Cycling, a poor mans means of transport!

[Typhon]

It's a means of transport for everyone regardless of your financial status.

How you perceive it will be down to your background and to an extent your own prejudices. A lot of people I know/work with see it as a yuppie thing to do.

 

[coffeejo]

What I love about cycling is that it is accessible to almost everybody in the world, whoever they are, wherever they live, whatever their finances.

 

[wiggydiggy]

Transport - yes

I started as the bus fare hikes priced me out of using them regularly and the Cycle2Work promotion got me a cheap bike at an affordable price

What else we spend on our bikes above and beyond making it a useful transport for 1 machine doesnt count!

 

[Andy_R]

ahem....

......I'd be poorer if I went everywhere by car.

 

[Cyclopathic]

It is possible to get a fairly good quality cycling experience for not very much money. Judicious shopping can land you a pretty darned good bike for £200. if you know what you're looking for and less if you're exceptionally lucky. After that it can be maintained for very little money if you don't have expensive tastes. Then of course each time you make a journey, even a short one you are not spending anything directly.
I conclude that cycling is transport that is within the reach of a poor man or woman and that it is sustainable for said man or woman. This is not true of cars or trains. Buses are available to the less well off but I'd rather take the bike than the bus any day.
On the other hand, you could in effect spend as much as you like on your cycling like so many other things. Cycling is available to virtually everybody. It is egalitarian which is just one of its many charms.

 

[Arjimlad]

I voted yes, because as a student, I could pedal to lectures free of charge and spend what would have been my bus fare on pasty, beans & chips for lunch. I had a reasonable good quality bland bike which only needed irregular spare parts. Cycling can save so much money compared to driving.

My grandfather used to cycle from Emsworth to Portsmouth Dockyard every day. He told me on some days he had a little .410 shotgun on the crossbar to bag a rabbit with, on the way home.

I used to resent those who were well-off enough to run a car on some damp & cold days !

 

[gavintc]

The answer is of course both. My bikes are currently quite expensive, but I have had bikes which were definitely poor man's transport.

 

[VamP]

It's a relatively expensive way to get from A to B where the shortest distance between A and B is 15 miles, but you turn it into 50 - just because you can.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

The way I see it, although the bicycle can be seen as a cheap means of transport that is not the same as it being transport for the poor man.

In towns/cities, travelling by bicycle it's often easier to get around and there is no hassle with parking, so it may be the logical choice regardless of finances.

Thinking of a utility cyclist as someone who cannot afford a car is a 1960's/70's attitude which is managing to cling on.

 

[jakeagusta]

I often chuckle particularly during the Olympics when people referred to cycling as a cheap and affordable. For some maybe but when commuting and taking in the cost of safety equipment, good quality clothing, security equipment etc then it becomes pretty expensive.

 

[fossyant]

Not with the cost of my bikes it ain't.

Not with the cost of mine either. 4 bikes, spare wheels, two track pumps, 2 stands, collection of lights, 4 other bikes in the family, full tool kit with mainly Park, campag and Shimano tools, plus more bike clothes than civvies.

 

[RaRa]

When I check out the stupendous sum of money wiggle says I've spent with them over the last year it suggests this is definately not a poor (wo)mans means of transport.

 

[Deleted member 23692]

'tis neither poor nor posh ... it's just a means of transport

 

[Drago]

Driving is a fat and old before their times man means of transport.

Anyhoo, if cycling is for poor men then why do so many drivers whittle on about the cost of fuel/insurance/vehicle duty?

 

[Saluki]

My bike cost more than my car, but my car was pretty cheap to buy. However having to sort the wiring, the lights, the windscreen washer etc put the price up a bit, not to mention tax, insurance and petrol.

My bike hasn't cost me that much so far, a few new innertubes, a couple of new tyres and thats it.

I don't cycle because I cannot afford to run my car and I don't think that nowadays that a decent bike is the 'poor mans' transport choice. If you want a bike to last more than a season or two you need to go for quality. Quality costs.