Ride the bike you love . . .

Back in April, the New York Times did a piece called "Riding the It Factor" which discussed the rediscovered and newly trendy Dutch Bikes as one style conscious answer to crisis affected budgets within NYC.

The article begins with a sweeping paradox, "The Great Downturn may have its first real status symbol." Yes, a bike as a “status” symbol in an economic crisis. Its the zenith of Marx's fears surrounding commodification and the unstoppable force of capitalist ideology. It is also the opposite of what a bike is meant to be; a tool whose utilization makes basic transportation more efficient (than walking) while reducing the overall impact on the environment. As soon as we begin to see bicycles as another ornament to our commodity centered lives we will have defeated the whole purpose. Bicycle production will become another burden on the environment and another “thing” with which to accessorize ourselves.

The article goes on to question whether, "the urban cyclist, he of the ragtag renegade clothes or shiny spandex, [can] grow up and put on a tie?" This is a clear attempt to standardize, and pull into the mainstream a lifestyle that prides itself in open-mindedness and individuality. It limits the whole of the cycling community to one minuscule archetype, which has been created by the fear and resistance of serious lifestyle change.

Furthermore, it holds "bike culture" (the supposedly pretentious and elitist cycling community that arises in almost all metropolitan areas) responsible as the one thing keeping people from taking a bike, instead of a car, to work. More simply, it claims that it is cyclists and bike enthusiasts themselves who keep cycling limited to its counter-culture status, refusing gain momentum or impact the environment in any significant way. Car culture has been dismissed of all charges against it, and now bike culture is being tried. The article goes on to criticize fixed gear riders in particular, calling the bikes "fashionable” but “impractical.”

The rest of the article puts forth opinion and advice that is more exclusive and susceptible to elitism than the most hard-core fixie-hipster crew peering from oversized Wayfarer shades. By describing the proper outfits for bike riding (totaling thousands of dollars) in the same thought as historically aristocratic sports such as hunting, polo, and sailing, it attempts to complicate and standardize an experience that was initially meant to be simple and an expression of individual tastes and preferences.

There are hundreds of options when it comes to choosing a bike and thousands of individual reasons any particular person chooses the bike they do. This synthesis of possibility and individual preference is what makes your bicycle so unique. As the media tends to do, the Times has set forth a mold which all “sensible” riders should follow, hence crushing the spirit that is at the heart of owning and riding a bicycle.

All in all, this article shows precisely how out of touch the United States is with the workings of the rest of the world. It was right about one thing, in places like the Netherlands or right here in China, “riding a bicycle to work in a suit and tie is as notable an act as drinking a cup of coffee” and in these places there is no bike culture, because “all culture includes the bike.” In a span of ten minutes on Baise Lu, hundreds of people cruise along on their bicycles. They are headed to a wide variety of places, and the bike is simply more practical way to get them there. Riding your bike to work, or to wherever you are headed, should make your life more simple, not more complicated. It should be a freeing experience, not a binding one.

The article concludes with the most asinine of comments stating, “In short, you quickly understand why the Dutch don’t wear helmets — just one more style perk to top it all off.”

This article certainly made some buzz here in China, since biking as transportation is what they do best. As a result, one of the expat sites did a hilarious spoof on the whole thing. To get the full effect, check out the Times photo slide show first (click here) and then check out the one on Shanghaiist (click here).

Ride the bike you love. Love the bike you ride. It should be as simple as that.