Asana Cycles
Asana Cycles
Am I an Outlaw?
‘Outlaw’ Bicycling ‘Outlaw’ Bicycling.pdf
CHRIS CARLSSON
[In] this bike subculture there’s no person who is the best, who is winning, or
getting the most money. It’s a pretty equal community in that everyone can
excel, but not have to be the top dog...
(Robin Haevens)1
A funny thing happened during the last decade of the 20th century. Paralleling events that transpired a century earlier, a social movement emerged based on the bicycle. This so-called movement is far from a unified force, and unlike the late 19th century bicyclists, this one does not have a ready demand for “good roads” to rally around. Instead, “chopper” bike clubs, nonprofit do-it-yourself repair shops, monthly Critical Mass rides, organized recreational and quasipolitical
rides and events, and an explosion of small zines covering every imaginable angle of bicycling and its surrounding culture, have proliferated in most metropolitan areas. Month-long “Bikesummer” festivals have occurred in cities around North America since 1999, galvanizing bicyclists across the spectrum into action and cooperation. This curious, multifaceted phenomenon constitutes an important arena
The mental space opened up is one of bicycling’s best kept secrets. For many,
choosing to bicycle is a public act of individuation, reinforcing a self-reliant and
critical mentality. Often it is the most individualistic cycling “rebels” who invest
the most time and effort in new communities and institutions.
Jessie Basbaum of San Francisco’s Bike Kitchen says,
Riding a bike is a very independent act. Just riding your bike around fosters
a lot of self-reliance and comfortableness being alone. Riding by yourself
gives you a lot of time to think, to look at things around you, so in that sense
it’s going against the grain a little bit.7
Ted White, long-time bike activist and “bikeumentarist” says,
People who are into bikes tend almost always to be in some way
independent thinking and self-sufficient… I think bikes are a positive
response to almost everything that is wrong with American mainstream
society today. Bikes are cheap, simple, and democratic and sexy in a very
different way than riding around in a car. Bike transportation is about
individuality but not about excess. Bikes are congenial and social. Bikes
force us to be in our bodies and help us to know and love our bodies as
they are.
‘Outlaw’ Bicycling
By contrast, there are glossy magazines and plenty of upscale marketers selling
bicycles and frou-frou lycra clothing, helmets, bike accessories and all the things
you would expect a prolific consumer society to promote. But that mainstream
bicycling culture is largely separated from the grassroots upsurge, even if there
are crossovers aplenty in the form of messenger bags, headlights, and other
mass-produced accoutrements that trickle through the permeable membrane
between the two worlds. As Stephen Duncombe eloquently put it,
“Contemporary capitalism needs cultural innovation in order to open new
markets, keep from stagnating, invest old merchandise with new meanings, and
so on. Far from being a challenge to The Man, innovations in culture are the fuel
of a consumer economy.”9
Monday, December 27, 2010