Umm... Velorution?

oh my Goodness !! the 1st link is just crazy racism. Blatant and forthright.
I didn't realise it was that bad.
I can imagine the people working for him cringed when they saw this.

It's so strange you know but months ago i stated my sincere dislike for Velorution,
in one of my first ever threads i made on here.[ http://www.londonfgss.com/thread5018.html ]
I've always had a belief in my own instincts, and they were right in this one.

When i went there i can only tell you that i had bad vibes from from the place, as if me asking for things were rubbing him up the wrong way.
Making him angry that i wasnt buying anything that'll make him a decent profit.
He was all nice to the lady who was interested in the Pashley but me, who wanted only a measly tyre or whatever seemed to irritate him.
I felt genuinely awkward and uncomfortable standing there, passing my money over.
I never went back after that.
Strange, i know a crock when i see one !

Wow, Velorution have managed to cock up even in the follow up post! Writing it in bullet points makes their conclusions even more puzzling :S

I wouldn't say the level of road 'civility' is bad in London, anyway. I'd rather cycle in London than Basingstoke any day.

Tynan, I respect you; you're a bit of a radical, and cerebral with it, but we (you and I) have the right to disagree. Yes, it is preferable to air views and argue to resolve them, or just accept the difference. BUT, if one can see that another's views are not just silly, but harmful to some (not me Tynan, I'm harder than that), then it is up to somebody (just about anybody), to do something about it. And I have.

But I don't think you have, you have handed the problem over to the state, this man expressed views you found offensive and you have asked Boris Johnson, Diana Abbot and the police to protect you from his views.

Don't get me wrong, I am sure we share at least some contempt for this mans idiotic views, it is just that we differ on the best way to respond.

I would rather live in a society where people can express any views they may have and those views live or die in the court of public opinion, not in a society where your views are reported to the state to establish whether you are allowed to express them.

After all what use is this, what are you hoping to achieve outside of the personal satisfaction of seeing him punished for his views ?

We have to take responsibility as adults for what we do and what we say (much less what we publish).

Agreed, see above.

The only question I would ask is what, for you, would be the ideal outcome from getting the state to deal with your offense at what this man has said ?

Tynan, I wrote this privately to Buffalo Bill, but I shall tell you here; the reason I have taken the action I did, is because he posted his notions on a business website. If it were a seperate blog, unconnected to a business, my response would have been different.

To make these comments and have people read them from a company website, gives the views a semblance of credance that it has not deserved. Private and public are different. No-one should feel that attaching a personal view in a blog, that is attached to a professional and respected business (I was contemplating buying a bike there) would escape a reaction.

I would not go running to the state for a trifling matter. I could have handled this myself, and it would have got very, very, very messy. You don't know me, but when I say messy, I do mean very bad. I chose to let others that have the will and power to do so, address the owner of the Velorution shop. It will be up to him how he handles that. The state will not protect me from his views, but protect others, and himself from them.

In all of my adult life, I've done without the help of others. This is the exception to that rule, and it saves me from making something that affects others, something personal to me. You are also entitled to your views on Diane Abbot, as I have no allegiance to her whatsoever.

I have to agree with with GA2G.

The reason that I think that Andrea should be reported is that he has in the past obtained public funds for various schemes. Not that there was anything wrong with those schemes being funded per se, but after this episode...

Actually, the more I read the original post, the more it seems that he has written total garbage.

1. Areas of London with a 'predominance of Africans, Jews, South Asians, Cockneys or other uncivilised lovers of black tinted windows'.
   
   

Just about anywhere in Central London, isn't it? Actually, this made me cross because I was born in London, and I doubt that Andrea was restricting himself to the Bow Bells definition. Although a lot of people born within the sound of the Bow Bells are likely to have parents or grand-parents from South Asia, so double points there. And my girlfriend is 3/4 jewish, and isn't known to drive a beamer with tints.

