From: ehouse@Apple.COM (Eric House)
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.misc
Subject: Re: ATTN Commuter's - do you feel like a piece of fiction ?
Summary: the market is fiction; we aren't
Date: 27 Jan 93 22:45:25 GMT
Followup-To: rec.bicycles.soc
Organization: Apple Computer Inc, Cupertino, CA

In article <wilde-260193102005@128.138.204.80> wilde@cs.colorado.edu (Nick Wilde) writes:
>In article <1k2oai$ht1@agate.berkeley.edu>, tom@soda.berkeley.edu (Tom
>Holub) wrote:
>> 
>> In article <wilde-250193223947@sunset.cs.colorado.edu> wilde@cs.colorado.edu (Nick Wilde) writes:
>> )Did you know all of us bicycle commuters in the U.S. don't exist,
>> )at least according to one executive of a major bicycle manufacturer?
>> )
>> )In an article in the Wall Street Journal today (1/25), the US marketing
>> )director of Bridgestone Bicycle, Grant Peterson, is quoted as
>> )calling the US bicycle commuter "fictional". According the WSJ, Mr
>> )Peterson attributes this to "long distances, cheap gasoline, few bike
>> )lanes, and fewer bike lockers or showers at work discouraging bicycle
>> )commuting."
>> )
>> )Discouraging it, yes, but eradicating it altogther ? Judging from 
>> )some of the posts around here, I'd hardly think so. I know I don't
>> )feel quite non-existant, yet :) Maybe a few of us should write to
>> )Mr Peterson, to let him know we exist ?
>> 
>> Grant Petersen is an avid Bay Area cyclist who wrote a series of books
>> called "Roads to Ride" which are great descriptions of Bay Area roads
>> with terrain maps; the best books I've ever read for suggesting where to
>> ride.  He's never had a car, so I'm sure he knows at least one
>> bicycle commuter.  I'd take his statements with a grain of salt; after
>> all, it's certainly true that there aren't *enough* bicycle commuters
>> out there.
>>  -Tom
>
>Interesting. Thanks for setting me straight, Tom. It seemed hardly
>believable that an executive with a major bike company could be
>that out of touch with reality :).
>
>Do you, or any other's reading this, know this individual personally ?
>I'd be interested to hear his reactions to the WSJ quote - what he
>really said vs. what the WSJ made it out to be.

Well, I don't exactly know Grant but I have spoken with him by phone a
couple of times; so I faxed him the stuff cited above with a brief note
on what rec.bicycles and internet are.  He called while I was out to
lunch and left a message.  He said he'd send me something he sent to
the WSJ writer, which I'll post when I get it.  In the meantime, here's
what he told me.

First, for the record, he's been commuting by bicycle for an average of
three days/week for the past 18 years.  Today he did his 25 mile Walnut
Creek->San Leandro route, which includes some up-and-down dirt, on his
fixed-gear bike.  He didn't mention whether he owns a car.

I gather that the WSJ writer was asking him about bikes for the commuter
market when he used the word "fictional."  His point was that bikes, ie.
*hardware*, aren't going to increase the amount of commuting done by bike,
and that in fact the market those bikes might address won't really come into
existence until infrastructural changes make it easier for us.

It's the market, not we who currently commute by bike, that is "fictional."
Bike commuters in the current environment are for the most part people who
like to ride bike and find in commuting another chance to do it.  The fact
that someone can now go out and buy a bike with fenders and a pannier that
will keep his three-piece suits wrinkle-free isn't going to get him out of
his car.

Those of you outside the area probably haven't seen the interview with
Grant that was published in _Cal Bike_ last year.  (Aug. '92)  He was
asked for some of his thoughts on cycling and its future, and concluded
thus:
	"As for the future of cycling, the best use of the bicycle is for
	commuting.  It's not racing or competing or recreation or anything
	like that.  Ultimately, its best use is to get cars off the roads."

-- 
****************************************************************************
Eric House			"My employer doesn't share its opinions with
RAAM in '93?		   	 me, so I can share only mine with you"