The yawning gulf between cyclists and non-cyclists.

[ufkacbln]

Indeed. A car has a nice comfy back seat and can inconveniently run out of petrol in the middle of nowhere

This also has a backseat and can inconveniently break down

 

[Dayvo]

You're limited to girls called Daisy

And boys called Sue.

 

[defy-one]

Looks like a motor-rickshaw

... Back to the OP

 

[Peteaud]

I or people who are too stupid to get a home close enough to work to commute by bike.

Can you give me a mortgage then, none of the banks will, or perhaps the fact that i got off my arse and found a job makes me stupid. Perhaps i should go back on the dole until a local job comes along. Some of us have to commute, I dont like it, and have applied for many local jobs without success.

 

[Rob500]

From vague memories of being that age, a car is much better if you're on the pull.

True. At that age a bike doesn't really make it as a vaginal lodestone.

 

[gbb]

I always thought that bikes were specifically for 'a bright young person around town', while cars are for angry chav scum, angry rich Jeremy-Clarkson-type scum, people who are too fat or otherwise unfit to cycle, or people who are too stupid to get a home close enough to work to commute by bike.

Can you give me a mortgage then, none of the banks will, or perhaps the fact that i got off my arse and found a job makes me stupid. Perhaps i should go back on the dole until a local job comes along. Some of us have to commute, I dont like it, and have applied for many local jobs without success.

Me too....
I'm sure (or i hope) you don't really think like that IC....
Sadly, circumstances in life dictate some of us do need a car. After commuting by bike for the best part of 30 years, circumstances dictate (much to my disgust) that i have to commute by car now. Mind i've mitigated that by part cycling, part driving whenever i can. 15 miles cycling, 26 miles driving each day i can.
Like Pete, some of us do whats neccessary and right, for everyones benefit.

Anyway...back to the topic...
I don't see it as a bad thing, (the desire to drive, especially when you're young)..its something 99% of us did.
Sometimes you have to remind yourself, the person you're slating...was you 30 years ago. I remember looking at a young guy in his souped up hatch with ridiculously big exhaust etc etc, thinking WTF do you look like. Then i remembered, i WAS that person 30 years ago.

Another angle...my son (at 27) has never learned to drive. No desire to, too expensive, punishingly so. The downside (IMO) is he's living a stunted lifestyle, very localised.

 

[xpc316e]

Let him do as he wishes. Young people must be given the chance to make bad decisions and fail, otherwise they do not learn. I can see the reasons behind his way of thinking, but he needs to experience the 'joys' of motoring.

 

[gbb]

Let him do as he wishes. Young people must be given the chance to make bad decisions and fail, otherwise they do not learn. I can see the reasons behind his way of thinking, but he needs to experience the 'joys' of motoring.

Its interesting the assumption by many that driving is a bad thing...period.
I consider myself a cyclist first above all else, but i own a car and reap the benefits it gives me (freedom to go where i want, when i want, as far as i want)...as well as the drawbacks (cost etc)
Without a driving licence i doubt i'd have progressed as far as i have in my working life...i'd have been limited early on to jobs within my locality. For better or worse, its helped makes you what you are, what you become.
Do i enjoy owning a car..no. Its a tool.
Could i do without one...maybe.
Would i want to...no.

Anyway...WhoTF are we to be pontificating about what another person can do, something which is quite legal, something 99% of people on this forum have done ourselves i should think.

 

[Smokin Joe]

Why don't we just accept that most of the population don't like cycling. They'll go over the park with the kids on a sunny bank holiday but that's about it, they find using a bike for transport is a chore.

We enjoy riding a bike, most people don't, just as most people don't enjoy playing tennis or rugby or jogging or whatever hobby or sport you care to mention. And face up to the fact that most Asian and Caribbean people think people who cycle from choice are nuts.

 

[Boris Bajic]

+1 to gbb above (and others who've expressed that sentiment).

I worked for years in the Balkans and often cycled to my office. In Sarajevo that was most unusual and a neighbour regularly joked with me about saving up for a car. To him, it was absurd to cycle when you could drive. He had a point, but I loved cycling.

Most cyclists I know are also drivers. Some (and clearly some on this forum) are very keen drivers.

Each to their own. Some of the harping on this and other forums about how ghastly cars are is amusingly harmless eccentricity, but sound like someone hoping to bleat at the right pitch to the right audience about imagined slights and injustices they feel safe mentioning among friends.

Would I live car-free if I thought I could? I might well and it may yet become a necessity. Meanwhile, I'll keep driving and let others worry about their own choices.

My bikes are still in the back of my car after taking middle child to a TT. Couldn't have done that without a car.

 

[defy-one]

I love my car,i love my bike. I don't care what people think of my choices.

 

[al78]

I love my car,i love my bike. I don't care what people think of my choices.

It would be a good idea to at least think about the wider impact of your lifestyle choices though. If people don't do that then we are all basically on a one way ticket to social collapse.

 

[slowmotion]

I'm genuinely curious as to how and when the miserablist anti-car lobby attempted to kidnap innocent cyclists and press-gang them into the cause. When was it?

 

[defy-one]

It would be a good idea to at least think about the wider impact of your lifestyle choices though. If people don't do that then we are all basically on a one way ticket to social collapse.

My lifestyle?
I need a car to do my work,when possible i use the bike as a way of getting fit,saving on diesel and above all,because i love the sense of freedom - thats it

 

[lukesdad]

Who gives a..........