acorn54

i live on social security disability and all my friends are too poor to have cars but take buses and walk
when i ask them why they don't buy a bike these are some of the responses i get
1-it is not safe to ride a bike
2- a bike is too much work
3- my bike always got flats
4- i rode a bike until a car hit me

that pretty much sums up why my friends don't use bikes.

rumrunn6

Anybody been to Harvard Square in Cambridge, MA? It looks like China there are so many bikes.

StephenH

College campuses tend to have a lot of bikes. And seems like I've read that the main reason Portland is such a cycling hub is due to campuses downdown.

I'm curious what the original post was about here- the cartoon or whatever is long gone. A good ol' vampire thread popping up.

MadMabel

It looks as if the original cartoon is long gone but I did see one one time in a European magazine that may be along the same lines.

It showed a packed parking lot in front of a building marked "American Cycling Club".

Other places may be different but Portland has a fantastic array of bike paths and lanes.

(https://www.portlandonline.com/TRANSP...=70221&c=34809).

I don't think that it is possible to get more than eight or ten blocks from a cycling route with the result that at some hours the bike traffic makes driving inconvenient.

I-Like-To-Bike

Not really, see https://comics.com/frazz/2005-07-21/

Bioflamingo

Cycling is extremely unpopular where I'm at. There's 40,000 people here, but you can count the number of regular cyclists without breaking a sweat. It's not that dangerous here. You almost never hear of anyone getting robbed or hurt on a bike even in the worst areas of the city. Gas is higher here than anywhere nearby, so I don't understand why cycling is so unpopular.

I've just recently started riding on a daily basis to and from work as well as for fun, and people look at me as if I'm crazy. I just look back at them and their $10,000 they wasted on accessories for a car.

Robert Foster

I never saw this forum before but I am glad someone brought it back. Bicycling isn’t unpopular in the US it just isn’t as popular as some other sports. But I can’t think of many kids that don’t have a bike or ride bikes. Till they get to about 15. Adults seem to be interested in bikes at a rate of about 8 percent of the population. I think I read that somewhere. We may not be Asia or Denmark but it isn’t hopeless either. Anymore I see more bike riders than runners. But then I belong to a bike club so that should be no surprise.

JustChuck

If you judged sports by the number of people actually engaging in them(First hand, not watching on TV) cycling would easily beat football and baseball. Probably even basketball.

KitN

Q: Why isn't cycling popular in America?

A: Because here we can actually afford to buy cars.
A: Because we have a HUGE country spanning an entire continent which isn't as feasible to bike across without taking months and months.
A: We have a lot or rough, rocky, hilly or otherwise dangerous terrain here and a good deal of roads aren't kept up that well.
A: Actually, biking IS very popular here. It's just more for recreation than primary mode of transit.

Any more questions?

gldrgidr

Lycraphobia.

mgold8

I guess we are just too lazy and fat!

Honestly I think it comes down to comfort and ease of transport. Biking isn't good if you are going to the store or need to run errands! I think generally people think bikes are for kids and recreation instead of a good way to transport people. Also cities don't keep up roads well and don't nearly have enough money for building bike paths.

jack002

Shhhhhh!!!

What are you all nuts?

You WANT the secret to get out?

Shhhhhhh!

rekall

i think it has just about everything to do with the psychological implications of the popularity of the automobile... gary numan said it best: "here in my car / i feel safest at all / i can lock all my doors / it's the only way to live / in cars"

seriously though, imagine how much more popular bicycles would be Right Now if electric 'horseless buggies' had become the default mode rather than the gas guzzling beasts we take for granted?

jack002

No, Queen said it best: "I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike. I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride it where I like".

mgold8

I don't think it's as much a psychological thing as much as a practical thing. As other people pointed out you can't take your kids around when riding a bike. It's hard to commute long distances if you aren't used to it. Safety in large cities with high crime definitely plays a role.

To get a good new road bike for commuting you have to spend a lot of money. Including gear you're out a lot more cash! I think another problem is that people don't want to arrive to places sweaty and smelly. I know someone who commutes on a bike 15 miles round-trip to work. If his work didn't have showers.... he wouldn't ride his bike to work!

Bikes are popular here. Most people do have bikes for recreational use. It's just difficult for most people to use their bikes for transport a lot for the amount of driving we do and the convenience. I mean it's not like other countries don't have cars!

