The unthinkable humiliation of biking, part two

Posted by David Roberts at 9:24 AM on 18 Apr 2008

Read more about: bikes | green living | TV | cars

Remember that dumb State Farm ad? Here's another of the same ilk:

State Farm bowed to pressure and pulled their ad. Will the same happen to Farmers?

For story: The unthinkable humiliation of biking, part two
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farmers.com 'contact us'

Beautiful, just beautiful. The insurance industry is looking at the biggest potential losses ever due to climate change and are ridiculing a person who is part of the solution. Instead of promoting cycling , which every statistical analysis shows reduction in health care costs, pollution, infrastructure costs etc... you show someone who can't even adjust their seat height.

Do you hear that phone not ringing? That will be me not buying your insurance.

by bryantheresa at 7:59 PM on 18 Apr 2008

Thought just hit me

I don't recall ever seeing an ad for a bicycle on TV. I'd like to see one where buff cyclists with buns of steel breeze past a tormented soul trapped inside his armored wheelchair during rush hour. A camera inside the car watches as the cyclists go over the horizon.

The driver has had it. He abandons his Hummer, knocks a guy off his bike and jumps on.

Of course, without safe bikeways, cycling will never make a measurable dent, so the next scene sends a message to the politicians with the guy and the bike stuck to the front of a Metro bus like bugs on a windscreen.

In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

by biodiversivist at 9:34 AM on 19 Apr 2008

That's OK, BioD,

so long as we have regular images of "buff cyclists with buns of steel," breezing past the wheelchair set.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 1:50 PM on 19 Apr 2008

Bike town props

I was riding my Xtracycle modified bike this morning and I got props all around. If I had even been half as handsome as the bike I would have been a total chick magnet. Brad Pitt I ain't.

But an easy video would be a guy riding with his date relaxing behind him towards a picnic. Past traffic trapped by a snarl. Along the same lines a type of dismountable bike basket has become popular among local ladies. I've seen several young men gallantly carrying a lady-friends bike basket recently. It's a great image.

If you want attention get a classy cruiser. Speed machines flit you past the scenery too fast to be noticed. Competitive cyclists are just more giant thewed borgs zipping past, welded to their machines.

Check out the bikes at http://clevercycles.com/ I just may have to sell my car and upgrade.

Put the Carbon Back

by Pangolin at 8:23 PM on 19 Apr 2008
[ Parent ]

Radicalized Cruzbike

Pangolin, I put together a cruzbike, front-wheel drive recumbent, with the Free Radical attachment from Xtracycle and it rocks -- I went to the store and loaded up a great volume of groceries and got several approving comments from people watching.

Then, the other morning, I strapped a suitcase, computer briefcase, and a sportsbag to it and rode to work so I could carpool along to an out-of-town trip -- the folks at work had thought I was kidding about riding my bike to where I would meet them.

Next I'm going to look into disk brake kits; the finale will eventually be an electric-assist kit a la Biod ...

I expect I'll be riding my Radicalized Cruzbike long after I've persuaded my wife that we don't need to own a car.

The 5% Project

by JMG at 10:07 PM on 19 Apr 2008

Ah, the life of the rickshaw-wala!

(Or rickshaw-jee, or whatever the laddy is called who pedals a bicycle rickshaw.)

The impression I have is that those sturdy, forceful youths, waiting by their rickshaws along Central Park South within proximity of countless hotel bedrooms, have quite overturned that ancient bit of wisdom, that "a good man is hard to find."

Actually, the most stunning lot of rickshaw-walas that I recall seeing were not in NYC, but in Victoria, British Columbia, a short ride in a hydrofoil over the water from Seattle. There they were!, around the inner harbour and the Empress Hotel, positively tarting themselves up with their suggestive athletic garb and affected affability: not the sort that one would want to take to afternoon tea in that Kiplingesque room with the dead animals; but one could easily find other, more appropriate occasions for entertaining them ...

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 11:59 PM on 19 Apr 2008

By the way, good looks aside,

since the expression has come up now and again in various threads, why does Grist not commit itself to the battlecry that "Cars Are Wheelchairs!," at least as seriously as it does to the other battlecry that "Coal Is An Enemy Of The Human Race!"

