Cycle - You must be banned or poor

Commuting, Day rides, Audax, Incidents, etc.
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Jughead
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Cycle - You must be banned or poor

Post by Jughead »

Maybe it's the West of Scotland but absolutely everyone thinks you cycle because you are banned or can't afford a car. Is it that hard to believe that you like cycling? Why is cycling deemed so inferior? Maybe explain the poor attitude towards cyclists by car users.
TonyR
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Re: Cycle - You must be banned or poor

Post by TonyR »

Which is odd given that cyclists on average are wealthier than the average. In London a TfL survey found 60% of Boris Bike users earned over £50,000 p.a.
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Mick F
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Re: Cycle - You must be banned or poor

Post by Mick F »

It must be where you live.
Not that like round here, and nowhere I've ever been, and I've lived in W Scotland too.
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Mark1978
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Re: Cycle - You must be banned or poor

Post by Mark1978 »

I've noticed in the North East of England there are two types of cyclists. Ones which obviously don't want to pay for a car and are biking to work on their BSOs. And those who are keen cyclists and cycle because they want to.
eileithyia
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Re: Cycle - You must be banned or poor

Post by eileithyia »

When I part train part cycle commuted some years ago, I had a comment from one of guards, you'll soon have saved up for a car. Couldn't understand that I chose to leave my car at home and cycle.
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TonyR
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Re: Cycle - You must be banned or poor

Post by TonyR »

eileithyia wrote:When I part train part cycle commuted some years ago, I had a comment from one of guards, you'll soon have saved up for a car. Couldn't understand that I chose to leave my car at home and cycle.


If I wanted to commute by car I could buy a reasonable one for the price of an annual season ticket on the train!
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al_yrpal
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Re: Cycle - You must be banned or poor

Post by al_yrpal »

I think many people believe cyclists are nutters. This can be proven by bizzare things like the public bar in our local pub decide they will cycle to Brighton and blag people they know for charity donations. None of them cycles ordinarily, so they can't actually like cycling. We regularly see 'charity' cyclists being lionised in the local paper cycling 10 miles or 20 miles, its crazy. These people seem to bathe in the accolades which is what they really want. I would say the public thinks we are just plain barmy. If you were to ask any of these 'charity cyclists' to give up a bit of time and actually help someone or do something to help their community you get a blank because I have tried. I think its sickening.

Al
Reuse, recycle, thus do your bit to save the planet.... Get stuff at auctions, Dump, Charity Shops, Facebook Marketplace, Ebay, Car Boots. Choose an Old House, and a Banger ..... And cycle as often as you can......
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StellaLdn.
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Re: Cycle - You must be banned or poor

Post by StellaLdn. »

I've never come across such an accusation in London. How weird to assume someone's poor (although I am lol), or banned (I'm not).
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flat tyre
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Re: Cycle - You must be banned or poor

Post by flat tyre »

Mark1978 wrote:I've noticed in the North East of England there are two types of cyclists. Ones which obviously don't want to pay for a car and are biking to work on their BSOs. And those who are keen cyclists and cycle because they want to.

In the south, here in my town I have noticed two types of cyclists, those who pedal their BSOs along to Tescos, and those proper cyclists who go to Waitrose for their essentials.
LollyKat
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Re: Cycle - You must be banned or poor

Post by LollyKat »

StellaLdn. wrote:I've never come across such an accusation in London.

I've never come across such an accusation in the West of Scotland and I've lived here for over 30 years. On the other hand I've come across lots of people who say they don't cycle because they are afraid of the traffic / weather / hills.
Tom Richardson
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Re: Cycle - You must be banned or poor

Post by Tom Richardson »

General Motors alone spends $1.8billion a year encouraging the purchase and use of its vehicles and they're just one of several. They're spending this money to create an image that motoring is something good to do. Governments also want you to keep driving because if people stopped (or even just drove a bit less) GDP would go through the floor. And infrastructure is set up to suit motoring because its what people have been persuaded to do and because that's good for GDP too.

It's like the film 'The Matrix' where we're living in an illusion where motoring is the norm. People even consider it essential. I had one of the red pills a while ago and saw that the reality is a bit different. They don't want you to know this of course and people who have bought the advertisers dream don't want to accept it either.
rjb
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Re: Cycle - You must be banned or poor

Post by rjb »

On a work training day we were shown a post office film about industrial relations. One of the scenes showed a worker who was frequently late for work. At his interview it transpired he had lost his licence and was cycling to work. All my colleagues looked at me and they assumed i had lost mine as well. :| :| :|
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Psamathe
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Re: Cycle - You must be banned or poor

Post by Psamathe »

TonyR wrote:Which is odd given that cyclists on average are wealthier than the average. In London a TfL survey found 60% of Boris Bike users earned over £50,000 p.a.

From what I remember reading they would need to. From memory the Boris Bikes scheme is the most expensive (to users) and least used of such schemes around the world. Just repeating what I remember reading (this year) and not making a comment.

Ian
MockCyclist
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Re: Cycle - You must be banned or poor

Post by MockCyclist »

Not cycling but in the same theme of people making bizarre assumptions - I'm a lifetime tea-totaller. Once when I told someone I didn't drink I got the slightly sheepish question "what ... you've ... um ... had a problem, then? A reformed alcoholic?
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Si
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Re: Cycle - You must be banned or poor

Post by Si »

Generally I don't find an assumption of banned or poor, however, I have noticed than when pushing the bike through the shopping precinct the Big Issue seller never tries to sell me one, whereas when just walking (not wearing bike clothes) they always do. Make of that what you will!
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