cycling population question

At least in the Detroit area, overall fewer people are biking. Kids are sitting in front of the damn
video games for several reasons. 15 years ago you would see packs of kids on bikes going from house
to house. Not anymore.

-kurd

"Mike S." <mikeshaw2@coxDOTnet> wrote in message news:BVofb.46861$vj2.25555@fed1read06...

Quoted message said:

Hey guys, over the years, what has been the population growth of cycling

in

Quoted message said:

the US?

Are there more people riding now vs. 10, 20, 30 years ago?

What did the mtn bike do to the population of people riding bicycles?

I'm trying to get a handle on the reports of cycling head injuries vs. population.

My theory: there's more people riding, so the actual incidences of

traumatic

Quoted message said:

head injuries have actually gone down...

I could be wrong. I just don't know where to turn to find out the info.

Mike

In Ireland many people still cycle but much fewer than 10 years ago. I have always cycled to work,
even though I'm 53. I'm regarded as eccentric in this regard. My non-cycling colleagues would be
regarded as eccentric in other countries.

bicyclinginfo.orgfact sheetsOpen ↗

I searched on www.google.com and this came up right away. Looks like what you're looking for, or at
least to get you started (c:

HTH,
C.Q.C.

"Mike S." <mikeshaw2@coxDOTnet> wrote in message news:BVofb.46861$vj2.25555@fed1read06...

Quoted message said:

Hey guys, over the years, what has been the population growth of cycling

in

Quoted message said:

the US?

Are there more people riding now vs. 10, 20, 30 years ago?

What did the mtn bike do to the population of people riding bicycles?

I'm trying to get a handle on the reports of cycling head injuries vs. population.

My theory: there's more people riding, so the actual incidences of

traumatic

Quoted message said:

head injuries have actually gone down...

I could be wrong. I just don't know where to turn to find out the info.

Mike

"Q." <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

My theory: there's more people riding, so the actual incidences of

traumatic

Quoted message said:

head injuries have actually gone down...

I could be wrong. I just don't know where to turn to find out the info.
-------------------

it would be interesting to see if there are numbers available from bike retailers concerning the
number of bikes sold... I'll bet there are reports somewhere. You might want to talk to a big bike
shop and see what kind of reports and numbers are available from their trade rags....

d

"Mike S." <mikeshaw2@coxDOTnet> wrote in message news:BVofb.46861$vj2.25555@fed1read06...

Quoted message said:

My theory: there's more people riding, so the actual incidences of

traumatic

Quoted message said:

head injuries have actually gone down...

I could be wrong. I just don't know where to turn to find out the info.

Mike

Don't you mean "BUT actual incidences have gone down?" Or, maybe you mean that actual incidences
have gone up, in a relative proportion to number of riders?

Chris

Kurd said:

At least in the Detroit area, overall fewer people are biking. Kids are sitting in front of the
damn video games for several reasons. 15 years ago you would see packs of kids on bikes going from
house to house. Not anymore.

It seems to me that it is only the kids who are not cycling in greater numbers than before. Yeah,
I recall huge bike racks in my elementary school, and those are all gone now. But adult cyclists
are more common now than 10 years ago, even. There was a time or two of rising interest, but those
had dipped down. This seems like a more sustained surge in adult cylclists. There are many more
car-free people now than at any time after the 40s, and more who choose to be so. There are also
more cars about, and more people driving obscene cars obscenely often. But there are others
countering that trend.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or _`\(,_ | that we are to
stand by the president right or wrong, is not (_)/ (_) | only unpatriotic and servile, but is
morally treasonable to the American public. --Theodore Roosevelt

"David L. Johnson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Kurd said:

At least in the Detroit area, overall fewer people are biking. Kids are sitting in front of the
damn video games for several reasons. 15 years ago you would see packs of kids on bikes going
from house to house. Not anymore.

It seems to me that it is only the kids who are not cycling in greater numbers than before. Yeah,
I recall huge bike racks in my elementary school, and those are all gone now. But adult cyclists
are more common now than 10 years ago, even. There was a time or two of rising interest, but those
had dipped down. This seems like a more sustained surge in adult cylclists.

I get this impression too.

Bicycling *does* seem to be an adult pastime nowadays. Mt. Dew ads aside, the typical cyclist I meet
on the road or trail is not a hat-backwards college kid, but a 35 year old professional (and more
often than not an engineer/scientist type).

Quoted message said:

There are many more car-free people now than at any time after the 40s, and more who choose
to be so.

I doubt this, but I'd love to be proven wrong!.