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 3:53 AM on 20 Apr 2008

Cruzbike, Extracycle

Good stuff pang and JMG!!

Oh yeah, look out, biking brings out the kid again. No doubt about it.

I've been looking for a way to recumbent bike with the front wheel drive, rear wheel electric, without spending all my beer money!

JMG, you better tell Jim Kunstler we won't be needing horses after the fall of civilization, hehey. Can't someone get him to incorporate some more hopeful tech trends like hybrid bikes and (amish) solar panels in his book(s)?

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog

by amazingdrx at 7:22 AM on 20 Apr 2008

4000 pound wheelchair

Perfect Canis. A commercial with a 4000 pound SUV morphing into a wheelchair as the driver morphs into old age, then a bike and bike rider morphing into an older rider, riding a three wheeled recumbent bike. Instead of a wheelchair.

Then the obvious question on the screen? Which would you prefer? There you go Adam, put that up for the blue campaign. BTW, I heard Walmart is really pursuing their new eco-friendly image.

Will they actually back it up by mass producing LED lights now? That would be a good green (blue) follow up to CFLs. But solar panels and systems would be even better.

Adam could use that blue marble lapel pin idea too. A marble of mother earth, in full color, you put on your lapel instead of a flag.

That whole urban rick-shaw cab replacement trend is excellent. That's a much better job than going to war over oil. A little plugin electric boost on the hills would be good though.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog

by amazingdrx at 7:44 AM on 20 Apr 2008

The one thing bikes can't do

. . . is make other bikes, unlike horses. Nor can bikes haul serious cargo loads or provide serious traction for moving logs etc.

Sadly, both the Cruzbike and the Free Radical sports-utility-bike extension come from China, so access to these tools is a consequence of a fast-fading set of circumstances.

The 5% Project

by JMG at 11:27 AM on 20 Apr 2008

Bamboo bikes

The American Bamboo Society has a page on bamboo bicycles. Your basic SUV has enough steel for dozens of bicycles in it and the metalworking is within the abilities of a good blacksmith or ironworker.

Put the Carbon Back

by Pangolin at 10:34 PM on 20 Apr 2008

wheelchairs

Some people use them to get around in. Because they have to.

The good old "Cars are coffins" is better.

by mihan at 12:41 PM on 21 Apr 2008

What's wrong with wheelchairs?

"why does Grist not commit itself to the battlecry that "Cars Are Wheelchairs!"

To the person who needs one, a wheelchair means freedom and mobility. Maybe a wheelchair is a good metaphor for a car...

by konklarii at 12:42 PM on 21 Apr 2008
[ Parent ]

Funny

I saw that add last night, I think (Alaska Week on the Discovery Channel is prompting a rare burst of TV-watching in our house - last night's episode of Alaskan Expedition was all about climate change) and I thought the same thing; didn't they hear the furor around the StateFarm ad? Don't they read Grist?!?

We are Grist! Hear us roar!!

As for pleasantly buzzing by commuters who are trapped in traffic....I've done it more times than I can count in Boston/Cambridge... while walking. Such is the traffic crossing the Charles River on any given summer weekday. When walking next to heavy traffic, you'll pass a car, then it will jolt forward 50 feet and pass you, and then you'll pass it again.. over and over. It was always interesting to me which drivers seemed really pissed off at me and my carless freedom, which seemed slightly humiliated and chagrined, and which offered to switch places with me. I always, with a smile, refused.

Interesting observation Biod; I don't believe I've ever seen a bike commercial either. But then again, neither have I seen ads for running shoes, yoga mats, soccer balls, skateboards or CamelBaks. I did see plenty of ads for speedboats and Skido-type machines last night (annoyingly ironic given the entire show was about climate change impacts on Alaska). Maybe you have to be fossil-fueled to make the "Big Time" (aka afford TV advertising).

by kmp at 1:19 PM on 21 Apr 2008

Because $4 is dumb

The new McD's ad (for espresso drinks) would work PERFECT for promoting bicycling.

Instead of a coffee ring on the ad, how about a person on a bike? Cuz, $4 a gallon for gas is just dumb. Bike to work. :)

by raevynn at 1:46 PM on 21 Apr 2008

ADVERTISING POLICY

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