1. 'European football is governed by a fairly enlightened administration'
   
   

???? Just bonkers. How anyone could characterise UEFA as enlightened is beyond me. Sports administration (FIFA, UCI, Olympics etc) is notoriously corrupt.

1. 'dark-skinned immigrants do not cycle'
   
   

Just barking mad, offensive and wrong. I am willing to bet that the number of people that regularly cycle in the so-called Thirld World, developing nations or the South, depending on what you want to call it, outnumbers those of N America and Europe by a factor of 10, if not 100. If they don't cycle here, it's because of OUR (Londoner's) cultural and economic mores, not the other way around.

After Andrea's reply to all those of us who took the time to email him, I am happy that GA2G reported him.

This is what did it for me:

"“rather the majority than the minority of (1st/2nd and 3rd generation) of immigrants (most naturalised) uses the bicycle.” How come then, one has to look very hard among the hundreds of photographs he publishes, to see a dark face on a bike. Who is the racist now?'

And thanks again to Rakan for posting this here.

You sound a bit cheesed off.

You sound a bit cheesed off.

BMMF has enrolled in a cheese-athon, ignore him, as he rolls past you :)

I have gone a bit runny.

I've been reading this thread with interest these past few days. I'm the diversity manager of an east London council (those who have been paying attention will know which one this is). I'm not saying this makes my response any more worthy, but still...

Every time I see or hear something like this, I roll my eyes and sigh. Is the post racist? Legally, yes. Would legal action improve the situation or provide some sort of redress? No. Is it going to change Velorution's attitude? No - in fact it's going to fill them with an even more powerful anti-PC rheotoric. Just as the earlier post showing the picture of the Tory 'It's not racist to impose limits on immigration' poster shows, what we've ended up with is an ignorant, misguided and misinformed person who will use the excuse that they're trying to encourage discussion and debate as a means to peddle their ignorant, misguided and misinformed views - and it makes me sick.

I'd love it if the legislation really made things better, but in the end, coercion won't change Velorution's views - it'll only make them worse. Having read the post, I don't think anything will change them - the only answer (to me) appears to be to hit him in the pocket. If you don't agree with his views, don't shop at Velorution, and recommend that your friends and acquaintances do the same.

In the end you've got to ask "what do I want the outcome to be?" and sadly shopping him to the Equality and Human Rights Commission might give you a bit of immediate satisfaction, but it won't resolve the problem that brought this about in the first place.

True mooks.

Working in a big chain bike shop I used to frequently suggest Velorution to customers who were looking for something a little less ordinary.

Looks like Bikefix will be getting a load more recomendations from me.

Does it say anywhere why he has removed the photo from the original post (of the black woman in a dress on a bike) and his little line about her?

A lot of racists only have a problem with the men of certain races (they feel threatened?) but have secret urges for the laydeez....maybe this was just to blindingly obvious in his post?

This thread is done

Just barking mad, offensive and wrong. I am willing to bet that the number of people that regularly cycle in the so-called Thirld World, developing nations or the South, depending on what you want to call it, outnumbers those of N America and Europe by a factor of 10, if not 100. If they don't cycle here, it's because of OUR (Londoner's) cultural and economic mores, not the other way around.

Nail - On - Head!

Im south asian (born here though), but Ive spent time back in "old country" and also know alot of first generation immigrants from a few different parts of the world.

Almost everyone who can afford one has depends on Bicycles for transport, and those who middle class might upgrade to a motorbike eventually because of it being so much more practical with the conditions & distances.

But percentage-to-populationwise the amount of people who ride bikes in these such countries in on a whole different scale.
Its probably more similar to the amount of people who depend on cars in the USA. The roads are shared between bicycles, motorbikes, various public transports vehicles & a select few officials in land cruisers.

The Cities are immenseley packed, with huge amounts of traffic. Yet there has never been any attempt to control congestion. Instead people use common sense & courtesy to keep it all flowing fast. And it works.

