The State of US Cycling: Image is Everything
Someone posted this as a reply to something else:
<<However, the same reasons local bike shops carry the same stuff (much of it cheap, plastic, and graceless junk) are the same reasons big-box retail hardware stores carry cheapo garden tools, doorknobs, and screwdrivers; why chain book and record stores carry the same boring mass product; why most radio stations sound like they’ve been programmed by computers; why new cars are so alike and yet so expensive; and perhaps even why DOS-based computers are so prevalent as opposed to the more elegant and easy-to-use Macintosh. These reasons include the so-called globalization of trade (it doesn’t matter anymore which factory in which country makes plastic junk); the emphasis on marketing over design; the monopolization and expense of distribution; the dumbing down of consumers, most of whom want to pay the cheapest price (usually many times over); and even the dwindling supply of natural resources and the general disappearance of craft.>>
And Dave Schlabowske responded:
This is true and I think it goes further. Why do we have strip malls and no sidewalks? I don’t no anyone who will openly defend strip malls or openly argue for sidewalk less communities. Yet most people shop in strip malls. And most people move to sidewalk less suburbs as soon as they can afford to buy outside the city. Sure there is the perception of rampant crime in the city. Yet most of my friends who left the city never personally experienced more than a stolen car stereo. Overall crime in Milwaukee was down around 12 percent last year and crime in the suburbs is rising.
So while few will openly defend painted crank sets and $3K bikes that are ridden maybe 200 miles a year, these are the things we have. Along with no sidewalks and strip malls. No one seems to want them, yet here they are.
While no one seems to want theses things, people will defend why they do not use the available alternatives: shopping downtown(even if it is in a mall), staying in the city, driving the car four blocks to the video store rather than riding the $3k bike collecting spider webs in the garage.
I have friends who ride/race quite a lot who never ride bikes to the video store, think I’m a fanatic for grocery shopping with the burley once in a while and commuting 30 miles a day by bike. And these are bike people. I have other friends who moved to the burbs, complain about it all the time and are planning to move again … to another suburb.
I think it is part perception, part lemming effect, part marketing and profit motive. People are imperfect and rarely do what is in their own true self interest. We all want the hand built, craftsman-made widget. We just want it to be similar to, but better than our neighbors widget. If it was very different from his, we would not be able to compare and feel superior. This leads to a cycle of look alikes that all perform admirably but seem
to lack soul.
I would argue that my “Topeak Dual Master Blaster” will out pump my chrome Silca with the Campy head any time. Is the Silca prettier? Nine out of Ten bike geeks say yes. Will the Silca occasionally jar off my bike(with a peg)? Yes. Does the Topeak ever fall out of my bag (either Carridice or nylon) ? No. Do I still use both depending on my mood? Yes. The Silca has soul. The Topeak is more convenient.
The same debate can be argued for strip malls. The sidewalk issue seems more clear cut. I do think things are starting to turn around. My city neighborhood now has a couple organic grocery options. It had none when I bought my house 7 years ago. When I bought here, most people I told thought I was moving to a fire zone. Now property values are up about 60 percent and most homes sell before they go on the open market.
It seems that more people are riding bikes now than they were 15 years ago. Even if they are soulless bikes ridden for the “wrong” reasons, more bikes is better in my opinion.
So while I often pine for a more perfect world (read “the way I would like it to be”), I feel things are getting better overall. It is hard to stay positive when we are being run off the road by giant SUVs with bike racks on the roof on some road with no shoulder.
