"Global bicycle ownership rates see big downturn"

See http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-12/e-gbo120215.php

Of course they don't talk about the reasons for the decrease in China.
Anyone that has been going to China during the last 30 years or so, has
seen the construction of massive subway systems in all the major cities.
Everyone did not rush out and buy a car to go to work, they now can take
mass transit. This is not possible in most of the U.S. where there is
little investment in mass transit.

On 2015-12-03 06:16, sms wrote:
See http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-12/e-gbo120215.php

Of course they don't talk about the reasons for the decrease in China.
Anyone that has been going to China during the last 30 years or so, has
seen the construction of massive subway systems in all the major cities.
Everyone did not rush out and buy a car to go to work, they now can take
mass transit. This is not possible in most of the U.S. where there is
little investment in mass transit.


Quote "We've done all the work, now we want people to use the data ..."

No, they have not. Until there are detailed interviews with actual
residents the main reason for a decline in cycling will never be
understood. Bicycle ownership in most countries has nothing to do with
bicycle miles.

I talk to people a lot, folks who are avid joggers so they don't mind
the muscle power that has to go into a bike to propel it at a reasonable
clip or to go uphill. _All_ gave me the same reason why they do not
cycle: Dangerous county roads with no shoulder at all. Some of them had
close calls like I did except they hung up the bicycle afterwards. This
is very easy to fix. For example, between here and Intel it's only about
a mile out of about 12 that needs some sort of shoulder or better yet a
bike path. Much of the rest doesn't have a bike path either but is safe
enough.

And what do the local movers and shakers want to do? Pave dozens of
miles of almost perfectly usable singletrack that goes through far away
and sparsely populated lands, to the tune of $50M. Meshugginah.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

THE KING IS DEAD

On 12/3/2015 11:11 AM, Joerg wrote:
On 2015-12-03 06:16, sms wrote:
See
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-12/e-gbo120215.php


Of course they don't talk about the reasons for the
decrease in China.
Anyone that has been going to China during the last 30
years or so, has
seen the construction of massive subway systems in all the
major cities.
Everyone did not rush out and buy a car to go to work,
they now can take
mass transit. This is not possible in most of the U.S.
where there is
little investment in mass transit.


Quote "We've done all the work, now we want people to use
the data ..."

No, they have not. Until there are detailed interviews with
actual residents the main reason for a decline in cycling
will never be understood. Bicycle ownership in most
countries has nothing to do with bicycle miles.

I talk to people a lot, folks who are avid joggers so they
don't mind the muscle power that has to go into a bike to
propel it at a reasonable clip or to go uphill. _All_ gave
me the same reason why they do not cycle: Dangerous county
roads with no shoulder at all. Some of them had close calls
like I did except they hung up the bicycle afterwards. This
is very easy to fix. For example, between here and Intel
it's only about a mile out of about 12 that needs some sort
of shoulder or better yet a bike path. Much of the rest
doesn't have a bike path either but is safe enough.

And what do the local movers and shakers want to do? Pave
dozens of miles of almost perfectly usable singletrack that
goes through far away and sparsely populated lands, to the
tune of $50M. Meshugginah.

"Bicycle ownership...has nothing to do with bicycle miles."

+1
Your average bicycle sold last year was used on one weekend
then parked. May see daylight again at a 2018 yard sale.

As with many RBT types, the bike I ride most frequently and
most miles is quite old, utterly unrelated to "new bike
sales" for any recent period.


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

On 12/3/2015 11:15 AM, wrote:
THE KING IS DEAD



Elvis, even in death, makes more money every year than you
will in a lifetime. Is this a great county or what?

Oh by the way, Frank Zappa (28 years cold) has a new release
out.

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

On 12/3/2015 9:11 AM, Joerg wrote:

No, they have not. Until there are detailed interviews with actual
residents the main reason for a decline in cycling will never be
understood. Bicycle ownership in most countries has nothing to do with
bicycle miles.

That is true.