However, I do think the cost of driving has risen a lot in the last 10-15 years, so that many poor
people have been priced out. OTOH, some consider the ability to commute by bike to be a valuable job
perk, or luxury. I sure do. I don't know how this translates into increased bicycling as a
percentage of total trips, though.

Quoted message said:

There are also more cars about, and more people driving obscene cars obscenely often. But there
are others countering that trend.

I think so too.

Matt O.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

My theory: there's more people riding, so the actual incidences of

traumatic

Quoted message said:

head injuries have actually gone down...

I could be wrong. I just don't know where to turn to find out the info.

Mike

Don't you mean "BUT actual incidences have gone down?" Or, maybe you mean that actual incidences
have gone up, in a relative proportion to number of riders?

Chris

That's what happens when you're typing and trying to think at the same time...

The most interesting statistic was that the average cyclist injured was a middle-aged male. Anyone
here fit that description?

Mike

"Mike S." <mikeshaw2@coxDOTnet> wrote in message news:<l04gb.52650$vj2.22203@fed1read06>...

Quoted message said:

The most interesting statistic was that the average cyclist injured was a middle-aged male. Anyone
here fit that description?

Mike

Average? No. Injured? No. Middle-aged male? When does "middle age" start?

Jeff

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] (Jeff

Wills) said:

When does "middle age" start?

Thursdays at 2:15 CST.

"Tim McNamara" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] (Jeff

Wills) said:

When does "middle age" start?

Thursdays at 2:15 CST.

But not till AFTER you know when you'll die.

Bill "and then there's the time change..." S.

"Jeff Wills" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Mike S." <mikeshaw2@coxDOTnet> wrote in message

news:<l04gb.52650$vj2.22203@fed1read06>...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

The most interesting statistic was that the average cyclist injured was

a

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

middle-aged male. Anyone here fit that description?

Mike

Average? No. Injured? No. Middle-aged male? When does "middle age" start?

Jeff

Assuming a 75 year life expectancy........................

Youth, Middle Aged, Old -25 25-50 50-75

Hmmm, perhaps not! (Though a friend did throw me a "half way to the pension" party when I
turned 32.5)

Hugh Fenton

Hugh Fenton said:

Assuming a 75 year life expectancy........................

Youth, Middle Aged, Old -25 25-50 50-75

Child (as in "should be seen but not heard"😉 := 10 years younger than me Old := ten years
older than me.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | If all economists were laid end to end, they would not reach a _`\(,_ | conclusion. --
George Bernard Shaw (_)/ (_) |

[email hidden] (dan baker) wrote in message

Quoted message said:

it would be interesting to see if there are numbers available from bike retailers concerning the
number of bikes sold... I'll bet there are reports somewhere.

I remember seeing them, and there is a Bicycle Retailers' Association that you could poke. Anyway,
for Canada and U.S., there was a definite bike boom in the early 1970s, peaking around 1972-1974.
Before that, there were almost no adult bikes sold and adult riders were typically people who
continued to use the bike they got as teenagers.

However, this brings another question: how many bikes are actually ridden? I don't care that much
about bikes (either during the bike boom or today) that are sold only to be stored in garages. I am
looking at bikes being used.

How do things compare? I lived my youth in a city of 100 000 people and now live in a city 20 times
larger, so I can't say whether the "change" is indeed a change over the years or simply a change
because of the size of both cities. When I was young, kids -- and teens -- were cycling a lot, for
leasure, but also for utility: visiting friends, sometime going to school, etc. I don't observe that
much of it nowadays, except when I go back there to visit my mother. Nowadays, we see more
chauffeured children than 30 years ago, but we also see schools that arrange their extra-curricular
activities with the school-bus schedule in mind. Thirty years ago, if one wanted to play football or
do a theatre workshop, one needed to find one's own transportation; it's not the case anymore. IOW,
less need for cycling or for parental transportation.

I do see more adults moving on their own steam, both for utility (especially in the downtown area)
and for leasure (Saturday rides were unknown 30 years ago). But again, if I visit my old town, I
don't see any of it because everything is at a "10-minute drive" and parking is often free. Besides,
bus service is limited in the small town and year-round cycling hasn't caught on.

Oh, one thing that definitely changed in the last 15-20 years: people do cycle in Winter. Partly
because street cleaning has "improved", partly because they aren't afraid of doing so with MTB
knobbies, partly because others do it, partly because streets and busses are especially slow during
a storm. Without Winter cycling, utility cycling needs to be combined with a good bus service... or
adults buy a car.

Regards,

Michel