Having a bike gave you so much freedom

[presta]

I wonder how many of these peer out of the car window and hate cyclists:


View: https://twitter.com/YesterdaysBrit1/status/1649687042228473856


I recall when I was a kid spending hours on my bike…..how many simple pleasures have been lost since time has progressed?

I was never off my bike….it was my independence

Summers cycling awesome. Outside shops you would see cycles on the pavements

me and my friends lived on our bikes…...and we loved them

Having a bike gave you so much freedom to go off exploring

we used to go ‘out for the day’ on our bikes

 

[EltonFrog]

Nostalgia eh? It ain’t what it used to be.

 

[Drago]

5 Decades on and the Daily Mail now tweet about how cyclists are the anti christ, side with Hitler and cause cancer, and should all be put against a wall and shot. How things have moved on,

 

[All uphill]

Growing up in a rural area of East Anglia a bicycle was the only way to meet schoolfriends who might live ten miles away.

I got soaked, fought headwinds but don't remember having mechanical problems or punctures. Thanks Dad for doing good maintenance on the bikes.

 

[nellietheelephant]

I wonder how many of these peer out of the car window and hate cyclists:


View: https://twitter.com/YesterdaysBrit1/status/1649687042228473856


I recall when I was a kid spending hours on my bike…..how many simple pleasures have been lost since time has progressed?

I was never off my bike….it was my independence

Summers cycling awesome. Outside shops you would see cycles on the pavements

me and my friends lived on our bikes…...and we loved them

Having a bike gave you so much freedom to go off exploring

we used to go ‘out for the day’ on our bikes

After 60 years of cycling, still enjoying the simple pleasures and the freedom of exploring. There are more motor vehicles on some roads than in the past, but it's still working for me.

 

[Oldhippy]

Funnily enough as I cycled along a country lane between Dover and Deal today, Channel on my right, sunshine, greenery everywhere I thought it really doesn't get much better than this. As much fun now as fifty years ago.

 

[Paulus]

Indeed, I still smile every time I get on my bike. Times have changed, but cycling is still a simple pleasure, even if these days a little more expensive and you have to keep your wits about you due to the motorised traffic levels.

 

[fossyant]

Spent hours on my Chopper mucking about in the woods. Out all day at weekends, then at 16 bought a Raleigh Road Ace, and my mum never saw me. Out morning until late afternoon at weekends.

Must have been bliss for my parents.

In Amsterdam now and I'm just taken aback by the sheer numbers of bikes and folk riding them. It's incredible.

Feck all responsibility to pedestrians though. Get out of the way. But the Dutch just get on with it. Friendly lot.

 

[Drago]

Spent hours on my Chopper mucking about in the woods.

The much coveted Euphemism of the Day award goes to @fossyant for this wonderful piece of nostalgic smut.

 

[Toshiba Boy]

Bikes were, and remain, a huge source of freedom.

From the late 60's as a nipper being taught to ride by my Dad almost as soon as I could walk (Dad had been a keen amateur racing cyclist in the 50s and 60s) through the 70s, when me and my mates were off riding most days in the holidays, exploring the countryside beyond my suburban home, and always my means of transport for getting to and from school (and for commuting to work for much of the past 41 years).

And now, as I near my final year in my 50's, still puts a huge smile on my face every time I climb a aboard one of my bikes, when I always "talk to my Dad" to tell him which way the wind is blowing (Dad passed away 5 years ago).

 

[steveindenmark]

My first bike was a 3 gear, pink, ladies shopper bike from skip. I got it when I was about 10 and used it daily until I joined the army at 16. I had all sorts of adventures on it.

54 years later I am still taking thosea adventures on a daily basis. Fortunately, I live in Denmark where we do not have this hate relationship with everyone else. Perpetuated by the media, motorists and cyclists alike.

 

[HobbesOnTour]

I recall when I was a kid spending hours on my bike during the school holidays. Without the Internet, mobile phones & video games I still had a great childhood.

I always find it helpful to explore the "why" and in this case I wonder if the internet, mobile phones and video games are really as significant as the tweeter seems to suggest.

I have been amazed at the sheer number of people who are stunned at the idea of riding a bike from A to B. Sometimes it's the distance that scares them off, but far more commonly it's a large, creeping, indefinable fear.

There's nostalgic talk upthread of spending weekends roaming the countryside on whatever bike was had.
How many parents would allow that now? From my anecdotal experience, not many at all.

Also, in my experience, it's very much a cultural thing, and very closely related to the English speaking developed world.
Bikes now are far less of a necessity, far more of a faff to choose and maintain and for recreation, mainly. In the parts where a bike is more workhorse than toy the former attitude still prevails.

Amsterdam was mentioned upthread. There are more bikes than people in NL but the vast, vast majority of the people see it as a tool. The vast majority of the bikes are simple and easy to maintain. Facilities and infrastructure encourage their use. Reality in the form of bike theft means that most bikes are quite cheap. There has even been a move to the long term rental of bikes through bike subscription schemes that include maintenance.

I think there's more to it than just the internet, mobile phones and computer games.

 

[Andy in Germany]

I wonder how many of these peer out of the car window and hate cyclists:


View: https://twitter.com/YesterdaysBrit1/status/1649687042228473856


I recall when I was a kid spending hours on my bike…..how many simple pleasures have been lost since time has progressed?

I was never off my bike….it was my independence

Summers cycling awesome. Outside shops you would see cycles on the pavements

me and my friends lived on our bikes…...and we loved them

Having a bike gave you so much freedom to go off exploring

we used to go ‘out for the day’ on our bikes

That's pretty much my every day life.

I didn't know Triang made bikes, of all people...

 

[Andy in Germany]

Bikes now are far less of a necessity, far more of a faff to choose and maintain and for recreation, mainly. In the parts where a bike is more workhorse than toy the former attitude still prevails.

The vast majority of the bikes are simple and easy to maintain. Facilities and infrastructure encourage their use.

That's a good point; the ability to repair my own bike is an important part of my feeling of freedom and independence.

Even if in reality it's a bit of a pseudo independence, given that we currently rely on parts from halfway across the world.

 

[mustang1]

I saw my extended family over the weekend (we meet every few years) and the talk of town was "I saw Mustang on a bike!".

Where was you going, Mustang? Wow you are fit (I'm not), looking great (well, thank you, but I'm still not fit).

Yeah, like every here says, bikes are great. Spent years on my Chopper. Dad taught me to ride and the rest is history. Although I didn't ride as much as I would like.