Comment by seldo | Hacker News Reader

Comment by seldo | Hacker News Reader

The bike shop employee's attitude sounds very familiar. If serious cyclists want more people to get on bikes, they need to put some effort into making cycling more welcoming to newbies.

I live in San Francisco, and about a month ago I decided to buy a bike, the first time I'd bought a bicycle. I know how to ride a bike, but I am in all other ways a noob -- I've never owned a bike with gears (the last time I had a bike I was 12), know nothing about road bikes vs. mountain bikes vs. hybrids, etc.. Surely, in a city as self-consciously eco-friendly as San Francisco, I could find a bike store full of earnest, well-meaning hippies to point me in the right direction for planet-saving happiness, preferably on a budget?

No such luck. I walked into store after store to be greeted with barely-disguised contempt as I explained I had no idea what I wanted, just "a bike to ride around on", which turned into sneers of disgust when I said that I wanted to spend less than $500 on it.

Even co-workers who bike were of little help. One described buying a bike for less than $500 as "like buying a netbook". I countered that a netbook was a great analogy, as I wasn't going to be commuting on the bike, just riding it every so often, the cycling of equivalent of "just checking my email".

Eventually I got my bike (at Valencia Cyclery) and I'm enjoying it very much, but it's easy to see how people can be put off. Any cycling is better than no cycling, and "bike people" need to get over themselves and be more welcoming to the new and clueless.

I also live is SF. If you want a cheap bike, you must buy second-hand. My wife bought mine off a friend for $200 (discounted because of the friendship, but still: it happened.) A coworker of mine scored a bike for $40 after a conversation with someone that was riding a bike they didn't like. It's possible to find cheap bikes, you just have to be willing to buy something that may need some work.

The attitude of many cyclists in this city needs improvement, but there are lots of organizations in the city that do their best to help out new cyclists, like the Bicycle Coalition and the Bike Kitchen, and on Bike to Work Day you can find a lot of really helpful people.

I've been biking everywhere for a couple of years on $250-$500 bikes, so I disagree with your coworker, especially for an occasional use bike.

Hm. I generally get away with spending about 30 GBP on second-hand bikes, or 90GBP on a new bike (some assembly required) to great effect.

I can't see the appeal of riding around in lycra and helmet, fantasizing about being a racer though. Bike is just an alternative form of getting from A to B, pleasant in mild weather, on relatively flat roads and over not to long distances.

That's too bad you had a bad experience there. I've always found the Valencia Cyclery people to be very helpful and friendly. I, too, was clueless in the beginning, and they helped me get up to speed by letting me ride basically every bike in their store.

To clarify: Valencia Cyclery is where I had the least problems. It was all the other stores that sneered at me (especially Pedal Revolution, who looked at me like I was a space alien when I asked for bikes under $500).

I find even at VC it varies from employee to employee; some are super-friendly and helpful while others are a little stand-offish.

I think it's a shame that you feel that way. The SF bike shops vary, but my experience with places like Valencia Cyclery and Mission Bikes has been the opposite.

And heck SF has the excellent bike kitchen (http://bikekitchen.org) which is probably the friendliest place for bike newbies on earth. You can get a working bike for $0 with a little time and effort.

I bought a $350 bike 5 weeks ago. Since then I've lost a wheel due to spoke breakage and have had one flat tire, shifting is missing even when tuned, rear brake is fading, etc. I think the problem with me is my mileage is so high (100 miles a week) and I can see why someone would recommend a $1000 bike.

but yeah, everything else is consistent with your experience. bikers are jerks.

Where does this cyclist-fascist 'I'm holier than thou because I have carbon rims' attitude come from, seems it's endemic.

How did you end up educating yourself? Are there any specific websites you went to for useful information?

My previous bike cost 50 euros, the one before that was 25 euros. Second hand though.

Why would serious cyclists want more people to get on bikes?

For example because it makes traffic more cyclist friendly if there are more cyclists. And generally people want other people to use what they're using (e.g. programming languages, text editors).

> And generally people want other people to use what they're using (e.g. programming languages, text editors).

Well, I think in this case you can compare the cycling community (in some places) to the Ruby community. They want everyone to ride fixies (or whatever the trend du jour would be), and if you dare suggest that your needs are better satisfied by some other solution, they will tear you apart with great enthusiasm.

Well, a lot of cyclists say it's good for the environment (therefore more bikes = better). Others say it's healthy (and therefore everybody should do it).

Of course, they could just be dicks and say they don't care if other people start cycling. In which case, they don't get to wear helmet stickers touting their "zero emissions vehicle" or complain about SUV drivers.

Either they need to be more friendly about getting more people on bikes or stop sneering at people who don't have them. They can't have it both ways.

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