American are buying bicycles !!

[Stig / Major Tom]

Wonder if that might mean scooter sales will improve?
Inner-city commuters, leery of contagious public transport are buying bikes at an impressive rate.
All but the maxi-scooters are just made for urban commuting, too. If I owned a NYC scooter shop I'd be running ads in the newspapers promoting the benefits of scooters.

Still, only a small % of commuters will be on two wheels. NYC, less than 1%. Portland has the largest percentage of bike commuters.
The fellow who purchased my Burgman 400 owned a bike shop in Portland - and paid a good sum to have my scooter shipped 2,400 miles to him. He told me that the Burgman would be his first motorized vehicle! He is using it for scamping all over the NW of the USA.

Major Tom

[klaviator]

I went to Academy Sports a few days ago and the aisle for adult bikes was nearly empty.  They had maybe four bikes instead of the 30-40 they normally have.

[Neil955i]

Selling out all over the UK too, bicycle shops report business up 200% on a normal year!


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[Viper254]

Lots of secondhand bicycles on the market in six month's time

OK, perhaps that was a bit cynical. I've noticed more bikes out and about, which is great.

I'm not sure how many people make the jump from bicycles to scooters, but we can always hope!

[Neil955i]

Shame so few city planners / politicians see the potential of motorcycles, scooters etc., as part of the solution to urban congestion / pollution.


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[john grinsel]

My 1978, 3 speed, fenders, bicycle gets new tires & tubes this year, last time in the 90's at Iwakuni Japan.  I think WalMart still has 26Xinch and 3/8 size---cheap.  Problem, living in TN, no place to go or ride safely!  Right price new light might be in order, too. Bicycle is standby transportation for me.

[rdhood]

Lots of secondhand bicycles on the market in six month's time

OK, perhaps that was a bit cynical. I've noticed more bikes out and about, which is great.

I'm not sure how many people make the jump from bicycles to scooters, but we can always hope!

I did. I still have and ride a Turner Sultan (1x11) and a Niner One 9 (single speed) ... each one cost more than any of my scooters. When I developed a shoulder impingement year before last, I was sidelined from the bicycle and upped my scooter game from a chinese 150cc to the Reflex/Downtown/BV350.   It was a strange progression.   On bicycles, you can always see through a curve, you generally spend just seconds leaned over (even if at much steeper angles than scooters can attain) , etc.  So I had to get used to long leaned curves at speed. It took about 3000 miles after moving up to really feel comfortable . But don't discount 80,000 bicycle miles as not applying to scooters.  It does.  I had  zero problems getting my motorcycle license almost immediately (with just a few weeks of uturns and figure 8s. )  I had zero problems getting on a scooter and riding it up to 50mph immediately (top speed I ever hit on a bicycle was 65mph).  I came in will full awareness of how cars will screw me... because they screw bicyclists even WORSE.  So, I believe that a small percentage WILL move to motorcycles and scooters.

[Tromper]

Around here they've spent a ton on bicycle related infrastructure and Seattle just blocked a bunch of roads just for bikes.
I rode quite a bit until my knee started catching up with me.  I still hope to ride more but for the nonce it's motorized.

Still, with all that money spent and more on the way I'm sure, there's a limit to how many will really use them in the area since we ain't Denmark, or Portland.   I can say from experience that cold rain (winter here..) is less pleasant to cycle in than snow and cold.

I have been seeing more scooter on the road though.  Haven't checked with the local shop lately but I suspect it's having a good year.

[TBR125]

When the pandemic ends I believe the market will be flooded with like new bikes and pull-up bars. I have been needing a bar for over a year but almost all online sites are sold out.

[monkeybongos]

Shame so few city planners / politicians see the potential of motorcycles, scooters etc., as part of the solution to urban congestion / pollution.

Could not agree more, Neil.  Believe we are going to regret it, as climate chaos and increasing financial distress effect us more and more.  Not to mention commuting on two wheels would be a lot more fun for people.

[Snorvey]

I've been cycling a lot lately - what a difference cycling along main roads with no cars. Much better than the cycle paths through town with endless kerbs, stopping for crossings, pedestrians, dog walkers etc.

Sadly, it looks like the lockdown is starting to crack and it turns out that all the good intentions of recent weeks about leaving the car at home were just words. Folk are jumping back into their motors for the flimsiest of reasons.

....and they (the local authority) could have least had the foresight to use the time when there was no traffic to fix some of the holes in the roads.

[Neil955i]

Well south of the border some pothole work has been done. In my corner of Cheshire anyway. That said, our roads needed it more than yours anyway lol.


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[Snorvey]

Not sure about that. There's a medium sized roundabout in town on the main road and the large lorries transiting through the town have to go around it and take the 3rd exit. I've stood there and watched their huge wheels destroy the tarmac with their tyres as they drag themselves round the steep curve.

For anyone in a car, let alone a motorbike, it's like driving over a paved ploughed field.

My point is that, during lockdown, they could have fixed it in a day with little disturbance to anyone - and with the appropriate social distancing measures in place. What's going to happen now is that the lockdown will lift and they'll close the roundabout for a week, diverting traffic all over the place as the struggle to get the machinery and materials into do the repair.

Honestly, they'd struggle to compete with a chocolate biscuit in the IQ stakes.

[TBR125]

Our road was repaved last week with the new tire saver compound. It is the slickest pavement I have ridden on. The surface texture won't poke through any moisture on the surface. I like the old noisy pavement that grabs your tires.

[TBR125]

I have ridden my first few cycling centuries since the pandemic started as lower traffic makes our county roads a little safer. I have a mountain bike that I ride on road but it has been a little neglected since the scooter replaced it as primary commute.