Re: Do you see a connection b/ the generation gap and bikes?

DennisTheBald said:

From a global perspective the best numbers I can come up with are a
good twenty years old:
   400,000,000 automobiles (roughly half in the USofA)
1,200,000,000 bicycles

Even if you incorrectly assume that all the motoring people have not
also a bike (which seems very unlikely to someone that owns several of
both) There is still about 3.5.billion people that ain't got no wheels
what so ever.  No wonder peoples are starving, they ain't got no means
with which to haul their ass to the office at all.  Well I guess they
ain't got to office to which to have their ass hauled to anyway - but
there is still significant hauling that could be accomplished by a
bloke with a bike that isn't happening due to lack of wheels.

All of this makes so much sense. But I guess the Harvard and Oxford
educated Third World leaders don't know about it. Somehow they think
SUVs helps more globalization than biking. Afterall, like you
correctly say, China is moving away from bikes and getting into the
SUV fever...

Quoted message said:

IF they had bikes in E.Africa they wouldn't be 'walking to Johhny' and
dieing on the way, they'd be pedaling there and some of 'em might
actually make there - So I guess the inhabitants of Johannesburg may
have a vested interest in keeping bikes out of those impoverished
places to their north.  I can't really see the motivation for the rest
of the world.  It seems the best interest of the global economy is
served by building more bikes and fewer cars - just the opposite of
the trend in China... We must nuke China for the good of the planet
and the planet's inhabitants.

China is a big player in the game, though not necessarily bad... See,
they just follow America, and their hunger for oil is driving prices
up, and making bikes more desirable in the West. And, when things get
real bad with oil, they may become America's enemy in WWIII, and then
the two models that promote the Law of the Jungle will annihalate each
other. Of course, there's going to be a nuclear fallout all over the
world, but nothing's perfect. 😉

Quoted message said:

Or maybe we could just mail our old Huffys and what not to Haiti and
Zimbabwe, uh would you settle for JAMAICA and MOLDOVA instead?
This outfit: Pedals for Progress:http://www.p4p.org/index.html,
might be just the ticket for ya.
They're not the only game in town, well I guess it matters what town
you're in.  From the city with broad shoulders:http://workingbikes.org.
Hey you can google fer yourself can't you?

Just be careful that your old cycle doesn't end up in Latin America
where in might become a mechanism to promote illegal emigration,
dang... I sound like them fat cats in Johannesburg don't I?

It sounds funny, but the dilemma is BIKES OR WWIII!

But I'm optimistic today... I just went for a ride on my bike along
the beach, and everything beautiful out there. Life's a beach!

"ComandanteBanana" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Originally Posted by wahoonc
"Actually in some ways what he is posting makes some sense...When Cuba
was hit with the loss of oil when the Soviet Union collapsed, they
imported a large number of bicycles from China to keep people moving,

Oh yes, just what we need!!! Become like Cuba with Comandante Banana in
charge.

George Conklin said:

"ComandanteBanana" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Originally Posted by wahoonc
"Actually in some ways what he is posting makes some sense...When Cuba
was hit with the loss of oil when the Soviet Union collapsed, they
imported a large number of bicycles from China to keep people moving,

Oh yes, just what we need!!!  Become like Cuba with Comandante Banana in
charge.

It could also be like Holland, with real democracy.

Not Banana Republic with SUVs. 😉