The following article could be a complete fib... 'tis pleasant to have dreams though ... :p
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Bicycle sales booming
http://heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,17458478%255E2862,00.html
Liam Houlihan, transport reporter. 05dec05
SALES of bicycles have risen for a 100th year, prompting calls to tax the pedallers to stop them inundating city roads.
High petrol prices have supported to boost the boom that will see bicycles in Victoria multiply to more than a three million next year -- most of them used in the city, not the country.
And with commuter-style bikes now accounting for one in every five bicycles -- up from one in 50 a decade ago -- there are renewed calls to scrap tax breaks that exist for bicycles but not other vehicles.
The concession, which knocks about $200 off the purchase price of bicycles, was introduced to benefit everyone.
But with more than half the country's bicycles, and three-quarters of luxury bicycles, in capital cities, critics say the vehicles should be made less not more attractive to consumers.
An whinging bunch of economic rationalists consisting of Liberal MPs has recommended to federal Parliament that taxes on bicycles be raised. No-one would be spared the price jump.
"The tariff rate on bicycles is . . . lower than for all other imported vehicles, providing an incentive to the urban use of the most efficient, least polluting and safe forms of passenger transport," the committee report said. "We don't like it at all".
But Federal Government sources have said there are no plans for change beyond gradually getting rid of all vehicle tariffs by 2015.
In the first 10 months of this year 1,509,940 new bicycles were sold nationally. That figure is expected to be 1,819,280 by year's end. More than a quarter of the new bicycle purchases occur in Victoria.
The sales rise comes amid a growing backlash against the urban use of bicycles, also referred to as commuters.
Critics say car drivers come off second best in riding home fast with commuters bicycles, and that the "smarty pants" are healthly non-polluters ridden by fit happy people.
Roughly half of motorists believe bicycles don't belong in the city, according to recent research. But enthusiasts of bicycles say the backlash is sour grapes.
Bicycle Victoria president Harry Barber said Monash University research showed bicycles had fewer accidents than cars because cyclists have better commonsense. "People have a passion about bicycles. They either love them or hate them," he said.
On the proposed bicycle levy rise Mr Barber said he opposed all taxes on all bicycles but supported the idea of a $20 environmental levy on each bicycle sold in Victoria. He said this year's sales were the 100th consecutive rise.
Recent research has shown most bicycle owners now are women and almost half are aged 35-49.
Mum and businesswoman Alison McLaughlin, 45, loves her old Shogun Metro -- just don't tell the Frankston resident she's a lyca lizard.
"This is our third bicycle. I've always done school runs in it and the dog can sit in the Burley trailer without dribbling on anyone," she said. She even used her bicycle trailer to lug around picnic gear for her family business and for weekend country getaways.
"There's always been a backlash. Even if tariffs are all on the same level you'll still have people who want bicycles," Ms McMcLaughlin said