Whoever Max Mautner is, he has his head wedged between his buttocks. No matter how you word it, conservatives are not coming around to cycling. Hell, they won’t even come around to cars fueled in a slightly different way than they are accustomed to.
kidsafe on
>spending money on bike infrastructure is at the expense of zero sum budget and *space* for “higher throughput” car traffic
Hahahahahahahahaha. As I ride the SF Bay Trail past all the parked cars on US 101.
Herr_Tilke on
A lot of Republicans own bikes. They just don’t view them as a mode of transportation. The prototypical “American bike” is a hybrid without fenders that gets ridden a handful of times a year on the rail trail after being driven to the trail parking lot. A good deal of Republican voters have a bike in their garage even if they aren’t riding it regularly.
Look at Trek’s current line up – it’s aimed directly at buyers who want to drive everywhere but have a bike for recreational use. Outside of a few of their e-bikes and their rarely available Electra loft bikes they don’t have anything for practical riders. it’s the same for most brands.
It’s a stupid business model that has bit them massively in the aftermath of the pandemic. Animosity towards any form of cycling is in vogue with conservatives. And since the end of the boom the majority of people looking to purchase a bike are more interested in a practical mode of transportation, and only a niche market of whales is keeping the industry afloat by purchasing their fourth drop bar bike at $4k+.
That_Xenomorph_Guy on
I don’t get why an argument FOR bikes is an argument against cars. It’s not. Most people who own a bike also own a car.
“But you can’t take your entire family on a bike,” everyone benefits heavily from some regular cardio exercise to improve their mental health. Cycling is a great way to do that. Even leading experts of ADHD agree that exercise is better for the ADHD brain than any single medication.
Most cyclists aren’t taking their family to church on a tandem/rickshaw bicycle. Most cyclists don’t even get their groceries by bicycle.
Calling cyclists an inconvenience on the roads is just being an entitled driver. It takes one second to pass a cyclist safely. Sometimes – there’s oncoming traffic, and the car can’t pass in one second. Okay ,so they pass in ten seconds. Big effing deal.
This blog is pretty dumb in general. Whoever told them cycling is cheap probably just buys a new shitty bike at Walmart every time they need a new chain or tires.
animalmom2 on
I’m not sure this is a massive partisan issue. It’s an issue, but not really partisan. Most of the guys in my group are probably conservative but they are all for bike lanes and bike things
psychosis_inducing on
That seemed like it was AI-generated.
yoppee on
Nice Article
But…
Conservatism is Dead in this Country
Yes Dead
The Republican Party is Pure Populism right now and what I define as Naked Populism
DT has been the leader of the Republican Party for 10 years and his daughter in law is literally the President
DT has no policies at all He only spews Populism MAGA and Populist Conspiracy Theories “They are eating Cats and Dogs”
So trying to frame a Conservative argument against Populism is going to get you nowhere
The current Populist hate bicycles because they see them has a left leaning government backed attack on their privately held freedom Trucks(given to them buy a enlightened corporation)
When they see a bike lane they interpret that as the Nanny State trying to shove a transportation method onto them and when they are sitting in traffic and see the bike lane they fill attacked by government elites who don’t understand how “real freedom works
It’s all Bullshit conspiracy theory Populism
Edit: it’s all bullshit because there is no conspiracy and nobody is attacking Truck driver. The Gov/City is simply trying to make all modes of transportation as safe and efficient as possible
MichigaCur on
ironically I tend to get more verbal flack from the Democrats, because they are more elitist in this area, and seeing a bike somehow reminds them there are poor people around… I mean God forbid I ride my bike to the trail they complain they paid for, and believe nobody uses… Smh. It really blows their minds when I don’t have an exercise goal, and I’m not commuting I’m just out riding for (gasp) the hell of it.
Most of the guys I regularly ride with are fairly classic conservatives. But really politics is something I try to avoid discussing while riding.
SprocketHead357 on
Idc about politics, right or left. Just let me ride my bike ffs.
I’m very fiscally conservative when it comes to transportation
ok-bikes on
The only conservative cyclist I’ve known to have met claimed to be a doctor, wouldn’t say what kind and said Corona Virus was a scam. Little did he know I had some high up connections in the medical community that were able to confirm yes Corona Virus is real and its actually kind of scary. I guess its lost some of its vigor now but that’s it.
