Witterings

Obviously depends where you are … one City is much the same as another .... I was in Bristol last weekend and it certainly wasn’t as you described but it was absolutely crawling with cyclists everywhere.

Pubs – have been closing at a rate of 1000 per year for the last few years (mainly hit by the high prices caused by tax) with a recent trend to turn them into convenience stores which doesn’t quite have the same appeal.

Bike shops with online competition and unbelievably high Business rates ( just another form of tax) are closing at about the same rate as the pubs are.

The village bobby … you’re lucky if you can find a policemen anywhere (dues to government cutbacks) and if your bike gets nicked they’ll give you a reference number for your insurance claim but apart from that have absolutely zero interest what-so-ever ….. even when your £2000 bike is purposefully parked in direct line of a CCTV camera they just point you in the direction of local 2nd hand bike shops and suggest you have a look round those to see if you can find it in any of them.

Don’t get me wrong there are still some beautiful places with the image you hold in your mind such with The New Forest as just one of them with 100 miles of off road cycling and some lovely pubs

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ne...drdtLi_Wnp2r0M:

I’m really lucky where I live with some great rides all around the coast / estuary of Chichester Harbour but these are becoming fewer and further between with building destroying the character of whole areas and this country is falling apart!!!

I also think there’s an element of the grass can is greener, in the Gravel Pics thread there are some absolutely amazing places you guys in the US that I look at in envy to cycle … I’d love to get out there and do some riding one day

I-Like-To-Bike

It is not a question of not wanting to believe pretty stories, but as you suspect, a preference for hard figures, not posts of dreamy scenarios of hoards of commuting cyclists in the UK (or anywhere else) derived from references to percentage increases that are in essence for increases in totals that went from inconsequential to insignificant.

The most telling stats from your reference about bicycle popularity as defined by the public's use of bicycles in the UK are Table 13 and Table 14.

I-Like-To-Bike

Safer for whom?
How did you make that determination?

52telecaster

Last spring i spent 2 weeks in london and i live in peoria illinois. London is better for cycling because drivers respect your right to be there. My town, peoria, is getting better with bike lanes and such but it takes a long time to get some drivers comfortable with us.

jgwilliams

Nobody is trying to pretend that we've reached some kind of cycling nirvana here. Given that we're now used to travelling long distances, and hauling huge tonnages, by road there are going to be many uses for which a cycle is never going to be practical; So the proportion will, I imagine, never reach the peak of 1949. Nevertheless, it is on the increase and the growth has been significant. Personally I find this encouraging even if I do sometimes struggle to find somewhere to store my bike in the basement.

fietsbob

So, Lucas did not make electric bikes , then.. ?

italktocats

was looking for that video!

italktocats

you werent here long enough

Gresp15C

Cyclists and motorists. I made that determination by vaguely remembering accident statistics that I looked up once upon a time, in true Internet Forum Research style. A slightly more advanced method would be "Google it and blindly click on the first few hits." My result from such distinguished research is that driving and cycling are both roughly twice as safe in the UK than in the US.

I-Like-To-Bike

Good enough research for drawing a conclusion on A&S, and probably as definitive as almost any other conclusion drawn from the cherry picked safety stats, factoids or alternate realities cited on this list.

radroad

I saw a documentary recently in which locals claimed that pubs are closing because of the very high rate of muslim immigration. With their prohibition against drinking and with locals moving out, pubs are shutting down at record rates.

The cycling documentary from this thread, I'm sure has made quite an impression on those who saw it. It was amazing to see cycling so widely accepted and practiced.

52telecaster

i understand your viewpoint but trust me, my town is worse. I talked to many cyclists while i was in london and the general consensus was that it could be much better. Thing is, in my town you can be in the bike lane and routinely have someone try to clip you with a car. Doesnt happen often but it does happen. Rednecks abound in the u.s.a.

Nman

No greater period in history eclipses bicycle use and innovation than 1890's America.

livedarklions

I enjoyed this documentary. Be interested in what the Brits here think about it:

https://www.amazon.com/Bicycle-Sir-D.../dp/B0178FY9QA

radroad

Whoa. The bicycle was birthed in England. 'Nuff said!

Livingsim24

Love the responses, but I have too add it comes down too where one lives. A bike is practical it any city where there is public transportation and distances between things like LA or London. Cars Trucks bikes and four wheel drives are tools. If you live in Montana or out on the moors being out and away in a city wiz bang electric commuter box or on a bike can be deadly. The weather and distance make it impractical at the least. A heavy vehicle say truck or Lincoln town car driven slower will not be moved by a Nevada zephyr. Just very different places.

radroad

One thing I LOVE about the UK bike rags is their willingness to actually rate and rank bikes. This is especially true for the mountain bike rags. The comparo's always rank the bikes 1-6 or 1-8, and give a numeric rating, 9/10, 8.5/10, etc. You absolutely never, ever see anything like this in the US-based bike press. Instead, you get these long, rambling, qualitative reviews:


They do a bang up job of discouraging enthusiasts from watching or reading their content any further due to the total lack of organization in their reviews.

Or, you get really lame rehashes of company press releases from the 'x-action' line of magazines.

I don't know why the UK publications are so much gutsier, but it's greatly appreciated. Even if I disagree with their reviews. Or even if 90% of the bikes reviewed are unavailable in the states.

rydabent

I think you hit the nail on the head. Gas prices are obscenely high in England and Europe in general. A short trip to the store on a bike saves money. And a day trip on a bike rather than a car saves big bucks.

downhillmaster