Unfortunately, the cycling industry and cycling advocates have done a very good job of convincing people that cycling is unsafe, unless you have this piece of equipment or that place to ride. Conversely, having the equipment or the place is the only thing you need to be safe.

That message isn’t too much of a problem with recreational cycling where you can drive to a “safe” place to ride your bike. But it’s completely impractical for commuting where your trip begins and ends on a bike, and goes anywhere and everywhere.

It’s going to take a lot of work to undo that impression of cycling being unsafe.

…& you’re right, the industry needs to better embrace the concept w/ proper promotion, not just cater to a “safe” segment…but that being said, there is a tremendous financial investment in being at the vanguard of any new direction…that can be the making or breaking of a smaller company, so caution is a safeguard against ruin…

…one of the reasons i have so much respect for joe & connie breeze in their efforts to promote cycling as a lifestyle & as a means of transportation in particular is simply because they see it, they believe in it & therefore they’ve dedicated their business to that end in order to promote that concept…the big companies dip a toe in the water & monitor the activities of the ‘joe breeze’s’ of the cycling world & when they’re sure there is money to be made “now” they will invest…

…thanks to the visionaries, wheels will always be rolling…

TURN SIGNALS.

I ride to work. In the winter that means it gets dark.

I’d first point people towards G-Ted’s posts on his blog back in October ’07. He did a little 3 part posting on commuting and what I’ll call the commuting mindset.

Being a shop rat for the past 7 years, I’ve seen my share of ‘attempts’ to pursue promoting cycling. Unfortunately the case in most shops, instead of promoting cycling as a whole, time, money and resources are only focused on promoting the shop or the current sale. Not that the two shouldn’t go hand in hand, because they should; there is just a huge fear by smaller shops of losing the sale to the ‘competition’.

As Ted gets into with his posts, I to believe that there is an interest into commuting but very few address it correctly and that starts at the top. Most of the major manufactures release ‘commuter’ bikes that start at price points that only appeal to the shop rat or hipsters. I believe the $300 price point is critical in reaching the ‘potentials’ Some thing that is affordable and reliable, less is more. Hard to do but possible.

Employers themselves might also be the key to making such a shift happen. Creating incentives or locker room facilities available because let’s admit it, Americans have a complex with being clean.

I do believe we are coming into a time where more and more people are open and want to get into ‘purposeful’ cycling, it’s only if the industry is willing to adjust to make such a change happen.

…& miz sg…that’s something that can only be solved through the use of the personal equipping of safety gear (everyone has their own thought on, or can learn what is appropriate) , teaching folks a sense of empowerment on the bike & in which case, simple experience helps to some degree & having people understand that utilizing caution (but not fear) is one of their best tools because perception is a big part of the cycling equation…
…i say that knowing full well that the area i live & ride in is probably “better” than most despite the very high vehicle traffic content…

…anyway, good thoughts…

This article is full of awesome, and I will be sending it to pretty much everyone I know in the IBD industry.