donkeys up the road, if they beat you to the top you're demoted to domestiques for the rest of the season."

He was only using us as a target for his team.

Anyhow, it was a good laugh, even though they (just) beat us there.

fietsbob

Inverse Ratio to Multiple Gun ownership?

cobrabyte

I live in St. Petersburg FL. Most folks that move here are from the mid-west...Ohio, Nebraska, Chicago, etc...and the cycling here is great. Folks are very friendly in general. I recently toured central Florida for a week and met nothing but nice folks. Miami area though...most folks there are from the Northeast...NY, MA, etc...and they bring their attitudes with them. I've had friends move to Ft. Lauderdale (near Miami) and actually ended up moving back because of how rude people there are. Miami is full of shallow people who think they're big time for some reason. There's some REALLY bad parts of Miami too.

I'm originally from NY so its not a knock on Northeasterners.

mikhalit

Ha, I've heard that Germans take the advantage out of the Danish system. Since the tax is so high dealers set a lower start price. Non danish citizens don't have to pay that 180% tax --> profit! My colleague from Offenbach just did that, because it was cheaper for him to buy a Golf from Denmark..

acidfast7

yes, it's common. but it's still cheaper at wolfsburg directly.

ItsJustMe

I'm not speaking at all from my own experience as an American who has not really travelled at all, but from what I've read of people who have travelled both in the US and in other countries. All say that the more affluent people are, the more suspicious and closed to strangers they are.

droy45

I have cycled mostly in and around the New England states and some in Missisippi, Arkansas and Kentucky. I found all were bicycle friendly with only occasional young punks yelling profanities at me. I now live, commute and ride in Maine where I was born and raised and its a very bike friendly place. We have a State bicycle coalition that is very active now and the infrastructure is improving in a few select towns and cities. It has traditionally been second to Oregon as the most bike friendly state but this year it has been said to have tied up or even surpassed it but not sure where the data was obtained to show that. At any rate, there is some recreational road cycling but much more mountain biking in Maine and hardly any commuting to work as far as I can tell.

loneviking61

I'd tend to agree that smaller towns, less affluent towns with quite a few everyday sort of cyclists in street clothes are usually nice places to cycle. That's the way Carson City, Nevada is. I've heard several long haulers surprised at how friendly the town is. Move over to Reno, which is about three times the size of Carson City and things change. There, it depends on the neighborhood and infrastructure with some areas quite friendly and others not so much.

As for the poor areas of town, I keep an eye out for how much bike and foot traffic there is vs. groups on the corner and '4 riding low' in a older car. The more dangerous areas have more cars and less (or few) out traveling on foot or bike.

gerv 

I have to wonder if this is totally true. Around my town, the biggest factor seems to be whether people are used to seeing cyclists in their neighborhood. I recall 7 or 8 years ago starting to commute thru a ritzy neighborhood. I don't think the folks were too keen on my Fredly appearance. However, after I made the trip regularly, disdain soon melted away into indifference.

But actually this is pretty much the same in poor neighborhoods. The most friendly people are those who wonder how my dynohub works

Mr. Hairy Legs

That sounds about right.

Things are pretty good here; my only real complaint is that nobody pays any attention to speed limits, people routinely rip through red lights, and they don't even come close to stopping on right-turn reds. The result is a pretty dangerous environment for anybody not sitting in a padded cage. Bike lanes are springing up all over the place, however, and I am a huge fan of this.

hhnngg1

You think people in different parts of the country are startlingly different with regards to cyclists, don't even ask them about politics or guns. It's pretty clear that this country isn't a widely tolerant, liberal-leaning place.

noglider 

Yes, people drive differently in different areas. Around here, the poorer areas will have more reckless driving. It's every person for himself.

Interestingly, when I ride my bike in the poorer cites, such as Newark, NJ and Irvington, NJ, people who are on foot are particularly nice. They smile and wave and say hello. It's a welcome surprise for me, because I grew up in New York City in the 70's when crime was BAD and riding through a poor neighborhood was dangerous. For whatever reason, I do not feel threatened in the bad neighborhoods in New Jersey when I'm on bike.

And some people drive inconsiderately here, for sure, but I get very few people who have a get-the-hell-off-the-road attitude that I've experienced elsewhere. The inconsideration I receive is from ignorance or inattentiveness, not hostility.

noglider 

I towed my daughters in a trailer when they were little, in the early 90's. Trailers were pretty much unseen in New Jersey then, so I had tons of motorists stopping me to ask me about it. I enjoyed the friendly attitude, but of course the questions were repetitive, and it became difficult to continue, since they all had enough questions to impede me significantly. I never got angry at them, because, of course, their curiosity wasn't a bad thing, but it was something to deal with.

Now my daughters are grown and I use a trailer to tow cargo. I don't get people stopping me any more. I'm not exactly sure why.

I have had questions about my dynohub. And I had a bike with a Sturmey Archer drum brake hub and had people ask me about that, too. I guess people who aren't much into bikes find their eyes gravitating towards front hubs?

jrickards

My city is not the greatest but getting better, the city is putting in more biking lanes. However, the sand leftover from the winter is covering all of the bike lane and then some so I have to ride at the side of the car lanes. On some streets, the painted line separating the road from the bike lane is worn away but both the sand and paint issues are temporary. There also are a lot of potholes that force me sometimes to take a somewhat winding route down the road to avoid them but I ride early in the morning so there is little traffic.

Every village/town/city has its share of idiots so no location will be perfect.

For the last couple of years, there has been a "Share the Road" bike ride. The funny (and unfortunate) thing about the first one a few years back was that, on the Share the Road ride, there was a collision between a cyclist and a car (minor injuries). However, the truth came out later that the cyclist was in the middle of the lane and weaving back and forth as if he owned the lane and probably hit the car rather than the reverse (didn't help the cause much, did he).

KonAaron Snake 

I've found that the roads people just don't want you on in the Philly area are the main suburban thoroughfares...probably because the speeds are higher and there is more traffic to get frustrated over. I've generally been fine on suburban back roads with lighter traffic. I think people are very used to us in town and if you have a problem, it's because of good old fashioned negligence. The pedestrians in town are another matter - they are a nightmare (but not nearly as bad as NYC).

I have not had the same experience with lower income areas - I have far more problems there. I've found the drivers are more aggressive and I'm more likely to get hassled. The only abusive behavior I've dealt with has been in lower income areas...from anti-Semitic comments (how do they even know? I don't wear anything religious), to get out of the road stuff to gunning the engine and charging at me.

jrickards

It might be the shotgun effect, just lobby anti-whatever comments at everyone and you'll hit someone sometime.