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I bought a new bike a couple of years ago. I had no idea what I was in for before walking into the store. It wasn't just a regular bike shop; it was an experience. It was like the difference between walking into a gourmet cupcake shop and picking up some cupcakes in a plastic container from the bakery of your local grocery store. Tons of cutesy, nostalgia-invoking bikes with baskets and the little bell on the handlebars and stuff like that. The cheapest bike may have been around $500. And the store was just as busy as an Apple store! People were walking in buying $80 bike pumps, $3 Cliff bars, $4 bottles of water, $100 cushioned seats, $200 cycle shoes, etc. It was definitely a place for people who have a lot of disposable income to blow on stuff they don't need.
I don't have lots of disposable income but I do bike a lot, so spending extra on bike things is worth it to me. The bike shops I've been to aren't quite as excessive as you described. I bought a $100 bike seat last month, it should last a while, I don't consider it an excessive purchase. Weirdly, the bell on the bike is required by NY law.
The Anacostia stations are new right? Bike share's problem in DC is definitely a marketing problem. Like all other bike marketing. People haven't spent time on focus groups and the right messaging. It isn't the same for each group.
It's not a marketing problem. Have you ever been to DC?
That's like saying craft beers and fair trade coffee have a marketing problem. It's not the marketing that's the problem; it's simply the fact that black people in DC generally aren't into cycling the way white people are. There's no scientific explanation behind this. There's also no scientific explanation behind why black people are more into clubs playing Hip Hop and R&B rather than small intimate bars serving craft brews with little to no music being played.
You see this all over the park in Flushing Meadows. Some of these guys may have comfy white collar jobs in Midtown, but I doubt it. If they have the energy (and the time) to play two hour soccer matches, then I don't see why they wouldn't be able to ride a bike for a few miles.
Except we're talking about riding a bicycle for transportation not just for fun as a sport. It's NYC, most of those guys probably don't have much money. A bicycle could be useful for them to get around, many of them probably don't have a car and for short trips it wouldn't be much slower than a car.
Except we're talking about riding a bicycle for transportation not just for fun as a sport. It's NYC, most of those guys probably don't have much money. A bicycle could be useful for them to get around, many of them probably don't have a car and for short trips it wouldn't be much slower than a car.
But in that specific exchange between me and Eddy, we were talking about people riding for leisure. His point was that people doing hard labor would be too tired to ride a bike for leisure. My point is that if they're not too tired for soccer, then they're not too tired to ride a bike. If you've ever played anything close to competitive soccer (tiny tot soccer from age 4 through 10 doesn't count), you know it's one of the most physically taxing sports you can possibly play.
Except we're talking about riding a bicycle for transportation not just for fun as a sport. It's NYC, most of those guys probably don't have much money. A bicycle could be useful for them to get around, many of them probably don't have a car and for short trips it wouldn't be much slower than a car.
Well, now, that's not what wburg told us! He told us bicyclists have more money to spend than drivers, either in this thread or another one on here in the last couple of days. Frankly, I'm more inclined to agree with you.
It's not a marketing problem. Have you ever been to DC?
That's like saying craft beers and fair trade coffee have a marketing problem. It's not the marketing that's the problem; it's simply the fact that black people in DC generally aren't into cycling the way white people are. There's no scientific explanation behind this. There's also no scientific explanation behind why black people are more into clubs playing Hip Hop and R&B rather than small intimate bars serving craft brews with little to no music being played.
Not all tastes are universal.
I don't think that is the case per se. Not everyone is interested in the same stuff. But I do think there is something else going on too. Basically every American rides a bike as a kid and promptly drops it some time between 14-18. Black kids and white kids ride bikes at equivalent rates, it isnt billed as a white activity when you are a kid.
I don't think that is the case per se. Not everyone is interested in the same stuff. But I do think there is something else going on too. Basically every American rides a bike as a kid and promptly drops it some time between 14-18. Black kids and white kids ride bikes at equivalent rates, it isnt billed as a white activity when you are a kid.
That's true. And apparently things change as people grow older. Then the question becomes why Black adults are less likely to ride bikes than White adults. And I think a big part of that is cultural. This is a topic that would be worthy of discussion on the Root or Very Smart Brothas. I'd also be curious to hear about why black people don't really drink coffee and craft brews. Just Google "Why Don't Black People Drink Coffee" and you get all types of interesting stuff.
I don't have lots of disposable income but I do bike a lot, so spending extra on bike things is worth it to me. The bike shops I've been to aren't quite as excessive as you described. I bought a $100 bike seat last month, it should last a while, I don't consider it an excessive purchase. Weirdly, the bell on the bike is required by NY law.
There's more than one kind of bike shop. There's the hipster/vintage focused ones, there's the weekend racer focused ones, and there's the mountain-biking focused ones to name at least three. In NYC there's an electric-bike store too. All sell ridiculously-expensive priced merchandise, though I think the MTB ones are the least-bad and the hipster ones are the worst (the weekend racer ones are the most expensive but at least you get something for it).
The people you see around the less-hip neighborhoods riding their beater bikes around probably didn't get their bike in a bike shop at all; they bought it at a garage sale or got it for free from someone throwing it away.
That's true. And apparently things change as people grow older. Then the question becomes why Black adults are less likely to ride bikes than White adults. And I think a big part of that is cultural. This is a topic that would be worthy of discussion on the Root or Very Smart Brothas. I'd also be curious to hear about why black people don't really drink coffee and craft brews. Just Google "Why Don't Black People Drink Coffee" and you get all types of interesting stuff.
Yup that's what I am wondering too. My parents and grandparents always drank coffee. Now my dad is less picky than he used to be now that he is in the cranky old man phase.
But where are the bike riders.
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