W.Mids - too lazy to cycle ?

Why does hardly anyone cycle in the W.Mids ? Too fat, too lazy ?

I still get kids pointing in amazement that they’ve seen an adult on a bike. Contrast this with when I’m visiting friends in London, and I’m forever gawping at the amount of people riding and the nice bikes they’re on. Same when I visited Bristol recently, stood there gawping at the amount of bikes locked up on the station platform.

You need to check out Oxford and such, its owned by bikes.

Im surprised too at the lack of cycling in Brum, the size is perfect, not too hilly.

I suppose the scenery on the way to the city centre aint great, and its hard to avoid triple carriage ways with clueless/reckless drivers that think bikes are for kids on the pavement.

Whenever I do see anyone on a bike doing proper commuting, im always shocked at how appaling there bike is. Usually a sterlinghouse full suspension with flat tyres. Its hardly surprising cycling seem so innefficent to the Brummie masses, as all the cycling culture has died and no-one has the logic to see what would be a suitable bike.

I get the feeling when I see someone on a full suss special they're doing it because they have to, rather than choice (ie no car for whatever reason).

I don't think the road infrastructure is any worse/better than anywhere else for cycling. The drivers are definitely worse however. They're just not accustomed to seeing cyclists on the road - nearly got knocked off again tonight despite having an epilepsy inducing front light.

I'm not sure if you'll agree, but i think the reason we don't see too many "enthusiasts" on the road, could be because Birmingham holds no appeal to those cyclists. Most cycling hotspots have a close residential settlement, hence a higher participation in the area.
I live in Digbeth, and find the place awful to go for a leisurely cruise.... glass, vomit, needles and random shoes(!) all over the place. It's only this time of year that i love being out and about - because of the markets being open and being a great place to meet up.
I tend to ride solo - as i'm yet to meet you brummie cruisers yet - and i prefer to get away from the city....
As a whole though - the west midlands is ranked as the third most Obese region in the U.K.
I think that has an impact....

It's true, when I cycle, people literallly stare at me - not sure why, possible reasons include:

Shock a seeing a cyclist
The crazy look in my eyes
My offensive cycling cap
My lack of suspension
My lack of brakes
My stunning good looks ;)
My trousers are rolled up

But people do just seem amazed to see cyclists on the road. I think that a lot of people will find the prospect of the massive roundabouts that are inevitable if you go any distance on a bike a real turn off, because they can be very intimidating to a beginner.

the noise some of the bike make as well is shocking, a chain that hasn'nt seen oil in about 3 years, tyres rubbing on brake blocks, suspension creaking. i couldn't stand to ride a bike that made such a noise

I still don't think the enviromental issues are a problem, there's places just as bad/worse than Digbeth in many other cities and large roundabouts don't seem to be an issue for people commuting in London. Plenty of people live <5miles to Birmingham City centre too.

the noise some of the bike make as well is shocking, a chain that hasn'nt seen oil in about 3 years, tyres rubbing on brake blocks, suspension creaking. i couldn't stand to ride a bike that made such a noise

A lot of people just don't know/understand basic bicycle maintenance.

I still don't think the enviromental issues are a problem, there's places just as bad/worse than Digbeth in many other cities and large roundabouts don't seem to be an issue for people commuting in London. Plenty of people live <5miles to Birmingham City centre too.

Of course the car centric multi lane roads & roundabouts are a HUGE issue.

The city centre is surrounded by ring roads, its hard to go anywhere without ending up on one.

And no matter how skilled & confident cyclist you are, you do dice with death when tackling the simplest of junctions in Birmingham. One example being Rob Tilling (who is regulary at critical mass) He is actually a Cycle Proficency tutor,and a very experienced safe cyclist. He got purposely run over by a car at the simplest of juctions outside moseley swimming baths (right by where he lives) last year, resulting in a broken pelvis. This was purely because the driver could stand seeing a cyclist in front of them.

Drivers are totally unaccustomed to cyclists being there. They drive way too fast, do not give way or allow you to change lanes and cut accross your path.

They also commonly honk & shout at you for being on the road, in some cases actually throwing stuff at you.

You can only really consider riding on the road if you can ride consistently fast & very assertively. And most 'normal' people like to cruise along in a slow & relaxed manner, which would just about work in quiet suburbs but nowhere else.

Like I said before, any sort of 'cycling culture' has died in Birmingham long ago. There is no common knowledge left of what constitutes a decent bike & its value. And Foremost, there is now just not enough numbers for it to be a obvious, appealing,convenient, efficent & safe transport option for the masses.

+1 DFP. Wise words.

@ Ste_S - I know you're right. I just get pretty pissed of with the way some of the people around my flats (top of Bradford St) treat the area, and that my investment into property in the area is turning sour.

so you non-lazy people, who's coming tomorrow?

what about using the canal paths where possible?

I got from new street to castle vale mostly along the canal last week.. Saw a few cyclists heading in to work on reasonable quality hybrids too.

rode from small heath to west brom on the canal, took my mtb as I was expecting muddy bits. But I still got rattled to death on all the brick ramps, and the first & last bits were deeply muddy, bumpy and in parts flooded.

canals are intense!

If you want to see a lot of Brum cyclists, hang around the official (no.5 ?) cycle route into town. Theres a surprising number of commuters, even though the route is rubbish.

I've noticed a slow increase over the last ten years (even seen a couple of fixies!).

Seems to me that Birmingham is not as enticing to cyclists as, say, Oxford, Cambridge or London. It's more spread out, there are more hills, no congestion charge, the universities don't ban the students having cars etc. And, of course, the road system is designed for the car, although that too is changing slowly with the destruction of the concrete collar.

I don't think that the cycling facilities help much either...take the canals, suggested as a nice safe way into the city - an excuse for the council not doing anything to make the roads better for cyclists more like. Canals are slow, grotty, unlit, wet'n'muddy and can abound with druggies, drunks, flashers and assorted miscreants - how is that meant to be any better than the roads? Fine to use for a leisure pootle on a Halfrauds full sus MTB on a Saturday afternoon in the summer, but if you want to use them to do any distance t any speed on a road bike then forget it.

I started using NCN5 more - now I by-pass parts of it and use the roads to escape the cyclists - not a complaint: more cyclists is a good thing!

What about the rest of the w.mids away from brum? Are they just lazy? I'm seeing more cyclists in Cov these days, but drivers can be very aggressive and it does help to know the assertive riding stuff otherwise journeys would be hell, so it's definitely not going to grow quickly without outside help.

There's murmurs i've heard of developing cycling more in solihull - they've a new track up at tudor grange for crit races and training, plus it could be small enough area to work on making cycling a more attractive way of travelling day to day...