Decline in bicycling?

On 1/28/2020 12:32 AM, Rolf Mantel wrote:

snip

Switzerland did have compulsory third-party insurance for bicycles, like
for mopeds, until 2011 https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velovignette
(German only).Â* Until 1989, this included registration of your bicycle
in the city of residence.

A lot of cities in the U.S. had mandatory bicycle registration, though
enforcement was rare (except for some reason in Hawaii). A lot of those
laws are still on the books.

In my own city's code: "Bookmark11.08.040 License–Issuance. The City
Manager is authorized to issue bicycle licenses upon written
application, which license, when issued, shall entitle the licensee to
operate and use the bicycle. (Ord. 1420, (part), 1987)"

I am sure that my City Manager would be astounded to learn that she is
authorized to do this, and would have absolutely no idea of how to do it.

In the city I grew up in, you went to a fire station to get a bicycle
license, but not many people did that. It was more to have it registered
in case it was stolen and recovered.

On 1/27/2020 8:54 PM, Tim McNamara wrote:
On Mon, 27 Jan 2020 10:44:15 -0600, AMuzi wrote:
On 1/27/2020 10:22 AM, Frank Krygowski wrote:
Decline in bicycling? Gosh, how can that be, with the constant
construction of new "safe" facilities? (Actually, as a facility
skeptic, I think I can answer that question.)

https://patch.com/florida/southtampa...line-bicycling


I'm sure things can be very difficult for an independent local shop.
I wonder about Andrew's experience with such pressures.


Not news. The past few years have been absolutely brutal to my
industry.

That said, individual dealers are each a subset of 'the bicycle
business' and have their own individual strengths, advantages,
challenges and burdens.

Yellow Jersey must have third and fourth generation customers by now,
after nearly 50 years in business. Plus the only bike shop where one
can buy Lubriplate since I was a kid!

Bicycle Retailer News does track the number of bicycles imported every
month. The numbers go up and down, depending on the category. They go by
wheel size. Generally 26" imports are down, 27.5" and 29" imports are
up. Lately, the numbers have been down, but it's not because of a
decrease in cycling, it's due to the large tariffs imposed by President
Trump.

It's always amusing to talk to a die-hard Trump supporter whose business
is being negatively affected by Trump's policies. Last year I was
talking to someone who owns a huge amount of farmland in the central
valley of California, whose exports to China represented a significant
percentage of his business. His sales are way down. I asked him how
Trump was working out for him, and got a grimace in response.

On 1/28/2020 6:10 AM, Andre Jute wrote:
On Tuesday, January 28, 2020 at 11:01:57 AM UTC, Sepp Ruf wrote:

Andreas Oehler's boycott of travel to Switzerland is worse: Herr
Oehler's stated reason is that they vote more right-wing than he likes.

The Swiss go only one way in my estimation -- up. That I'm not likely to run into Andreas Oehler in Switzerland is an added attraction. That man doesn't have the faintest sense of commercial and moral proprieties, as witness his comparative tests of his own employer's goods against competitors' products, which his employer's gear, and that of BUMM, with whom Schmidt Machinenbau has a relationship so close it is best described as parasitic, always come out on top. I could just about put up with Oehler's sense of entitlement when he came on RBT, but his biased tests are another matter altogether, and I have to wonder where he gets the gall from to call himself morally superior to the Swiss.

I bet the Swiss policeman who stopped Lou and his friend was unarmed and punctiliously polite. Contrast with a Virginia, `USA, policeman who stopped me for a mickey mouse speeding offence and approached me with a drawn pistol. He was also rude: "I don't care **** if you have a diplomatic passport."

Andre Jute
Collector of bizarre circumstances


Well, Virginia even bans radar detectors. Unsportsmanlike!

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On 1/28/2020 6:05 AM, sms wrote:
On 1/27/2020 8:54 PM, Tim McNamara wrote:
On Mon, 27 Jan 2020 10:44:15 -0600, AMuzi wrote:
On 1/27/2020 10:22 AM, Frank Krygowski wrote:
Decline in bicycling? Gosh, how can that be, with the constant
construction of new "safe" facilities? (Actually, as a facility
skeptic, I think I can answer that question.)

https://patch.com/florida/southtampa...line-bicycling



I'm sure things can be very difficult for an independent local shop.
I wonder about Andrew's experience with such pressures.


