greatbasin

Is the difference between someone who rides a bicycle and a "cyclist" their socioeconomic class?


Is this a cyclist? Or do cyclists have good health, good education, good families, good occupations, and good neighborhoods? If intergenerational elasticity of social, physiological, and cultural capital is correlated to inequality, does rising inequality increasingly exclude people from being regarded as "cyclists?"

tomato coupe

The dude has disc brakes -- he's a cyclist.

Koyote

I'm not into labels, man.

indyfabz

Troul 

the valves are almost aligned, so they're a cyclist!

Reynolds 

I'll say it yet another time: there are cyclists and then there are Serious Cyclists™.

Sierra_rider

Chain isn't on the big ring...

badger1

When one interrogates a question such as this one must consider that the ontological status of a 'cyclist' is itself a bifurcation of the function of the reification of the gaze of the 'other.' Putting this another way, whether an entity is 'cyclist' or not is not a question that can be answered in binomial terms, but is rather a question that itself constitutes its own answer.

Gresp15C

There have been lots of discussions about this. I use it as a term of honor for anybody who rides a bike. I'd rather find common cause than look for divisions.

Daniel4

Looks like a pedestrian pushing a bike.

tomato coupe

He's just a walker. A pedestrian has good health, a good education, a good family, a good occupation, and a good neighborhood.

CAT7RDR

Looks like a Rugged Individualist to me.

RollingBlender 

Close down the internet. We have the answer.

Reynolds 

There might be people who never rode a bike but are self perceived cyclists.

TiHabanero

Way back when I was broke, homeless and had no advanced degree, I had no identity of my own so I clung to the term "cyclist" as my identity. It gave me purpose, drive, a reason to exist.
Now that I am established, have worked 40+ years and consider myself a human-being, a creature of God, I no longer identify myself with a label of any sort, particularly "cyclist".
Frankly, the term "cyclist" when used to create an identity is sadly a misused term, as are many, many other labels we humans use to create an identity, as belonging to a unique group, one that differentiates oneself from the mass of society as a whole.

Herzlos

I know the Dutch have different terms for a bicycle user (someone who uses a bicycle as a tool to travel) and a cyclist (someone who cycles for a hobby/makes it a part of their personality). The people on here are almost all obsessed enough to talk about it on the internet, though some of the former will have stumbled here trying to find information about bikes / repairs / etc.

I'm a bicycle user when I'm riding my folding bike to work in my work clothes, and a cyclist when I've got the road bike out on a Saturday morning in full lycra.

datlas 

IOW, res ipsa loquitur.

Correct

seypat

You say 🥔, I say 🥔

indyfabz

Let’s call the whole thing off.

nomadmax 

Post of the thread!

MaxKatt

———

I disagree. I’m a cyclist. I’m also a fisherman, a gardener and an environmentalist. The terms aren’t being misused, nor is there anything negative about them.

I you perceive “cyclist” as a negative attribute it’s because of how you’ve chosen to define it.

Chuck M 

There seems to be so much to process here. While some may not approve of him not wearing "proper kit", he does have a shirt and helmet. The bike looks to be in good condition with no tie wraps and epoxy repairs or paper spacers between his cogs. The seat height looks appropriate for him although the seat tilt may be a bit off. Towing two trailers makes me think solving the problem of carrying a golf club on a bike is not an issue for him. I feel a bit bad about making this last judgement, but he may have enjoyed a bit of dumpster vodka at some point.

MaxKatt

The issue is we have ONE word with TWO definitions.

If a person learning to ride a bike for the first time was hit by a car, the newspaper could rightly report "A cyclist was stuck by a car."

At the same time, if two people were observing the same cyclist wobbling along before he was struck and one asked the other "is he a cyclist?" the other would laugh and reply "obviously not."

MaxKatt

______________________

In general, I would say he's not a cyclist.

If you were doing your best to accurately describe this scene to the FBI after a crime later, most people wouldn't use the term "cyclist," as this is not the image that word conjures up.

You would say "I saw a homeless guy on a bike" etc. Similarly "bike packer" would be inappropriate. Given the simple facts at hand in a snapshot, "cyclist" would not be the best descriptor.

____________

Interestingly, if I met him later and he told me he's ridden across the state and considered himself a cyclists I'd respect that.

seypat

Is that a Surly LHT? You need a CDL to drive a truck. Is so, he's probably walking cause he doesn't have his CDL yet.