Cycling UK Forum

I am new to this website and forum although I have used CTC for some different events.

My name is Will Martin and I am currently studying a degree at Southampton Solent University as well as running a Mountain biking Skills Park at the weekends.
As part of my degree I am completing a dissertation. The title is 'An investigation into the MAMIL culture withing the cycling community'. In order to get a meaningful data set I need as many cyclists as possible to complete my online questionnaire: it is only 10 questions long and will take about 2 minutes.

Questionnaire link: http://fluidsurveys.com/surveys/will-ma ... tionnaire/

Please can you complete this to assist my dissertation. If you belong to a club, it would be amazing if you could ask any other members to have a look, as the more information that I can gather, the better.

Thank you so much for both reading this and helping my work.

Will Martin
Symondsbury Estate Skills Park Manager

I denied being a MAMIL just because I dont much like Lycra, apart from that I fit the profile.

Though possibly not the stereotype.

Done.

MAMIL for me, is just a funny term some people like to call themselves or a group of people. Normally associated with road cycling i would think.

Lycra is good, easy to wash and dry. Its snug and keeps you warm.

What's this so called "cycling community"? I see too many rifts to be considered a community and a survey about attitudes to MAMILS highlights one of those rifts. My answers reflected my opinion that anybody from any social or financial background can be a MAMIL. An enthusiast on minimum wage can have good kit because that is where he spends his money rather than smoking. MAMIL is just another derisory stereotype invented by the popular press - see also lycra lout.

"Which of the following statements would you associate with MAMILs:" did get on with this question as I could associate most of those statements with some of those who I see as MAMILs but not all, and I could also associate many with those I see as non-MAMILS. To what extent did you require exclusivity?

BTW - love the subject for the thesis....wish I could have done something like that.

One of the things I find fascinating is the way MAMILS (Middle aged men in lycra) replaced MAMILS (middle aged men in leathers) It occurs to me that each generation picks up a new sport or pastime. The fascination with motorbikes is now morphing into one with bicycles. Prior to motorbikes it was windsurfers. If I think back to the late 80s, early 90s, it seemed every other car had a wind surfer on the roof. Now, well I think I've seen only one this year.

Of course, if my theory is correct, in a few years time we will see the replacement of MAMILS. The next big thing is... ?????

I have had a look at the questionnaire but I am afraid that I either cannot or will not answer quite a few of the questions, despite being (I think) the target audience of the OP.

For example:
Which population demographic(s) do you perceive MAMILs occupy? What does this mean? I know the members of my cycling club and they range across the spectrum in terms of their backgrounds. I therefore know what their demographics are, so how can I perceive their demographics?

What income bracket would you assume MAMILs to occupy (Per Annum)? What I think about peoples income has nothing to do with reality.

Which of the following statements would you associate with MAMILs? A list of loaded statements

This questionnaire seem to have little to do with cycling. It just seems to be a trawl for peoples prejudices. I'm out.

Galloper wrote:Of course, if my theory is correct, in a few years time we will see the replacement of MAMILS. The next big thing is... ?????

Middle Aged Men In Lingerie.

geomannie wrote:This questionnaire seem to have little to do with cycling. It just seems to be a trawl for peoples prejudices. I'm out.

I agree, and is why I haven't attempted it either.

It is possible that the OP is wanting to compare the popular prejudices and stereotype (middle-aged lycra lout) with who/what these middle-aged cyclists really are - this would be a good subject for a dissertation. However the questions don't allow for this.

geomannie wrote:
This questionnaire seem to have little to do with cycling. It just seems to be a trawl for peoples prejudices. I'm out.

My take on it is that it is not meant to be a cycling thesis at all: it does not seek to determine what a MAMIL is, rather it is looking at how people view MAMILS and why - it is a sociology question that just happens to use MAMILs as its subject target...could just as easily have been Goths, Crustees, traffic wardens, immigrants, etc, the approach would have been similar. Of course, adding in a few more free entry options would have been nicer (would have at least allowed the responders to feel better about themselves ), as limiting it to the options available always has the potential to collect the results that the compiler wanted rather than what they needed. That would be an error of the compiler's ability to create a questionnaire rather than a fault with the thesis itself (and let's face it, not being able to build a good questionnaire is a fault that most of us suffer from).

geomannie wrote:For example:
Which population demographic(s) do you perceive MAMILs occupy? What does this mean? .

Isn't the demographic of MAMILS by definition middle-aged men?

Si wrote:"Which of the following statements would you associate with MAMILs:" did get on with this question as I could associate most of those statements with some of those who I see as MAMILs but not all, and I could also associate many with those I see as non-MAMILS.

Me neither. It didn't acknowledge that Lycra is actually very good for cycling in and seemed to have prejudged it to be all about vanity. 2/10 for survey design.