A Carless culture’s a series of posts that examines how we can make de-car-ing a sexy and viable travel solution for Angelenos.
So — How DO we make biking sexy? Some ideas:
Kyeann of Treehugger’s thinking celebrity appeal. She started the Hollywood Bike Patrol, and she’s keeping track of celebrities-on-bikes sightings and stuff :)
parge’s idea — Sez the enviro-atheist: “Get yourself a chopper bike for the weekends and trick it out…. If it’s customized with care and attention, a bike can be pretty damn sexy.”
Anna of Bring Your Own sez maybe we need a sexy ad campaign to make bike commuting look hot, in a low budget way.
Got ideas as to how to make any of the above work — or got any new ideas for sexifying the biking life? Lemme know –
One way to make biking look good is looking good while biking ;)
That means *especially* the guys in Spandex shorts. You rarely have the looks to pull that off, and you’re not going for the Tour de France, so could you *please* dress nicely?
As for the low-budget advertising: We’re in L.A. I’m sure there’s a film maker or fifteen in the readership. So why not make a couple nice clips, put them on YouTube, and all the bloggers in the audience drum up traffic?
Comment by Robert 'Groby' Blum — September 11, 2006 @ 1:46 pm
Sweet! I’ve been thinking of getting a bike–but routes and crews are a bit advanced for me at the moment. I’m overwhelmed by the sheer type and number of them available. How did you go about choosing yours? Any clues to a good bike-buying guide?
Comment by Jean — September 11, 2006 @ 4:32 pm
As someone who treads the commuter-lycra line, I must protest…..not all bikers look like emaciated tour-riders, but that doesn’t mean we should sacrifice comfort! Should we outlaw tight jeans for the non-models amongst us, hmmmmm?
I ONLY wear lycra when out for a long sport ride. When tooling around town, I do indeed dress nicely….platforms, heels, short skirts and all. Protests aside, I must agree with you, theres something pretty fruity about the whole biking getup, specially when off the bike, clomping around in biking shoes…..
And Jean, for choosing routes, check out bikemetro.com. Not sure what you mean by crews, but happy to help w/ bike suggestions - you can get fine bikes for way cheaper on craigs list.
Comment by Anna — September 11, 2006 @ 5:36 pm
Anna, as you’ll note, I specifically mentioned the guys ;) They seem to have a bit more of a problem with judging the impact their look has….
There’s nothing wrong with tight clothing, no matter what your size - but many seem to forget that there’s a difference between tight clothing, and clothing 4 sizes too small ;)
Seriously though: The whole bike shoe thing is definitely overdone. Those shoes are about *enhancing* your performance. Unless you’re biking competitively or extremely long distances, they are entirely pointless. And they are a main reason why biking is regarded as “nerdy”.
Comment by Robert 'Groby' Blum — September 11, 2006 @ 6:20 pm
Just wanna let everyone know I don’t own any spandex. The 80s are over! And I don’t bike for speed. At all. I’m all about lookin’ good and feeling comfortable :P
Anyway — My take is that cycling spandex and special shoes actually look quite cool if the biker’s clearly quick and speedy and a hardcore rider channeling Lance Armstrong. But they’re def not cool if the person’s just cruising over slowly to happy hour — esp. without a helmet –
Jean — My advice would be to go to a real bike shop — Helen’s Cycles or the like — NOT Sports Chalet or *gulp* Walmart. The people at bike shops are usually really informative and helpful — Let ‘em know what you plan to use the bike for, and they’ll give you an honest assessment of what you need. I’m super happy with the pink townie I got from Helen’s Cycles, cuz it totally fits my needs, though it really would NOT be the bike that a serious rider like Anna would go for :)
So my idea right now is to do a series of interviews with cool, sexy bikers, complete with sexy pics of said bikers. What d’ya think?
Comment by Siel — September 11, 2006 @ 10:02 pm
Not to rain on anyone’s parade, but I do have some concern about cyclists who may feel that they should sacrifice safety for sexiness. I see so many twenty-somethings out there on the streets with their funky tour bikes, no helmet, and jacked into the ipod - this despite the growing number of curbside memorials. I’ve even seen a few people toodling along with their helmet dangling from the handlebars. If biking becomes a fashion statement, I hope some forward-thinking hair stylist creates a set of cuts that still look good after being pressed under a sweaty helmet. But really, even if you argue that a helmet isn’t going to do much if you get creamed by an SUV, you’d do a hell of a better job avoiding it if you could hear it. Listening to tunes while riding is suicidal. … my two bits. Stay safe! ;)
Comment by parge — September 12, 2006 @ 7:58 am
Do you know about the “Life can be so car-free” event yet?
Saturday, September 30th, 5 to 10 PM
at the new Los Angeles State Historic Park
1201 North Spring St.
Interpretive walks
Bicycle rides
Live music by local car-free and car-lite bands:
Telematique and Triple Chicken Foot
Interactive exhibits
Short film selections by local cyclist and filmmaker Ashira Siegel
more info at http://www.cicle.org
Comment by TruffulaTuft — September 12, 2006 @ 8:07 am
Siel, I nominate Zack Beatty to be your first interview.
He started the Santa Monica Critical Mass ride, is one cool bike dude and an awesome bike advocate to boot! Watch out he will probably be the youngest person elected to the Santa Monica City Council in the next few years, if we don’t lose him back to the East Coast.
photos of the Aug. Critical Mass, we folks look pretty cool to me–it is regular folks on bikes, not much spandex
http://www.nicolascv.com/bike/August2006/
zackbeatty@yahoo.com
Comment by Lisa — September 12, 2006 @ 8:57 am
Wow. The # of comments here suggests this is a “hot” topic!
Robert, I was only kidding w/ my mock indignation, I hear you on the “thats a little more than i wanted to see” effect of lycra sometimes, though I myself wear it….
And the shoes are actually super helpfull for efficiency, whether youre commuting or racing. If we’re talking quick trip to the grocery store, yes indeed, pointless.
Siel, great idea on interviewing cool bikers, and I second the Zach vote, who I’ve been hearing much about lately. My next suggestion would be Monica Howe, outreach director for the LA County Bicycle Coalition, and one of founders of Midnite Riddaz. And maybe someone from the Bicycle Kitchen.
BTW, Check out what bikers are accomplishing in SF! Maybe we’ll get there someday…..
Comment by Anna — September 12, 2006 @ 10:41 am
We would like to invite anyone cool or not, sexy or not to come to Life Can Be So Car-Free this coming Saturday the 30th from 5-10 PM — it’s gonna be a lot of fun and it’s about hot car-free and car-lite lifestyles. Sure we happen to be hot hip babes and dudes ourselves working to make this bike thing hot and sexy, but to be honest we are also total bike nerds at heart that enjoy talking to all sorts of people about urban utilitarian bicycling. So come check it out this Sat. and if ya gotta drive there go ahead, we aren’t about perfection, jus come down, bring a picnic, enjoy some live tunes, check out the resources, see some hot utilitarian bikes and hot hot hot cargo trailers and enjoy the sun goin’ down behind the LA skyline, and then there’s more….films in the park after dark.
http://www.cicle.org/cicle_content/pivot/entry.php?id=891#body
Comment by Liz — September 25, 2006 @ 8:15 pm
Thanks Liz :) I finally got around to writing about the CICLE event here :_
Comment by Siel — September 26, 2006 @ 6:44 pm