Not news. The past few years have been absolutely brutal to my
industry.

That said, individual dealers are each a subset of 'the bicycle
business' and have their own individual strengths, advantages,
challenges and burdens.

Yellow Jersey must have third and fourth generation customers by now,
after nearly 50 years in business.Â* Plus the only bike shop where one
can buy Lubriplate since I was a kid!

Bicycle Retailer News does track the number of bicycles imported every
month. The numbers go up and down, depending on the category. They go by
wheel size. Generally 26" imports are down, 27.5" and 29" imports are
up. Lately, the numbers have been down, but it's not because of a
decrease in cycling, it's due to the large tariffs imposed by President
Trump.

It's always amusing to talk to a die-hard Trump supporter whose business
is being negatively affected by Trump's policies. Last year I was
talking to someone who owns a huge amount of farmland in the central
valley of California, whose exports to China represented a significant
percentage of his business. His sales are way down. I asked him how
Trump was working out for him, and got a grimace in response.

Another issue noted in the industry is the decline in the number of IBDs
(Independent Bicycle Dealers) and an increase in sales through other
channels.

In my area these include stores like REI, Sports Basement, and Dick's
Sporting Goods, that aren't selling only low-end stuff like Walmart and
Target sell. Sports Basement is an especially aggressive competitor with
a huge service department, a large parts and accessory department, a
large clothing and shoes department, and frequent discounting (20% off
everything, including bicycles), as well as long operating hours. One
good thing for IBDs is the closure of Performance stores.

You also have Bikesdirect.com and some other vendors that are selling
everything from entry level to higher-end. I bought one bicycle from
them. My wife wanted a Mixte road bike and they were the only source
that had them available with full gearing
http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/motobecane/womens-road-bikes/miragesport_mixte_blu_5.jpg.

lou.holtman wrote:
On Tuesday, January 28, 2020 at 12:01:57 PM UTC+1, Sepp Ruf wrote:
lou.holtman wrote:
On Tuesday, January 28, 2020 at 9:33:03 AM UTC+1, Rolf Mantel wrote:
Am 28.01.2020 um 08:11 schrieb :

Some 25 years ago my friend and I were climbing from Zweizimmen
to Saanen in Switzerland. For a while a police car was slowly
following us for quite a while and eventually stopped us asking
where we were from.

Switzerland did have compulsory third-party insurance for bicycles,
like for mopeds, until 2011
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velovignette (German only). Until
1989, this included registration of your bicycle in the city of
residence.

Ah, that explains it. Thanx.

Congratulations to Rolf for curing 25 years of ignorance.

Indeed I didn't know and a 'license' plate for a bike is at least
unusual, but that is their own business. My opinion about the Swiss is
based on my experience with them during my 5 or 6 wintersport holidays, 4
summer holidays and several passing through the country on the way to
France and Italy. I have a choice and for the last 15 years I decided to
take my business elsewhere. YMMV.

I agree that your holidays are your business. Just be careful moving any
farther than Italy: There is a rumor about Greece still having some
long-forgotten law in place requiring a pedal bicycle to display a license
plate. Of course, any attempt to purchase such a plate at a port of entry
will be futile because police claim they have never seen such a thing, and
will quickly move on to their important business, probably including
plate-less immigrants, wireless phones, and filterless coffee breaks.

On Tuesday, January 28, 2020 at 5:47:41 AM UTC-8, sms wrote:
On 1/28/2020 12:32 AM, Rolf Mantel wrote:

snip

Switzerland did have compulsory third-party insurance for bicycles, like
for mopeds, until 2011 https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velovignette
(German only).Â* Until 1989, this included registration of your bicycle
in the city of residence.

A lot of cities in the U.S. had mandatory bicycle registration, though
enforcement was rare (except for some reason in Hawaii). A lot of those
laws are still on the books.

