BMX'ers seem to graduate to motorcycles more than bicycles in my experience watching retail customers who started young grow up. Like 'em or not, if I were to pick a group of young cyclists who will be cyclists twenty or thirty years from now, it would be Critical Mass riders. I would call the odds of a 20 year old CM rider being some kind of a cyclist at age 45 many times that of a 10 year old BMX racer being any kind of a bicycle rider at age 25 or 30! CM is part of the bicycling culture, BMX is a cosmetic replica of a motor sport. Whether you like Critical Mass or not, some way some how if you are any kind of road rider at all you are in your own way a CM'er. No, I don't go on them, don't like the thought of my confiscated bike being sold at the Portland Police bike auction! David Feldman
> Well, I have to disagree. While we definitely have changed and no longer
fit
> the audience that was targeted in the 70's, I still agree with Paul's
original
> post that today's target audience is 12 to 24, and I still maintain that
in the
> 70's the readership was significantly older, though still young compared
to the
> current ages of most CR members.
>
> The second point, about Lance's roots in BMX (I don't remeber this in his
book
> - I thought he started in triathilon.) raises the question of what the
real
> purpose of cycling is and where the "heart" of the sport lies. To me, a
sport
> which had no point except to produce Tour de France champions and other
> successful professional riders, be it road or MTB, would be contemptible
beyond
> expression. The only reason I have any interest whatsoever in pro
cyclists is
> that they practice extraordinarily well what many millions of people
around the
> world, of all ages, male and female, practice regularly for health,
recreation,
> transportation and friendly competition. Without the broad participation
in
> cycling, or any sport, at the popular level, the professional sport would
> become trivial and irrelevant. It is the amateur participants that give
> meaning to the pros, not the other way around. Suppose in the future
> automobiles disappear as a significant mode of public transport? How much
> importance would professional auto racing then have? I'd say roughly as
much
> as chuckwagon racing at rodeos has today.
>
> Because BMX bikes are grossly impractical for adult commuting or touring,
I
> think they only have real value if their users graduate to areas of the
sport
> in which they can participate for life, and I mean the average BMXer, not
just
> the elite few who might become professional road or MTB riders. I might
feel
> differently if BMX racing were a participant sport that guys in their 40's
> would participate in on a Saturday morning as an alternative to, say golf.
The
> reality is there is almost no adult participation in BMX that I've
noticed. So
> unless these guys graduate to touring, commuting, and MTB trail riding,
or
> maybe amateur road or MTB competition, the activities of youth become a
dead
> end. Its not a matter of "them" against "us", but a matter of how to
encourage
> "them" to grow up to join "us".
>
> Regards,
>
> Jerry Moos
>
> Monkeyman wrote:
>
> > >Of course, in the 70's, Bicycling! was also focused on a youthful
> > >audience, but I think it was >probably more like a 16 to 35 age group
they
> > >were targeting then. Most of us old farts fit that >group back then.
To
> > >be honest, there was probably at least as much male bias then as now.
> >
> > This is an OT topic I think, but I need to make a little stand for
youmger
> > cyclists. I've got to say I agree 100% on your thinking here but woiuld
> > like to add that the writers for Bicycling are close to the same age as
> > they were in BICYCLING!. It's not that the magazine writersa or
audience
> > has changed it's that 99% of CR members are no longer part of their
"target
> > audience" as they once were. They haven't changed, you have.
> >
> > > It would be nice if we could find a way to transition more of those
> > >BMXers into lifelong tourists and >ommuters, rather than see them
discard
> > >the bikes as soon as they get a car and a real job.
> >
> > Jerry's thought I'm rure reflect many others on the list but it's 100%
> > wrong. There are other kinds of cycling than on roadbikes. Almost
every
> > young MTBer out there came from BMX. Also if you look at the resume of
> > most professional cyclists today, including Lance, you'll see BMX roots.
> > Don't get caught in the "us" vs. "them" battles in cycling. Insted of
> > asking, "Why don't more of these kids get into "classic" bikes" ask "Why
> > don't I got to the local BMX track or buy a MTB." As any teacher will
tell
> > you learning has to go two ways to work.
> >
> > enjoy,
> > Brandon"monkeyman"Ives
> >
> > Brandon and Mitzi's-- "Wurld uv Wunder"
> > http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/
> >
> > Monkeyman's on going bicycle part garage sale <<<NEW LISTINGS>>>
> > http://www.uweb.ucsb.edu/
> >
> > !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> > Nobody can do everything,
> > but if everybody did something
> > everything would get done.
> > -Gil Scott Heron-
> > !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!