JoelS

I only ride for recreation. I don't ride to the grocery or for errands. The crime rate is high here and my bike would be snatched quick. It's so bad that someone stole the catalytic converter out of my truck in a crowded parking lot, and got away with it.

That said, I do see a lot of folks riding for transportation here. They're mostly on beater bikes or department store specials.

MrCrassic 

Cycling is actually pretty popular in the US. It's just not as popular on a professional level, just like running and swimming (which are also very popular). Additionally, I don't think that watching the Giro would make for an entertaining bar activity; it's pretty boring up to the last two minutes or so.

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DArthurBrown

I think cycling's popularity is a question of accessibility and the other things everyone already talked about.

To play basketball, you need a ball, hoop, and maybe an hour to play with some friends.

To cycle, you need what seems to be an overpriced mechanism, special clothes, and, if you want to go significant distance, a sizeable chunk of time. Throw in that biking through urban areas isn't much fun and that in most of the country motorists believe bicyclists belong on the sidewalk, and it's just harder to get people started on it.

Robert Foster

It also depends on your location. Here in Southern California you might think bicycling is very popular. And if you live near the coast it will seem even more popular. But traveling along the interstate you aren't likely to see many bikes at all. However we live in a car centric nation so all other forms of transportation seem less popular.

Robert Foster

I just read an article in our local paper Yesterday. It said there were 38 million cyclists in the US. That is more than golfers, Bowlers and tennis players. ( I don't know how many might be kids.)
Then I found this site:
https://www.bikeleague.org/media/facts/

And they said the number was even higher.

annc

The link provided defines a cyclist as someone who "rode a bicycle at least once during the summer." That's a pretty low threshold.

JustChuck

Apply that as, "Played football(US not Euro) at least once during the summer" and you will find the least popular sport in the US. (Pay no attention to its constant showing on ESPN, local news, and weekday watercooler talk.)

wabbit

car culture for sure has a lot to do with it. For a lot of people bikes are still something you have when you can't drive.

Also the image of athletes in our part of the world. We still see 'athletes' as big muscular guys. Cyclists are seen as skinny european guys with shaved legs, who do cycling because they couldn't make the football team or hockey team.

Of course, if they ever really saw some of the blood spilled, cycling's detractors would probably change their minds...

BTW i rememebr reading that Eddy Merckx derided tennis as a sport for 'weenies'...lol. It's true in a way...not for weenies, of course it's very strenuous etc. BUt it's pretty bloodless...you can get injured but its not like you're going to fly over your handlebars and land on your face, you're not going to break your ribs, collarbone etc...let's face it Eddy can say whatever he wants LOL.

Robert Foster

Yes, but the newspaper article only said 38 million so the posted site was simply a point of reference. I believe they also posted how many bikes were being sold each year. People that play golf once a month consider them golfers. My Sisters Husband is called a club Pro and he lives on Long Island. With months off each year. So what we call popular could be up for debate. I believe the National bicycle dealers Association said there were 12.8 million new bikes bigger than 20 inch wheels sold in 2007 and 18.3 counting all wheel sizes. That beats a lot of sports that people participate in.

https://nbda.com/page.cfm?pageID=34

But I will take back my bowlers comment. They count anyone that bowls once a year a bowler so they say they have something like 70 million. But there were only about 13 million Tennis players listed. There are only 27 million golfers reported in the US and we consider golf popular. I read that there are something like 16 or 17 million soccer players in the US so by sales alone cycling is at least as popular and more than likely more popular than Soccer.

If we are thinking of Bicycles as vehicles cycles are less popular than private cars but more popular than public busses. I only found the figures for 2002 but they only listed 17 million private registers boats in the US. So bicycles seem to hold their own.

EatMyA**

I didn't read the last 2 pages but I tought that cycling was the largest SPECTATOR sport in the world. Not talking viewers. Talking people who actually go and watch in person.

over 2 million spectators for the tour of California. 7 days. how many superbowls do you need to have to match that? I mean you cant fit that many people in a stadium. and the tours spread out over hundreds of miles, thousands for the long ones.

More people know about cycling than rugby here in California. Rugby now that is a good sport. For obscure try being a fan of kabaddi.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOE7dKz6nY0