Europeans are buying more bikes than cars

[John Saxby]

This link from National Public Radio in the US, passed on to me by Léo Woodland:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2013/10/24/240493422/in-most-every-european-country-bikes-are-outselling-cars

We live in interesting times.  Forward thinking? and/or a response to the crisis?  I had seen a brief news report here on this shift in Spain, but that report did not mention a continent-wide trend. 

[Danneaux]

Hi John!

I ran across this fascinating infographic a couple days ago: http://www.business2community.com/infographics/cyclists-guide-to-travel-infographic-2-0528332

Supports this contention nicely and contains a few surprises as well: Says "only 2% of UK residents regularly ride a bike". Hmm. Not the case here on this Forum. Obviously, more Thorns need to be sold! 

<grump> Wouldda been nice if the author had cited her sources, but the graphics are good. Liked her bucket list of four places to ride before y'die.

Best,

Dan.

[John Saxby]

Thanks, Dan.  Yes, those are effective graphics.  The list of great rides is pretty good too, though some years back, I read Brady Fortheringham's On the Trail of Marco Polo, an account of riding from Beijing to Delhi via the Silk Road, etc.  He did that in the late 1990s, and there was a fair amount of sketchy behaviour going on, with mostly Men In Uniform as the perps.  Didn't leave me with an urge to see/feel/hear it all for myself.  Oz, Chile & the Yorkshire Dales make a pretty good mix!

On the subject of bikes in Europe: a few months back, the Guardian noted that Europeans had purchased 750,000 e-bikes in 2012 (only 20,000 of those in the UK) -- the writer reckoned that e-bikes are the future for electrified urban transport, much more so than electric cars.

[Andre Jute]

We should say a prayer of interdiction that those bikes don't languish in garages like most of the bikes sold in the States apparently do.

I know one fellow who always has a wonderful bike, and never pays more than fifty euro for it, because someone always comes up to him in a pub and says he has this bike in the rafters of his garage, and come take it away. One of his bikes was a lovely Japanese Keirin racing frame. Another had fancy lugs and Hetchins wavy chainstays.

[John Saxby]

Andre, I sent the link to an old friend now living in CT.  He and I used to ride together in Pretoria & surrounds -- in fact it was the occasion of his 70th birthday in 2005 which really introduced me to longer-distance riding, when we rode together from Pretoria to Durban.

Here's his comment, sobering but one you'll surely recognize:

Thanks for this remarkable and heartening news. Unfortunately the US,
Canada and RSA don't feature in the good guys list and I guess it'll be a
long time before they do. Hereabouts I don't detect any slackening in the
number of cyclists, but muggings have been added to traffic as a major
deterrent. Imagine riding along Garsfontein Road in Pretoria (which I did
many times) and being confronted by guys brandishing guns and demanding
your bike. Likewise on some routes in Cape Town, where knives appear to be
the persuader of choice. Class analysis doesn't get one very far in dealing
with this. I'm a little bit chary of riding solo long distance these days,
even if my old clunker is unlikely to appeal to the discerning thug. Now
that the weather is warming up it's time for Mark, Dave and me to start
serious joint training for the Argus next March.

[Andre Jute]

Andre, I sent the link to an old friend now living in CT.  He and I used to ride together in Pretoria & surrounds -- in fact it was the occasion of his 70th birthday in 2005 which really introduced me to longer-distance riding, when we rode together from Pretoria to Durban.

Here's his comment, sobering but one you'll surely recognize:

Thanks for this remarkable and heartening news. Unfortunately the US,
Canada and RSA don't feature in the good guys list and I guess it'll be a
long time before they do. Hereabouts I don't detect any slackening in the
number of cyclists, but muggings have been added to traffic as a major
deterrent. Imagine riding along Garsfontein Road in Pretoria (which I did
many times) and being confronted by guys brandishing guns and demanding
your bike. Likewise on some routes in Cape Town, where knives appear to be
the persuader of choice. Class analysis doesn't get one very far in dealing
with this. I'm a little bit chary of riding solo long distance these days,
even if my old clunker is unlikely to appeal to the discerning thug. Now
that the weather is warming up it's time for Mark, Dave and me to start
serious joint training for the Argus next March.

Ouch! Man, I don't believe I'd recognize the old country. People driving around in armored trucks! It's depressing. One of the richest countries in the world, brought to these stupidities by an unwillingness to police the streets properly.

Cape Town (and Pretoria too) were such pretty cities.