Postby il padrone » Tue Jan 15, 2013 1:46 pm
OK, I'll elaborate. I don't know precisely what the cycling culture in Sydney is, but in Melbourne there are a great variety of people commuting. From the outer suburbs come the road riders in cycle clothing. Closer in, and particularly from the northern and western suburbs there are many riding in shorts and t-shirts. Many people do ride in their work clothing, mostly from the inner suburbs where they have a 4-6km commute. There is also a big fixie/urban hipster culture in the inner north. Many road riders commute from the bayside suburbs along Beach Road.
Non-cyclists look at those who are riding and take their tips on clothing to wear from them. This is the most obvious source to look for information. Even if they are not intending to ride people get this information from observation.
If they see nothing but road riders wearing cycle clothing then they are likely to expect that this is necessary for a commute ride (eg. from out my way - Mitcham to the city). If they see lots of people riding in casual clothing they will expect to be able to ride comfortably in this sort of dress (eg. Brunswick to the city)
They could also get such information from their LBS, from talking to friend/colleagues who do ride etc. Will they say "Just riude in your work clothes", or "You really need lycra"? This will all depend on their culture.
No easy answer but if there are lots of road cyclists in lycra on a route, it is entirely reasonable that people think that the sort of clothing needed for a comfortable ride on that route is lycra. As for 'not cycling' bit - part of that comes from the bad PR portrayed by various media outlets about 'lycra-louts', part from observations of bad behaviour on bike paths or roads, part from the sporting side "TdF - that's not me", and part from the stress over personal appearance in public - the 'in' versus 'out' group bit comes in here as well.
As I said - we may think it is silly, unjustified, or a "load of rubbish" but it does occur and we need to work to help people overcome such barriers. Getting cycling to be mainstream will need to involve in some measure facilitating the use of mainstream clothing when doing it, for people who can (and want) to wear such clothing for their short rides.
Last edited by
il padrone on Tue Jan 15, 2013 1:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Mandatory helmet law?
"An unjustified and unethical imposition on a healthy activity."