cooker

There are so many subcultures and subgroups of cyclists it's ridiculous to generalize about their politics. Once you decide on a specific subgroup of cyclists, maybe you can start to speculate: the subgroup of white collar elective urban bike commuters (ie. they can afford to drive and choose to bike) probably tends to have more left wing members. People who buy high end carbon fibre road bikes for weekend club riding might perhaps be more likely to be conservative.

wernmax

Wow, I just realized I'm not even sure exactly what "liberal" or "left wing" means anymore.

Liberal = beneficiary of tax moneys? Left wing = socialist?


It's fun to generalize, deep thinking hurts.

InTheTrenches

Relax. It is an INDICATOR. LIke smoking is an indicator that you are more likely to get cancer.

You and the guy that managed to equate riding a train to make a long return bike ride home with driving the car to the Saturday morning ride should get together and talk conspiracies.

cooleric1234

Funny, that fits me. Grew up conservative, leaning more and more libertarian in my older age. Mostly it just doesn't bother me. Sometimes I feel a little uncomfortable when I go to REI after work with my shirt tucked in and walk by the old guys with beards and tie-die shirts (I know, sweeping generalization, this is very tongue-in-cheek), but mostly it's just not an issue. Of course, I don't usually ride with others, I mostly commute and do solo rides.

charly17201

The American form of government is a "Democratic Republic". The mass population elects the representatives that then govern us.

It is so sad that so many Americans don't even know what type of government that we have. Just the other day I saw a clip on the news where Speaker of the House Pelosi said that "this is a democracy". So sad.

momof4greatkids

we are a representative republic....sort of

wernmax

Yep, very sad.

The Soviet form of government is a "democratic republic", as is China's, but ours is a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitutional_republic

We even have another check on "democracy" called the Electoral College.

Just an opinion, but it appears to be currently operating as a "Fascist Kleptocracy".

Pelosi and her ilk are communists, so she can be forgiven. She just shouldn't be allowed to experiment with your liberties so easily, but oh well...socialism easy, freedom hard.

annc

I'm a Republican when I'm on my bike; I'm always on the far right as practicable.

cooker

lol!

Brillig

Funny and I learned a new word.

Post of the day.

cooker

That's not very welcoming. He clarified later in the thread that what he meant was that this seems to be the uniform assumption in the media. And he made it pretty clear he is here to learn if the truth differs from that perception:

cyclezealot

Some critics would say, we are some what of an unrepresentative republic?

Velo Dog

I think your initial premise is wrong, and the response to your question seems to support that. The answers are all over the place. But if you look at That Other Cycling Site, roadbikereview.com, they have a Politics Only forum that's just chock full of mindless right-wing ideologues. Hook up with a guy who calls himself Live Steam, and you may never admit to being conservative again

jaxgtr

I can say the same about some folks on the left. There are some I know that I swear they would be happier living in North Korea under the thumb of Dear Leader, Kim Jong-Il, and they routinely embarrass some fairly liberal friends of mine.

Tapeworm21

I lean to the right, I strictly ride bikes, AND I live in Berkeley. What do I win?

InTheTrenches

Nothing.
Your purchase of a complete fixie from Specialized zeros out your other bikes, further amplified by location. Location + purchase of prebuilt fixie reduces one to poseur status. For some reason this "wrongness" is amplified when the bike is not an actual track bike(You should have bought a comp) but is improved when building a conversion from a frame found in a dumpster. Bonus points if it works like crap.
Right leaning Ideology further proofs when you do not show up for, alley cats, poker runs, pub crawls, and critical mass.

Tapeworm21

Oh.

(It's a single speed btw)

InTheTrenches

Well that just makes it lame. Single speed is only for singletrack(And even then you are a puss, so I have been told)

Galls

Well I do not drink and I had just made a post about carrying a gun because of bears...

Rober

[message deleted]

wernmax

Oh yeah? Well [message deleted] to you too.

InTheTrenches

I have been to a couple of sites that have rightwingers that only post right wing ideology. They regularly link articles from Free Republic and the Rutherford institute listing them as factual articles or using them to rebute/refute other posts. They only show up when there is a political angle and rarely/never post with any other agenda. You will see more of them around the election cycle. Their ability to find a post and twist it into something that is the democats/Bills/Hillarys fault is pretty impressive.

KrisPistofferson

If there's one segment of the cycling community that leans Right, it's probably road cycling, since they usually put a bike or two on a gas-hogging SUV, drive two hours to the country, cycle for twenty minutes, eat sugary goo out of packets so they don't "crash" like Lance did that one time, pass two touring cyclists on mile 80, then drive two hours back home, then log into BikeForums to brag about passing some folks then make fun of gay evolutionist baby whales on the Advocacy & Safety forum so it gets moved to P&R. There are plenty of you boneheads, and you know who you are.

sararara

I'm a conservative Utah resident, and I'm a new biker, inspired because of gas prices. I've always been interested in frugal simple living though, and bicycling fits in nicely with that.

I think one reason why you don't see as many conservatives involved in "bike culture" may be due to kids. Having children tends to lead to both increased conservatism and decreased interest in/ability to bike. It takes a lot of planning and special equipment to be an avid biker, especially a car-less biker, with young children. Also, it's difficult to raise a family in the city, so people move to the suburbs, where it is more difficult to get along without a car.

I'm a mom of 3 who is learning to get along without a car for everyday needs. But I never saw other moms doing the same thing until a few months ago, when gas prices started to get crazy. You'd see an occasional dad doing a bike commute, but never moms with kids. But starting a few months ago I'd see moms and kids riding bikes together to school. I plan to do the same in the fall when school starts again.

I think increased fuel prices are going to lead a lot of people to bicycling, regardless of politics. I've seen a lot of new bikers on the road in the last few months.

alanbikehouston

A friend of mine rides his bike 350 days a year. He hates women, Blacks, Hispanics, union members, Democrats, immigrants, and anyone else who is not a right-wing middle-class white male. So, I'd say there is at least ONE Republican who rides bikes.