In my own city's code: "Bookmark11.08.040 License–Issuance. The City
Manager is authorized to issue bicycle licenses upon written
application, which license, when issued, shall entitle the licensee to
operate and use the bicycle. (Ord. 1420, (part), 1987)"

I am sure that my City Manager would be astounded to learn that she is
authorized to do this, and would have absolutely no idea of how to do it.

In the city I grew up in, you went to a fire station to get a bicycle
license, but not many people did that. It was more to have it registered
in case it was stolen and recovered.

The fascist police state of Los Gatos also required licenses when I was a kid. We would go down to the fire station, which later became the town museum -- and now looks to be a private residence: https://tinyurl.com/vmpavz5 Believe it or not, that was a fire station when I was a kid. With all the old Italian guys playing bocce ball at Oak Meadow, I bet we had some real fascists.

-- Jay Beattie.

On 1/28/2020 9:06 AM, AMuzi wrote:
On 1/28/2020 6:10 AM, Andre Jute wrote:
On Tuesday, January 28, 2020 at 11:01:57 AM UTC, Sepp Ruf wrote:

Andreas Oehler's boycott of travel to Switzerland is worse:Â* Herr
Oehler's stated reason is that they vote more right-wing than he likes.

The Swiss go only one way in my estimation -- up. That I'm not likely
to run into Andreas Oehler in Switzerland is an added attraction. That
man doesn't have the faintest sense of commercial and moral
proprieties, as witness his comparative tests of his own employer's
goods against competitors' products, which his employer's gear, and
that of BUMM, with whom Schmidt Machinenbau has a relationship so
close it is best described as parasitic, always come out on top. I
could just about put up with Oehler's sense of entitlement when he
came on RBT, but his biased tests are another matter altogether, and I
have to wonder where he gets the gall from to call himself morally
superior to the Swiss.

I bet the Swiss policeman who stopped Lou and his friend was unarmed
and punctiliously polite. Contrast with a Virginia, `USA, policeman
who stopped me for a mickey mouse speeding offence and approached me
with a drawn pistol. He was also rude: "I don't care **** if you have
a diplomatic passport."

Andre Jute
Collector of bizarre circumstances


Well, Virginia even bans radar detectors. Unsportsmanlike!


I think radar detectors are illegal in Quebec as well.

Waze is not though. It's funny when on the highway you see everyone
slow down and then 1/2 km up there's a cop...

On Tue, 28 Jan 2020 11:41:55 -0500, Duane wrote:



I think radar detectors are illegal in Quebec as well.

Waze is not though. It's funny when on the highway you see everyone
slow down and then 1/2 km up there's a cop...

Err, random light flashing from on coming traffic?
They even legislated against that over here.

On Tuesday, January 28, 2020 at 2:06:58 PM UTC, AMuzi wrote:
On 1/28/2020 6:10 AM, Andre Jute wrote:
On Tuesday, January 28, 2020 at 11:01:57 AM UTC, Sepp Ruf wrote:

Andreas Oehler's boycott of travel to Switzerland is worse: Herr
Oehler's stated reason is that they vote more right-wing than he likes..

The Swiss go only one way in my estimation -- up. That I'm not likely to run into Andreas Oehler in Switzerland is an added attraction. That man doesn't have the faintest sense of commercial and moral proprieties, as witness his comparative tests of his own employer's goods against competitors' products, which his employer's gear, and that of BUMM, with whom Schmidt Machinenbau has a relationship so close it is best described as parasitic, always come out on top. I could just about put up with Oehler's sense of entitlement when he came on RBT, but his biased tests are another matter altogether, and I have to wonder where he gets the gall from to call himself morally superior to the Swiss.

I bet the Swiss policeman who stopped Lou and his friend was unarmed and punctiliously polite. Contrast with a Virginia, `USA, policeman who stopped me for a mickey mouse speeding offence and approached me with a drawn pistol. He was also rude: "I don't care **** if you have a diplomatic passport."

Andre Jute
Collector of bizarre circumstances


Well, Virginia even bans radar detectors. Unsportsmanlike!

Never a truer word spoken by a scholar and a gentleman. -- AJ

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971