I am sure that we will soon see this study show up on those bogus
anti-helmet web sites with proclamations that the reason for the decline
is helmet laws, even though there has never been a decline in ridership
following the imposition of an MHL, and even thought there are no MHLs
in China.

I talk to people a lot, folks who are avid joggers so they don't mind
the muscle power that has to go into a bike to propel it at a reasonable
clip or to go uphill. _All_ gave me the same reason why they do not
cycle: Dangerous county roads with no shoulder at all. Some of them had
close calls like I did except they hung up the bicycle afterwards. This
is very easy to fix. For example, between here and Intel it's only about
a mile out of about 12 that needs some sort of shoulder or better yet a
bike path. Much of the rest doesn't have a bike path either but is safe
enough.

Yes, there are often minor gaps in infrastructure that can stop a lot of
people from deciding to bike commute.

Interesting you brought up Intel since in Santa Clara it's in a location
where the regular roads make it a dangerous ride. For years there was an
unpaved underpass under 101 that took you right to the Intel
headquarters. I worked close by and I used the unpaved route. It was
finally paved maybe six years ago and it is now a heavily used route
that connects to several other key parts of the infrastructure. The big
annoyance is that they close part of this creek trail whenever there is
an event at the new Levi's stadium.

And what do the local movers and shakers want to do? Pave dozens of
miles of almost perfectly usable singletrack that goes through far away
and sparsely populated lands, to the tune of $50M. Meshugginah.

I didn't know that you spoke Yiddish.

On 2015-12-03 09:23, AMuzi wrote:
On 12/3/2015 11:11 AM, Joerg wrote:
On 2015-12-03 06:16, sms wrote:
See
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-12/e-gbo120215.php


Of course they don't talk about the reasons for the
decrease in China.
Anyone that has been going to China during the last 30
years or so, has
seen the construction of massive subway systems in all the
major cities.
Everyone did not rush out and buy a car to go to work,
they now can take
mass transit. This is not possible in most of the U.S.
where there is
little investment in mass transit.


Quote "We've done all the work, now we want people to use
the data ..."

No, they have not. Until there are detailed interviews with
actual residents the main reason for a decline in cycling
will never be understood. Bicycle ownership in most
countries has nothing to do with bicycle miles.

I talk to people a lot, folks who are avid joggers so they
don't mind the muscle power that has to go into a bike to
propel it at a reasonable clip or to go uphill. _All_ gave
me the same reason why they do not cycle: Dangerous county
roads with no shoulder at all. Some of them had close calls
like I did except they hung up the bicycle afterwards. This
is very easy to fix. For example, between here and Intel
it's only about a mile out of about 12 that needs some sort
of shoulder or better yet a bike path. Much of the rest
doesn't have a bike path either but is safe enough.

And what do the local movers and shakers want to do? Pave
dozens of miles of almost perfectly usable singletrack that
goes through far away and sparsely populated lands, to the
tune of $50M. Meshugginah.

"Bicycle ownership...has nothing to do with bicycle miles."

+1
Your average bicycle sold last year was used on one weekend then parked.
May see daylight again at a 2018 yard sale.


Always hoping that someone dumps a hardcore large frame downhiller
machine for cheap :-)

But most people don't sell. I tried to buy a nice Cannondale MTB off a
family who has it in the garage for years and nobody will ever ride it
again. Made the offer two years ago and sure enough it still hangs in
the same spot, except now it has another two years worth of dust on it.
Then there is a guy who bought a 7k road bike years ago. It has less
than 10 miles on it. Does not sell it.


As with many RBT types, the bike I ride most frequently and most miles
is quite old, utterly unrelated to "new bike sales" for any recent period.


50/50 with me. The new (less than 2 years old) MTB which is clearly my
favorite vehicle an gets around 2500mi a year. Would be more but it
breaks down a lot because some part was too wimpy. The road bike with
similar mileage is a Gazelle steel-frame custom bike from the early
80's. 2*6, Shimano 600, downtube friction shifters. Some stuff on it is
quite worn but it all still hangs in there.

