Washington Post Cycling article

[mark]

Clicky.

Bicycles as a practical form of transport. Who could've known?

[andygates]

This is the summer of women on bicycles riding around town free as anything, wearing long dresses or skirts, sandals or even high heels, hair flowing helmet-free, pedaling not-too-hard and sitting upright on their old-school bikes, the kind with front baskets where they put their laptops, and handlebars that curve gently back in a bow shaped like the upper line of someone's perfectly drawn red lipstick.

They never appear to sweat. They make you think you are in Paris or Rome. No, they make you think you are in a movie about Paris or Rome.

...

What's happening is, the American conception of the bicycle-as-toy and the bicycle-as-sports-equipment is being infiltrated by the European notion of the bicycle-as-transportation and the Asian notion of the bicycle-as-cargo-hauler.

[bobajobrob]

It's nice to see bicycles being portrayed in a favo(u)rable light for a change. The british media seem to find it necessary, for some bizarre reason, to write derogatory articles about cyclists. I assume this is a cultural problem. Let's hope they learn something.

[rogerzilla]

Because bikes are seen as working class (although they're not) and the working class was destroyed in the 80s.

Why don't drivers mind slowing down for horses, yet resent slowing down for bikes?  Bikes are faster and can be passed faster and more closely.  Answer: horse riders are middle class, and you can aspire to be one.

[Frenchie]

It's nice to see bicycles being portrayed in a favo(u)rable light for a change. The british media [...]

Unfortunately it is not always so; see HERE for a recent Chicago Tribune article. One of the guys interviewed is a regular on the Dahon owner website.

[vince]

I don't think it is quite the case, but you're on the right lines. The problem with bikes is that the code is not understood by anyone who is not a cyclist and that it is relatively easy to purchase a high end bike. This means that people cannot use a bike to gauge the social status of another, or to project their idea of their own status.

To everyone else a bike is a bike, they have no idea of the difference between a Colnago and something bought in Tesco - to us a Ferrari and an old eastern European hatchback. The fact is that we understand the motoring reference, no-one else gets the cycle reference. When the general public can be snobby about other people's bikes we might stand a chance 

Because bikes are seen as working class (although they're not) and the working class was destroyed in the 80s.

Why don't drivers mind slowing down for horses, yet resent slowing down for bikes?  Bikes are faster and can be passed faster and more closely.  Answer: horse riders are middle class, and you can aspire to be one.

[mattc]

Yebbut there are plenty of monied cyclists riding £50 BSOs:

the value of your bike is a weaker indicator of status than the value of your car.

[rogerzilla]

Yebbut there are plenty of monied cyclists riding £50 BSOs:

the value of your bike is a weaker indicator of status than the value of your car.

There are a lot of retired dentists and bankers round here riding Sevens and Merlins on the Tuesday night pub run 

[ian]

Yebbut there are plenty of monied cyclists riding £50 BSOs:

the value of your bike is a weaker indicator of status than the value of your car.

Hey, that's a £150 BSO, I'll have you know. Including p&p.

But I'm non-blingo. I do have a bike with carbon forks though. I might pull them off and weld the front of a supermarket trolley on in their place.

Then again, I don't have a swanky car either, so perhaps I'd doing this status thing wrong.

[vince]

A very nice article though. Some lovely imagery, that I think would make people think they should consider giving cycling a go.

Haven't we heard this somewhere before though?

And good riddance to the 1980s' and 1990s' craze for tank-treaded, double-suspension mountain bikes. The only time you ever found yourself "off-road," dude, was on the C&O Canal towpath.

[Chris S]

I thought it was a good read too.

Was I the only one to have NWS images in my head, upon reading:

"Shopping by bike, she says, "feels more like an adventure than a chore." The other day, she tied a milk crate to her rack, biked to a hardware store on Pennsylvania Avenue and carried home a flat of flowers on the crate."

Whatever, it must be nice cycling in a country that has an actual summer... 

[vince]

That was the only thing, Washington can be pretty hot and sticky in the summer. Great maybe for looking out of the window at girls cycling in summer dresses, but 'orrible for trying to commute in a suit.

[mattc]

That was the only thing, Washington can be pretty hot and sticky in the summer. Great maybe for looking out of the window at girls cycling in summer dresses, but 'orrible for trying to commute in a suit.

Perhaps everyone should commute in summer dresses in summer, suits in winter?