03 July 2017

Who Are We?

We're white.  We're male.  After our training rides in the park, we wheel our flashy carbon-fiber machines under canopies of luxury condo buildings.

We're male, too.  But we're brown and black.  We pedal dilapidated-looking-bikes--or bikes that we're not supposed to be able to afford because, well... We don't speak English well, or at all.  We're probably undocumented, to boot,

We are also male--and could be white, brown or black--but we're not likely to be yellow.  We are riding bikes because...we can't afford to drive.  Or we can't drive because we've lost our licenses, or couldn't get them in the first place.




The Rev. Laura Everett describes each of these stereotypes about cyclists in her Daily Beast editorial, "We Need To Ditch All The Old Cliches About Cyclists."  She makes a very good case against each of those cariactures, using data (e.g., that the majority of cyclists are indeed poor, but don't necessarily fit into the second and third stereotypes) from various studies I have mentioned in some of my earlier posts.

She also makes a very interesting point:  During the two previous "golden ages" of cycling in the US--1890-1910 and the 1970s--cycling was seen as a pastime of the leisured class.  And, once it lost that status, cycling fell into a steep decline.  The first "boom" ended when automobiles became affordable to average working people. (Interestingly, during the 1890s, a bicycle cost what an average worker earned in year!)  The second declined with a deep recession fueled by a spike in petrol prices and suffered its death blow when the election of Ronald Reagan ended the first major environmental movements in the US.

She sees that we are in a third "golden age" of cycling. In order to sustain it, she says, all of the stereotypes have to be shattered. Cycling will never become mainstream if it is not seen, by planners and the general public alike, as a vital link in the transportation system.  That, in turn, will not happen if cycling is seen only as a leisuretime activity of the privileged or as the "last resort" of the poor, nonwhite or criminal classes.

For her part, Rev. Everett says she began cycle-commuting because she was a poor recent graduate who was just starting her career.  Seven years later, she continues to ride because, as she says, it really is the best transportation option for her--and because she enjoys it.

To me, she sounds like the kind of cyclist the public needs to know more about if cycling is to become mainstream  And, I must add:  She's a woman.  Thus, she can't help but to break the stereotype.  I  like to believe that I am, too.

02 July 2017

If Eddy Mercx Had Been A Sculptor....

For as long as there have been bicycles, artists have been riding them.  Of course, at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th Century, bicycle riding was pretty much de rigeur.  But even after automobiles changed the landscapes of much of the world, artists continued to pedal.  Many have ridden, and still ride, for transportation, as many live in cities where it's the most practical way to go.  But others have also ridden as part of their creative process, or simply for fun.

Then there are those artists who were inspired by the machine itself:

From BicycleFriends

01 July 2017

Now It's Vera's Turn

It's getting to be a habit for me...




I've stripped another one of my bikes.




My latest "victim" is Vera, my green Miss Mercian mixte.

Like Helene, the last bike I stripped, Vera is going away.

But fear not...she'll come back.


I'm sending her on this trip as a kind of reward, a spa treatment.  She's been good to me.  Now she's going to get some TLC.




You see, I've been riding her with a shim in the seat lug.  I think someone tried to jam a 27.2mm diameter seatpost into the frame, which takes a 27.0.  So I'm having that fixed.



Also, the cable guides are going to be replaced with shifter bosses--which can also be used for those bolt-on cable guides used with "brifters", in case I ever decide to install handlebar end shifters.  But, for the foreseeable future, I'm going to use down-tube shifters, which I ride on all of my geared bikes.

And, finally, her new finish will make her more like the rest of the family.   She won't be painted the "flip-flop" purple/green (#57) of Arielle and Tosca, the Mercians I have now. Nor will she be adorned with the Lilac Polychromatic (#17) paint and Deep Plum Pearl (#56) headtube and seat tube panel I've requested for the Vincitore Special I ordered.     

Instead, I'm ordering Mauve Pearl (#53), without any panels or bands:  It's hard to do those on a mixte, especially one with twin laterals, without cluttering the frame.

Vera deserves the treatment.  Also, I think seeing her renovated will be a kind of appetizer for the Vincitore Special.