Over here, any immigrant from the Asian countries I am familiar with. Would think it obsurd to travel by any means other than a Car. As for them it seems that bicycles are almost not allowed on British roads, and it is not the British way. Being in any vehicle apart from a car would be dangerous and frowned upon etc etc.

Verlorution/Andrea, what you have written has reminded me why I love London so much, thank you for reminding to appreciate the diversity of this beautiful city. If we were all the same, I would go back to my country.

you're surely too civil though Veronique. old benito at the bourgeois racist bike shop wasn't talking about the likes of you, merely those other nasty johnny foreigners, over here riding our bikes, using our roads, contributing to our economy, doing those nasty jobs we consider beneath us, putting up with the complaints because our latte is not the right temperature, failing to show due deference.

The blog from Velorution reminds me of some of our own threads, this one came to mind
http://www.londonfgss.com/thread6488.html

We are shocked by Andrea's comments as he directs them at jews, cockneys, africans, south asians etc...

But on the forum we constantly accuse entire groups of people to be dangerous: bus, white vans, cab drivers, hgvs, peds, other cyclist etc...

We call the police cunts, pigs.

it's not the same, vv.

A lot of racists only have a problem with the men of certain races

As a few of you know I love the Paris Roubaix, it's very much my race. As such I feel most respect for those upstanding chaps who take part in it and despise the lazy chumps of the Tour de France, scrabbling around for glory on a daily basis. Any riders who take part in both are uppity and the result of confusion.

I once saw a two guys with a broken down motorbike get a lift home on a rickshaw, with the motorbike perched on!

People in these "third world" countries, take the art of road sharing to a whole new level. In fact, I beleive the term "Critical Mass" was coined to describe this phenomena in China (which is much the same across Asia & heavily populated worker dominated countries)

Anyone who seen Long Way Round will defintely notice the hospitality* of the 3rd world country regardless of the skin colour.

*a bit of a naive statement, since not all 3rd world country are quite hospitality, but you get the idea.

We are shocked by Andrea's comments as he directs them at jews, cockneys, africans, south asians etc...

But on the forum we constantly accuse entire groups of people to be dangerous: bus, white vans, cab drivers, hgvs, peds, other cyclist etc...

We call the police cunts, pigs.

I don't think it's the same, says peds for instance, people are people, there's not a peds that are of an specific races that we have a dislike toward, just specific peds who choose to blindly xross the road right on our path.

if a bus driver tried to knock me off, I just blame the bus driver, not the specific enthic he belong to that cause him to knock me off.

The blog from Velorution reminds me of some of our own threads, this one came to mind
http://www.londonfgss.com/thread6488.html

We are shocked by Andrea's comments as he directs them at jews, cockneys, africans, south asians etc...

But on the forum we constantly accuse entire groups of people to be dangerous: bus, white vans, cab drivers, hgvs, peds, other cyclist etc...

We call the police cunts, pigs.

but we are just taking the piss out of each other through humorous stereotypes.

This Andrea chap has written a carefully thought out (in his mind ) neo-nazi article/statement and used his popular wideley viewed website/shop to publish this statement in as stronger way as he could.

So he is openly & firmly attaching the said sentiment/philosophy to velorution and his public reputation.

In a way, hes asking anyone who disagrees to stay away from his shop. Even if he doesnt realise it himself.

A clarification has been posted on the Velorution website: http://www.velorution.biz/?p=1453

Everyone is always welcome to come to Velorution, even if it is just for asking for advice; although fixed wheel bikes are not our forte, we do offer a good range of reliable city bikes.

The gentleman who claims to have written several letters to authorities may have the courtesy to send a copy to me, at andrea@velorution.biz

I can't quite believe this guy has tried a 'clarification'. This just reads to me as more (now watered-down) confused racism. Now he's muddling in more issues to make it sound like he ever has a point to make.

"We thought we were starting an intelligent debate"

Well you did, here, about how the hell you can expect to write that crap and still run a business in London.