Both bikes have luggage racks and now Nashbar Daytrekker panniers. A
small investment but those made a huge difference for me. On the MTB it
was a lot of work to mount them "slosh-proof".

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

On 12/3/2015 9:51 AM, Joerg wrote:
On 2015-12-03 09:23, AMuzi wrote:
On 12/3/2015 11:11 AM, Joerg wrote:
On 2015-12-03 06:16, sms wrote:
See
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-12/e-gbo120215.php


Of course they don't talk about the reasons for the
decrease in China.
Anyone that has been going to China during the last 30
years or so, has
seen the construction of massive subway systems in all the
major cities.
Everyone did not rush out and buy a car to go to work,
they now can take
mass transit. This is not possible in most of the U.S.
where there is
little investment in mass transit.


Quote "We've done all the work, now we want people to use
the data ..."

No, they have not. Until there are detailed interviews with
actual residents the main reason for a decline in cycling
will never be understood. Bicycle ownership in most
countries has nothing to do with bicycle miles.

I talk to people a lot, folks who are avid joggers so they
don't mind the muscle power that has to go into a bike to
propel it at a reasonable clip or to go uphill. _All_ gave
me the same reason why they do not cycle: Dangerous county
roads with no shoulder at all. Some of them had close calls
like I did except they hung up the bicycle afterwards. This
is very easy to fix. For example, between here and Intel
it's only about a mile out of about 12 that needs some sort
of shoulder or better yet a bike path. Much of the rest
doesn't have a bike path either but is safe enough.

And what do the local movers and shakers want to do? Pave
dozens of miles of almost perfectly usable singletrack that
goes through far away and sparsely populated lands, to the
tune of $50M. Meshugginah.

"Bicycle ownership...has nothing to do with bicycle miles."

+1
Your average bicycle sold last year was used on one weekend then parked.
May see daylight again at a 2018 yard sale.


Always hoping that someone dumps a hardcore large frame downhiller
machine for cheap :-)

But most people don't sell. I tried to buy a nice Cannondale MTB off a
family who has it in the garage for years and nobody will ever ride it
again. Made the offer two years ago and sure enough it still hangs in
the same spot, except now it has another two years worth of dust on it.
Then there is a guy who bought a 7k road bike years ago. It has less
than 10 miles on it. Does not sell it.

I wanted to buy an old touring bicycle from a friend who has not ridden
it in probably a decade since she has two other bicycles that she
prefers. At first she agreed. Then she called me and said that after
cleaning it up and tuning it she decided to keep it. I am sure that she
still never rides it.

Where I see really good deals on high quality bicycles in when my city
has its annual citywide garage sale. The price expectations are much
more reasonable than for craigslist bikes. When you see a craiglist
bicycle not selling for more than three weeks you'd think that the owner
might get real about the pricing. Expecting to get more than 50% of the
new price is naive unless it's some specialty bicycle like a Brompton.

On Thursday, December 3, 2015 at 5:39:44 PM UTC, sms wrote:
On 12/3/2015 9:11 AM, Joerg wrote:

and sparsely populated lands, to the tune of $50M. Meshugginah.

I didn't know that you spoke Yiddish.

He doesn't. That's not how you spell "nuts" or "nutter" in Yiddish. Meshuggah is crazy, adjective. A crazy person, noun, is meshuggeneh (f) and meshuggener (m). A crazy activity, which is what Joerg intends to say, is meshugaas.

Andre Jute
Always happy to help

On Thursday, December 3, 2015 at 5:27:23 PM UTC, AMuzi wrote:
On 12/3/2015 11:15 AM, wrote:
THE KING IS DEAD



Elvis, even in death, makes more money every year than you
will in a lifetime. Is this a great county or what?

Oh by the way, Frank Zappa (28 years cold) has a new release
out.

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

Dijja see a move called TRON with the young Jeff Bridges rendered by computer, very believably. I can't wait for them to bring back Elvis by computer. I always thought he was an underrated actor. But. please God, don't give the job to Disney.

Andre Jute
Remind me sometime to tell you what Fats Domino said about Elvis and the Colonel...