Girls

[patheticshark]

My two teenagers have gone from enjoying cycling to now being quite anti it as they came into their teenage years.

I agree with the Lids point but also I think cycling is just associated with losers and kids. They want to be seen as cool and grown up.

Much is down to how it is portrayed in film. How are adults portrayed in film on bikes?
Only two adult film characters I can think who rode bikes are Pee Wee and the 40 Year old Virgin. Other than that it is just kids.
How could you ever expect them to buy into that club?

My kids will go out on their bikes with me (and enjoy it) on holiday where they are at least 50 miles away from anyone that may see them.

Ellen Page rode a road bike in Juno. And here she is in Real Life.

Not that I'm suggesting in any way that that's enough - I'd LOVE to see more teenage girls riding bikes in films. I just like citing her as an example.

 

[Trevrev]

Cycling being cool !!! I don't think it's cool, it's just a form of transport.
From a very early age, as most people, i've had a bike. Not to be cool, but just to get around, as you don't need a licence and you can ride the thing anywhere, whether you were allowed to or not.
I think it's a good sport to take up at an early age, but only if you're crap at football or Rugby !!!!.....LOL...

 

[lady_rider]

There's another film as well.. the one with the famous scene where a woman who dances takes her bra off in front of her boss while she's talking. URRGGHHHHHHHH Flashdance! There we go. She cycles everywhere and is portrayed as cool doing it. Pity about the 80s hair do though...

 

[swee'pea99]

The 10 year old loves it, the 13 year old won't cycle, period. I don't think it's a 'cool' thing, I think it's more a pig-idle thing.

 

[Cranky]

My two teenagers have gone from enjoying cycling to now being quite anti it as they came into their teenage years.

I agree with the Lids point but also I think cycling is just associated with losers and kids. They want to be seen as cool and grown up.

Much is down to how it is portrayed in film. How are adults portrayed in film on bikes?
Only two adult film characters I can think who rode bikes are Pee Wee and the 40 Year old Virgin. Other than that it is just kids.
How could you ever expect them to buy into that club?

My kids will go out on their bikes with me (and enjoy it) on holiday where they are at least 50 miles away from anyone that may see them.

My 16 year old daughter is/was an excellent cyclist and could do 40 mile CTC rides through the Cotswolds when she was 13 and completed a 105k audax last spring. But in general she has now become very reluctant to use her bike for local journeys, preferring the 25 minute walk into town, and rarely comes out on longer rides. However, it's not an aversion to physical activity as she's a competitive swimmer to national standards and still trains very hard. I've had to draw the conclusion, like others here, that it's just not cool for teenage girls (in their own eyes) to cycle. I hope she'll return to it when she's a bit older, at university perhaps.

 

[summerdays]

The imprtant thing for teenagers and teenage girls in particular is to give the impression you never try hard for anything.

Cycling properly is uncool. It's all hi-vis and mucky chains and puncture repair kits and special-needs helmets and healthy pink cheeks and having to stop outside the shops to lock it up and *shudder* hand-signals.

The whole excercise says "I plan ahead and take precautions - I put some work in".

Hence why most teenagers on bikes are teenage boys with no lights, low saddles and low gears - it's the nearest you can get to slouching on a bike.

I think that is a good insight into what goes on in some of their minds.

I think it will take more people on bikes so that it starts to become more normal - but also the right type of people. We need Hello and OK (or what ever the correct mags are - I don't read them so don't know), to run a regular feature on which celeb was seen on their bike that week with photos to start to influence some of the girls.

 

[hubbike]

i think "forms of transport" can be cool too. top gear is founded on that principle and it should work for cyclists too, Trevrev.
1. cycling to work/uni/school each day there´´ll be no need for fad diets or the gym.
2. fit people stay looking younger. people who use oil of uglay don´t.
3. Ellen Page looks more beautiful with that gorgeous old bike as an "accessory" this kind of thing should be encouraged I think. . .

interesting that the Gaudian raised the subject too. lets hope its the start of something. with the 2012 olympics there will be a big surge of interest in all sports and its up to all of us to capitalise on it.

 

[Trevrev]

i think "forms of transport" can be cool too. top gear is founded on that principle and it should work for cyclists too, Trevrev.

You really can't compare Cycling with Cars or motorbikes.
I've never yet seen a Cyclist on a really flash bike with all the gear and thought, " how cool is he." " Cool Bike"....

 

[Arch]

Our local bike recyling project sometimes runs workshops aimed at specific groups and they did one aimed at teenage girls - they got a load of cheap ripstop nylon in various colours and got the girls to make and customise simple rainjackets or capes. They also do 'bling your bike' stuff, making wirework flowers to wind round the bars, and so on. I don't know how much they end up preaching to the converted, but maybe it's a way in.

Also, the bike makes a difference. They recently had some of these in stock, and one as a raffle prize, and they were apparently 'well cool'.

 

[SavageHoutkop]

Ooh, yes, that reminds me, there's a shop in my part of the world selling some 'cool' bikes... (well I think so anyway!)
http://www.ridelow.co.uk
(with suitable celeb pic of Miley Cyrus riding one...)

 

[Over The Hill]

Ellen Page rode a road bike in Juno. And here she is in Real Life.

Not that I'm suggesting in any way that that's enough - I'd LOVE to see more teenage girls riding bikes in films. I just like citing her as an example.

But the reality is more like-

or this






"its not cool dad!"

 

[rich p]

I could post plenty more pictures of cool girls riding cool bikes on this forum; I won't, because I've seen what people can be like on here and it's pretty gross. But trust me, that's not everyone's reality.

Pardon!! What brought that on?

 

[dellzeqq]

The cool bike thing is interesting, because there is no easy answer. S******, aged 17, turned up the other day with the kind of bike you'd see on a fashion photoshoot, the tyres were white, the tubes curved, it had a light that looked like it had been taken of a 1940s car. She hated it. 'Yeah, this is what my dad thinks is cool'. Which, of course, if you've pedalled it up the hill from Balham to our place, it decidedly isn't.

 

[Bromptonaut]

Miss B (17) rides hers regularly both for exercise and to get to her mate in next but one village. She often proposes a family bike ride and will certainly be out with us all for a spin on Xmas day.

We've always provided her with a decentish bike but I don't think we've ever pressured her into anything. She wears bike appropriate ordinary clothes such as leggings or cut offs for cycling. May or may not wear a helmet but if she does the hair goes in a ponytail.

It's just a way of getting round

 

[Campfire]

You're going about this all wrong.


Then market this cyclechic site:

http://www.cyclechic.co.uk/index.htm

I have often been asked where I got my 'handbag' from when it's a pannier off this site. Plus if they really hate standard helmets and you want them to wear one there are some great cool ones on there.

If that doesn't work resign yourself to the fact that it may not be possible.

I love that site. It's such fun. I've not bought anything off there yet but am deciding! Pity there aren't events like those they organise in London, up here in the NW!