Utility Cycling or Sport Cycling

The main problem with seeking advise online about buying a bike, is that in the English speaking world, cycling is a subculture. One that is dominated by young males who like to race. No matter how you phrase or frame the question what bike should I buy, the answer you will get online will almost always be the same, buy a road bike. Two recent threads on Boards.ie demonstrate this point very well.

Racing on road bikes

The first titled “ladies bikes whats best”. The person who started the thread was looking for advise on a suitable “ladies bike” for their niece whom they described as “a mature woman”. Predictably by post four in the thread the idea of a ladies specific bike was being knocked. On post five the inevitable “get a road bike” suggestion appeared. Post seven claimed that female specific bikes are a scam “to charge more for a lower spec”.

Another thread on the same day was titled “Starter commuter bike”. The poster was planning on buying a Carrera Subway Hybrid for their 10 k cycle to work. A very suitable and sensible choice of machine in my opinion. On this thread the third post suggested a road bike. Bizarrely the thread then went off topic with an odd discussion about how often cycling shorts should be washed.

Not racing on a roadster

There is an old saying “to someone who only has a hammer everything looks like a nail”. To the young (and perhaps middle aged) men who frequent places like the cycling section of Boards.ie a road bike looks like the answer to every question. But a road bike is a sporty racing machine, and for many people with utilitarian needs it is not a suitable solution.

If you want to know what a utilitarian cycling culture looks like try Amsterdam or Copenhagen. Ordinary people, in ordinary clothes, cycling roadsters, hybrids and ladies bikes. If your cycling needs are utilitarian, not sporty, don’t post a question online looking for advise about what bike to buy.

The two threads on Boards.ie


ladies bikes whats best

Starter commuter bike

Images from Wikipedia