13 Comments
Not a political issue.
Whoever Max Mautner is, he has his head wedged between his buttocks. No matter how you word it, conservatives are not coming around to cycling. Hell, they won’t even come around to cars fueled in a slightly different way than they are accustomed to.
>spending money on bike infrastructure is at the expense of zero sum budget and *space* for “higher throughput” car traffic
Hahahahahahahahaha. As I ride the SF Bay Trail past all the parked cars on US 101.
A lot of Republicans own bikes. They just don’t view them as a mode of transportation. The prototypical “American bike” is a hybrid without fenders that gets ridden a handful of times a year on the rail trail after being driven to the trail parking lot. A good deal of Republican voters have a bike in their garage even if they aren’t riding it regularly.
Look at Trek’s current line up – it’s aimed directly at buyers who want to drive everywhere but have a bike for recreational use. Outside of a few of their e-bikes and their rarely available Electra loft bikes they don’t have anything for practical riders. it’s the same for most brands.
It’s a stupid business model that has bit them massively in the aftermath of the pandemic. Animosity towards any form of cycling is in vogue with conservatives. And since the end of the boom the majority of people looking to purchase a bike are more interested in a practical mode of transportation, and only a niche market of whales is keeping the industry afloat by purchasing their fourth drop bar bike at $4k+.
I don’t get why an argument FOR bikes is an argument against cars. It’s not. Most people who own a bike also own a car.
“But you can’t take your entire family on a bike,” everyone benefits heavily from some regular cardio exercise to improve their mental health. Cycling is a great way to do that. Even leading experts of ADHD agree that exercise is better for the ADHD brain than any single medication.
Most cyclists aren’t taking their family to church on a tandem/rickshaw bicycle. Most cyclists don’t even get their groceries by bicycle.
Calling cyclists an inconvenience on the roads is just being an entitled driver. It takes one second to pass a cyclist safely. Sometimes – there’s oncoming traffic, and the car can’t pass in one second. Okay ,so they pass in ten seconds. Big effing deal.
This blog is pretty dumb in general. Whoever told them cycling is cheap probably just buys a new shitty bike at Walmart every time they need a new chain or tires.
I’m not sure this is a massive partisan issue. It’s an issue, but not really partisan. Most of the guys in my group are probably conservative but they are all for bike lanes and bike things
That seemed like it was AI-generated.
Nice Article
But…
Conservatism is Dead in this Country
Yes Dead
The Republican Party is Pure Populism right now and what I define as Naked Populism
DT has been the leader of the Republican Party for 10 years and his daughter in law is literally the President
DT has no policies at all He only spews Populism MAGA and Populist Conspiracy Theories “They are eating Cats and Dogs”
So trying to frame a Conservative argument against Populism is going to get you nowhere
The current Populist hate bicycles because they see them has a left leaning government backed attack on their privately held freedom Trucks(given to them buy a enlightened corporation)
When they see a bike lane they interpret that as the Nanny State trying to shove a transportation method onto them and when they are sitting in traffic and see the bike lane they fill attacked by government elites who don’t understand how “real freedom works
It’s all Bullshit conspiracy theory Populism
Edit: it’s all bullshit because there is no conspiracy and nobody is attacking Truck driver. The Gov/City is simply trying to make all modes of transportation as safe and efficient as possible
ironically I tend to get more verbal flack from the Democrats, because they are more elitist in this area, and seeing a bike somehow reminds them there are poor people around… I mean God forbid I ride my bike to the trail they complain they paid for, and believe nobody uses… Smh. It really blows their minds when I don’t have an exercise goal, and I’m not commuting I’m just out riding for (gasp) the hell of it.
Most of the guys I regularly ride with are fairly classic conservatives. But really politics is something I try to avoid discussing while riding.
Idc about politics, right or left. Just let me ride my bike ffs.
https://preview.redd.it/l9wipm1l1oud1.jpeg?width=706&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ace18f3af0a4007f35c67ec8f930cd1db46277ca
I’m very fiscally conservative when it comes to transportation
The only conservative cyclist I’ve known to have met claimed to be a doctor, wouldn’t say what kind and said Corona Virus was a scam. Little did he know I had some high up connections in the medical community that were able to confirm yes Corona Virus is real and its actually kind of scary. I guess its lost some of its vigor now but that’s it.