Cycling is definitely getting more trendy again

[Linford]

Now that the obsession with cheap and nasty Mountain bikes is waining a bit, and people are getting road focussed cycles (like the Dutch style bikes), I definitely feel there are more cyclists in the town, and on the roads in general.

Just anecdotal, but I do feel people are more into it..as well as some new shops opening up in my area also

 

[Koga]

I agree, on my commuter run I now see a cyclist almost every day, a few years ago I would not even see 1 a month.
I am not sure all bikes are commuter standard (at least have mud guards and a luggage rack), but they certainly are also on the increase to.

 

[Frood42]

Will be interesting though when winter hits to see how many keep going.

 

[Koga]

Less, but still more than a few years ago !

 

[ianrauk]

Will be interesting though when winter hits to see how many keep going.

There has already been a decrease on my commute. Which I guess is due to the changing seasons and weather.

 

[welsh dragon]

I live in an area where cycling has always been popular, but I have noticed an increase in the numbers of bikes that the locals are now using as well. I think In part it is due to the fact that drivers here are very good when it comes to overtaking cyclists. The only time we seem to have trouble is when the holiday season starts. I do hope that more and more locals take up the sport as I seem to be In a minority. My neighbours think it is quite funny to see me out and about on my bike and often ask me where my bike is if I am just walking.

The more the merrier I say.

 

[HLaB]

What's refreshing to see, down here at least, the number of kids on bikes. Back home there was nowhere at school to leave a bike when I was a kid

Edited for Grammar

 

[Davidc]

There's been a steady increase here for some years. It's reached the stage where I often can't find a stand space in town or at shops, even in the winter half of the year.

Has been helped along by Wessex Water and Somerset County Council working together for the past year to try to simultaneously close every road in Taunton.

 

[ianrauk]

What's refreshing to see, down here at least, the number of kids on bikes. Back home there was knowhere at school to leave a bike when I was a kid

I'm a bit older then you *cough*
In my early school days (70's).. most kid's cycled to school and I think near enough every kid had a bike.

My litt'lun is the only kiddy in his nursery to cycle to school.
One of his nursery chums asked his mum (in front of me) if he could cycle to school like Henry. She said no.
They live in the next road.

 

[Boris Bajic]

Yep the Wiggo Effect is still alive and well i think.

I never really noticed any 'Wiggo effect'.

The increase in uptake seemed to blossom about four or five years ago. There was an extent to which it seemed to coincide with the realisation that cycling had somehow achieved a step change in moving beyond gaspipe five-speed racers.

In many of the riders I see out and about now during rest stops, I witness endless chats about component-geekery that reminds me of a slightly slimmer and more athletic Clarkson. These neo-Clarksons do not seem to penetrate club riding, but they swell the numbers in Sportives and are always full of useful snippets about performance that they gleaned from their Garmin doo-dah.

I think it's lovely that this increase in numbers has happened, but insofar as it will last, it will be those who are grinding to the office on Hybrids that have the effect, not Johnny Brager and his neo-Clarkson pals.

That probably sounds slightly acid. It's my age.

 

[Boris Bajic]

I'm a bit older then you *cough*
In my early school days (70's).. most kid's cycled to school and I think near enough every kid had a bike.

My litt'lun is the only kiddy in his nursery to cycle to school.
One of his nursery chums asked his mum (in front of me) if he could cycle to school like Henry. She said no.
They live in the next road.

I see this a lot.

Even some parents who ride do not think it safe or appropriate for their children to do so.

When I was a kid, mums and dads droove and kids rode. These days, the kids are driven EVERYWHERE.

My youngest went to a try-out at a local rowing club some weeks ago. When it turned out he has a 20-mile journey to get there, I said I'd chuck him on the train with his bike and he could ride to the club. There was a sort of audible gasp of 'unfit parent' around the bar. He is fourteen for God's sake. He shoots. He's been riding since he was five. From station to club is about two miles. He does 70-mile rides on fairly horrid roads. I felt like some sort of film noir mass killer for speaking as I did.

 

[Globalti]

Mountain biking started it, then road biking took over when people began to discover the cleanliness, convenience, speed, light weight and greater subtlety of road riding.

 

[Bay Runner]

Let’s wait to winter kicks in proper and see.
It reminds me of the sudden appearance, in January, of large numbers of joggers with new kit on.

 

[HLaB]

I'm a bit older then you *cough*
In my early school days (70's).. most kid's cycled to school and I think near enough every kid had a bike.

My litt'lun is the only kiddy in his nursery to cycle to school.
One of his nursery chums asked his mum (in front of me) if he could cycle to school like Henry. She said no.
They live in the next road.

I think my secondary school was built in the 60's or 70's with a large covered space for bike stands (all wheel benders!) but when I was at the school this was a covered football pitch, the racks had been removed and as a result nobody cycled in the late 80s/ early 90s. I think there may have been a renaissance in recent but I haven't been back in years during the school run.

 

[Born2die]

I would let mini me 8 years old cycle to school (it's only a 15 min walk) but they rant allowed to leave bikes at school even though it would massively reduce traffic in a heavily built up area and I don't gave time every day to walk 2 bikes home