Thursday Thoughts: Confusions

The “Bicycle Industry” is in such a state right now.

I just read the latest Bicycling Magazine buyer’s guide issue.  Wow!  There is really a lot of very high priced candy and jewelry in there.  I guess I’m most staggered by the presence of a $15,000 bike.  Ummm…  I don’t know what to say.

For the moment, let’s assume that I had an odd 15 kilobucks lying around, and I went out and bought such a thing.  What would it do for me?  How would my life be different?  Would I be the envy of my friends?  Would I suddenly become the fastest rider in the state?  I’m sure it’s amazing, but the overarching question I have is…  Why?

At this point in time, there is actually a fairly strong reaction to the high-end, elitist, “roadie” part of the cycling spectrum.  And it’s not positive.  There are a growing number of blogs (and a few print publications) that are weirdly anti-high end.  I say “weirdly” because they seem to be critical of “racy rider” excesses, and then turn around and wax rhapsodic about something like a $9,000 “custom,” handbuilt cargo bike.  Huh?

There’s all kinds of “messenger chic” bikes, accessories, apparel, and very expensive “designer” messenger bags.  This at a time when bike couriers have all but disappeared from the landscape.

I read about how electric bikes, and “electric assist” bikes are a good thing.  They are supposed to make cycling accessible to more people, and increase the bike’s utility as a “transportation vehicle.”  Um, maybe.  But the halfway good ones start at around $1,500.  Worse, in the shop where I work, the folks who are interested in electrics tend to fall into two categories.  1)  “I want to ride a bike, but I don’t want to work at it, and it shouldn’t cost more than $150.”  2)  “I just got convicted of my X^th  DUI and I want a car but they won’t let me drive so I’ll use this to get around the system, and don’t you, like man, have anything cheaper.”  I may be missing something, but this doesn’t look like the beginnings of a transportation revolution to me.

The urban hipster thing is becoming sort of passé’, but let’s not be too hard on them.  They managed to recruit a lot of folks, and a lot of them are still riding.  I’d say that’s a good thing.

Most of our “professional advocates” seem to be all wound up with high-dollar projects, and an outright lust for building more facilities.  What happened to just getting folks on bikes?  I realize that the “build it and they will come” argument has some validity.  On the other hand, in an era of huge spendthrift government stuff, the question could be asked,  “Why build all this stuff for the tiniest fraction of the population?”  (I have my own fears about some of this.)

It is a time when the Economy absolutely stinks, and the “Industry” is touting some of the most expensive equipment ever made.  I’m not sure I understand that.

There are more different types of bikes, more bike “categories” and “niches” more accessories, more equipment, more agendas, more “cultures” and “sub-cultures,” and more bicycling “manifestos” than ever.  It’s confusing and bewildering.

It’s also Spring.  I’m not really sure what to make of all this.  Anyone?