Cycling UK Forum

I'm not sure if this has already been a topic of discussion - so excuse me if I'm out of date. I haven't looked at the messages for ages.

I was recently stopped dead in my tracks whilst passing a BSM shop window display.The ad. showed a young man wearing a cycling helmet and hi vis. reflective belt. He was looking very forlorn and dismayed, sitting on the bonnet of a car. I can't remember the words in the ad., but they implied that lessons were not as expensive as you would imagine. The implication was that this youth need not dispair and his second rate form of transport could easily be left behind and he would no longer need to feel ashamed once he joined the noble and advanced race of car drivers.

I didn't feel that going into the shop to pester an underpaid member of staff would be worthwhile.Is there a campaign already underway?
Should we start one?
Let me know, Daniel.

Having both a car and bicycles I would say the bikes are the superior form of transport. Quicker, no problem parking, fun (cars stopped being fun years ago), don't have to waste £££££s on fuel, road tax, astronomical insurance...expensive driving lessons, can go where cars can't, don't produce pollution, are quiet and smooth, give you the feel-good factor, help you to relax...

BSM have got it totally wrong. Cars are second-rate transport.

I learned to drive with BSM after 6 years of cycling regularly to school, town and friends' houses etc. The fun of driving wore off very rapidly, meanwhile the fun of cycling just keeps getting greater and greater.

I wonder if the ad made any hint at how much this chap would have to pay out in insurance after his £20+ an hour lessons. My 19 year old brother will have to pay £1100 per year. I think I'll stick to cycling. Especially as it is substantially easier for most of my journies.

Andy

Lady Python wrote: don't have to waste £££££s on fuel, road tax, astronomical insurance...expensive driving lessons,

Does anyone know the typical costs for a teenager to learn to drive, buy the sort of car that BSM show in advertising, insure it, etc? The BSM website also says:-

You'll be free to come and go as you please. No more relying on your mates, your brothers or sisters, or worse your parents, for a lift.

Free to come and go as you please.. Hardly. I think the CTC mght want to look into publicising the real cash costs.

All I can say is thank God my son has no interest in cars or learning to drive whatsoever (he's 20). We offered him driving lessons and he turned us down flat. Said he'd much rather have a new, good quality bicycle.

Now there's a young man with common sense

Blimey £1100 for Car Insurance !!!!!

even before all the other costs are added!!!!

I could buy a brand new cycle EVERY YEAR

Cheapskate!

Lusting my Pinnarello wrote:Blimey £1100 for Car Insurance !!!!!

even before all the other costs are added!!!!

I could buy a brand new cycle EVERY YEAR

I recently pointed out to my eighteen year old daughter that if she forewent car insurance until she was 21, she could invest the money and have a new bicycle every year for the rest of her life.

Lusting my Pinnarello wrote:Blimey £1100 ..........
I could buy a brand new cycle EVERY YEAR

£1100 for a brand new bike every year

I could build one every month for that!

Lusting my Pinnarello wrote:Blimey £1100 for Car Insurance !!!!!

even before all the other costs are added!!!!

I could buy a brand new cycle EVERY YEAR

This is exactly the thing that makes me feel better about not being allowed to drive. Due to slighty poor eyesight even with glasses or contact lenses, I can't read a number plate at 25 yards. I can see everything else, even traffic lights at 300 yards.

Even more amazing when the car could have only cost £250! Less than a good quality bike!

Criticising the cost of motoring is self defeating and and missng the point. Cars are a status symbol, the more expensive they are to run the more desirable they will be. If you ride a bike you might as well have "I'm a loser who can't afford a car" tatooed across your forehead. Try telling a man in a BMW how much money he could save by running a Skoda, and see what reaction you get.

Having said that, it is surprising how little people are prepared to spend on a bicycle. It is seen as a "distress" purchase and over £100 is a lot. Same is true of cheap nylon tents: £100 for the ticket to Glastonbury (each), £35 for the tent (for two).

axel_knutt wrote:Criticising the cost of motoring is self defeating and and missng the point. Cars are a status symbol, the more expensive they are to run the more desirable they will be. If you ride a bike you might as well have "I'm a loser who can't afford a car" tatooed across your forehead. Try telling a man in a BMW how much money he could save by running a Skoda, and see what reaction you get.

Why do you reckon that riding a bike says to others that you are a loser and can't afford a car. Also on what assumption do you make the claim that cars are a status symbol, that is a very far reaching statement and I'm not saying it isn't true in some cases but possibly not true overall.
This topic has like others got the anti car brigade out. Most cyclists are probably motorists as well but a lot of them would like to be able to get rid of the car if their circumstances allowed.
I drive a car but I also cycle, If I could live nearer to where I work I would not need a car but I can't so I drive, not everyday but twice a week and some days I go by motorbike.
Unfortunately the sad fact nowadays is that the car is here and public transport is nowhere good enough to get the vast majority out of their cars to use it.

I don't know. A lot more people are seeing the sense in getting a bike and cycling. We have a new chap just started work this week (he's probably in his early 30's). I was out the front having a smoke when he came and joined me. He asked me where my bike was today (I'd things to take home I couldn't take on the bike). He went on to say what a lovely bike it was, that he knew it wasn't a cheap bike, how it must be wonderful to ride it etc. and stood chatting about the merits of cycling. He said he hadn't cycled for some time but after seeing my bike, is going to be looking at getting himself a new bike too.

I do think attitudes are changing with a lot of people in favour of bikes. Cars are getting more and more expensive to run. Just wait until the fuel tax takes a hike in September. Most people have forgotten Brown put that in the Budget. It'll put the cost of a litre of fuel to over £1. I just think it's a massive rip-off. Add to that the prolification of the government's cash-cow, the speed camera, speed bumps that damage your car (17 1/2% VAT on every repair to the government), a police farce that's more intent on catching motorists doing 1mph over the speed limit than catching burglars, rapists, muggers etc. I find driving is no longer a pleasure. I used to love driving but haven't for years now and I'll be damned if I'm going to give this government 1p more in taxes than I have to.

Apart from commuting to work quicker by bike than by car, cycling relaxes me and is fun.

I'm hoping to visit a friend of mine before Christmas some 400 miles away. Normally I would just drive. This time I've been thinking how I can go on public transport and take my bike with me. Something I wouldn't have even entertained this time last year.

Cycling has changed my whole outlook of transport.

dkmwt wrote:

Lusting my Pinnarello wrote:Blimey £1100 for Car Insurance !!!!!

even before all the other costs are added!!!!

I could buy a brand new cycle EVERY YEAR

This is exactly the thing that makes me feel better about not being allowed to drive. Due to slighty poor eyesight even with glasses or contact lenses, I can't read a number plate at 25 yards. I can see everything else, even traffic lights at 300 yards.

Even more amazing when the car could have only cost £250! Less than a good quality bike!

You think that's bad! Norwich Union were asking £5500

I love my bike. Aaprt from anything else, many of today's journies around town would have taken longer in a car. Especially as people living within the town are not allowed permits to park at university buildings (due to limited space rather than any environmental reasons). That means all I could use a car for would be long journies, which are cheaper on the train if booked in advance than the petrol at 50mpg, and the shopping, which all fits into panniers/trailer anyway.

As for depending on friends and family for lifts, I do it twice a year: to take stuff up to uni in September and back in June. Everything else is fine by bike/public transport.

Andy [/b][/i]