http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Topic: Cycling: Cult or Culture? en Sun, 31 May 2026 14:04:00 +0000 http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=3245#post-34082 Wed, 22 Jun 2011 16:38:12 +0000 wee folding bike 34082@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>BSc in Botany because I didn't like shredding wee animals... and one in computing because it seemed like a good idea at the time.</p> <p>Bromptons are just time served. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=3245#post-34080 Wed, 22 Jun 2011 16:34:27 +0000 chdot 34080@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@wfb so you're the Brompton <em>and</em> small furry animals expert! </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=3245#post-34079 Wed, 22 Jun 2011 16:25:12 +0000 wee folding bike 34079@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>It's a bit big for a vole and thing it's sitting on is far too clean. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=3245#post-34069 Wed, 22 Jun 2011 14:50:51 +0000 chdot 34069@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><a href="http://cyclelondoncity.blogspot.com/2011/06/jeremy-clarkson-still-thinks-were-anti.html" rel="nofollow">http://cyclelondoncity.blogspot.com/2011/06/jeremy-clarkson-still-thinks-were-anti.html</a></p> <p>(Linked from a comment on the YM site.)</p> <p>And a link from that link -</p> <p><a href="http://voleospeed.blogspot.com/2011/06/unexpected-type-of-protest.html" rel="nofollow">http://voleospeed.blogspot.com/2011/06/unexpected-type-of-protest.html</a></p> <p>(Worth clicking just to see blog <em>title</em> and photo!!) </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=3245#post-34066 Wed, 22 Jun 2011 14:44:36 +0000 LaidBack 34066@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><em>We (at the forum) cycle so that others don't have to.<br /> </em><br /> We're human bio-fuel. Our cycling takes a bit of pressure off the roads and allows 'fat man in his Porsche' to stay there and get fatter.<br /> The fact that the new transport museum has 28 bike racks says a lot about our attitude.</p> <p>Will it change? Many people aspire to electric vehicles coming to the rescue. Electirc-bikes like motorbikes still seem to be a small minority of vehicles in cities. So the argument about effort etc isn't the problem. People like hiding in their shell surrounded by 'home comforts'. They'll continue doing this even when it costs more and becomes slower because it's 'normal' and 'convenient'.</p> <p>Know the forum has many posters who have a car and are trying to use less. I think most though were already cyclists? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=3245#post-34057 Wed, 22 Jun 2011 13:27:07 +0000 crowriver 34057@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><a href="http://www.yehudamoon.com/index.php?date=2011-06-22"><img src="http://www.yehudamoon.com/images/strips/2011-06-22.gif"></a></p> <p>I found today's instalment of Yehuda Moon apposite. It sums up neatly the crisis which cycling continues to experience in Anglo-Saxon countries (which I suggest includes Scotland, despite our supposedly Celtic and European affinities).</p> <p>Cyclists are either die-hard "cultists" or casual, bike-in-the-garage/shed/garden-most-of-the-year "dabblers" who refuse to consider ditching the car/bus. What then is cycling "culture" in these circumstances?</p> <p>Like Yehuda, many of us hope that more people will get on their bikes more often, building the necessary "critical mass" to enable something more similar to the situation in much of the rest of Northern Europe, where cycling is just a normal, everyday activity. And yet, even on those rare sunny summer days when the massed "dabblers" join the "cultists" on local shared use paths, somehow that normality still seems a long way off.</p> <p>So what's wrong? How do we change our cycling "culture" from its present "cult" status to something that's seen as normal? Is this desirable? Is it achievable? Or like Joe should we just shrug our shoulders and squeeze into the lycra one more time? </p>