Is touring unfashionable?

Gotte

I read about a year ago, in an American cycling magazine, that touring was becoming quite the thing. It seemed it was, as well, with Rivendell and Salsa producing stylish, retro touring bikes and frames.
It did seem like there were quite a few column inches written in the US magazines I read which were dedicated to tours (usually on mountainbikes, though, and in the wilds - but tours none the less).
But over here, with the CTC shop not even selling touring bikes,anymore, and all the focus going on the track team at the Olympics, and Mark Cavandish in the Tour, I get the distinct impression we're still viewed as a kind of subgroup stuck in a carry on camping world.

Normally, it doesn't worry me what other people think, but it'd be nice to think our little corner of the cycling world was on the up, not on the out.

What do you reckon?

pneumatic

Yes, definitely! That is what I like about it. A mug of tea on the primus and a bit of slap and tickle with Barbara Windsor. Why would we want to share that with the masses?

I'll tell you one thing, you wouldn't come across Kenneth Williams at a Sportive ( :shock: oooh, Matron! Reeeeallly! :shock: )

tardington

V poor!

You do meet nice people when your touring, I think. Most of them decidedly not cool though! 8)

Gotte

The funny thing is, I was in Germany last year, and there were some decidedly cool (or what I'd call cool, anywayl) tourists. They tended to be young, loners, hammering down the radweg with tent and a couple of panniers, usually on an old road bike. often ernest, driven, almost existential...
Maybe that's just Europeans, though, or Germans in particular. I imagine while Sid James would be reading Titbits in his tent, the Europeans would be reading Nietzsche or Kierkegaard, or staring off into the distance and saying things like: "The wheat...the wheat..."

andymiller

Gotte wrote:

But over here, with the CTC shop not even selling touring bikes,anymore, and all the focus going on the track team at the Olympics, and Mark Cavandish in the Tour, I get the distinct impression we're still viewed as a kind of subgroup stuck in a carry on camping world.

IIRC there's been a big increase in the numbers of cycling holidays. Camping is also becoming increasingly 'cool'. So what if wiggle don't sell 'touring' bikes there are plenty of people who do and plenty of bikes you can tour with.

Gotte

It's funny, because I suppose the nature of it being fashionable isn;t the same as it being more popular.
What I mean is, there could be more people doing it, but it could still be looked down on as an odd thing to do. But it could also be more fashionable, people could have "touring bikes" and the apparel, but could quite feasably never tour (I suppose a bit like the bike messenger culture which was taken up mostly by commuters because it was seen as cool)

But there might even be benefits to it being fashionable when the numbers doing it remained static; like maybe the notion of taking your bike on a train or a plane would not be seen as totally ludicrous.

pneumatic

Perhaps we are like the Caravan Club: lots of people do it and enjoy it but nobody would really regard them as cool.

iain_j

Never really thought of it as 'fashionable', so going out of fashion doesn't really bother me. I do it just because I enjoy it. In fact, unfashionable has some appeal to me

But I see your point about being noticed and considered when it comes to taking bikes on trains and planes.

I think it's understandable that with the massive success over the last twelve months on the road and track, smaller parts of the sport will get pushed aside. I'm sure we'll recover

Bodhbh

Just need to get down the skate park and pull off a few 360s and endos with the camping gear on and show the kids what's cool.

tardington

...and then you can give them talk on the importance of correct packing and compression straps? 8)

crankycrank

The thought of heading out on a tour and finding there are hordes of other cyclists out there doing the same thing makes me shudder. The best part of it for me is the tranquility of having a little piece of road to yourself and the locals are more likely to strike up a conversation with you if you're a rare sight rather than just another tourist. I kind of hope tourers remain a subgroup.

vernonlevy

it's never been a worry of mine about how many other cycle campers there are or whether the activity is increasing or decreasing in popularity. it's just something that I do.

There's always a degree of introspection amongst some members of a minority activity community (I've been a member of more minority communities than you can shake a stick at) and if it keeps them happy so be it. I'd rather be out on the road than worrying about others who might or might not be out there with me.

Tourist Tony

Me? Fashionable?
No.
Do I care?
Same answer.
There are as many reasons to tour as there are tourists, and fashion is not up there as a biggy. Interestingly, Wiggle, who "don't sell touring bikes" or any kiat all, are now the people behind the CTC shop.
Hmmmmm.

Special K

pneumatic wrote:

Perhaps we are like the Caravan Club: lots of people do it and enjoy it but nobody would really regard them as cool.

yikes! :shock:

Maybe not cool. But usually interesting, especially once you are home and back in the land of the sofa-dwelling urbanites (of which I am one for most of the year). Nobody wants to talk to a friend or colleague in detail about what they did on their sun/sea holiday in Maldives/Med because nothing really happens, unless they are comparing relative levels of luxury, value and excess. A biking holiday is good for hours of amusement. As are any similarly active or adventurous holidays.

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Special K

pneumatic wrote:

Perhaps we are like the Caravan Club: lots of people do it and enjoy it but nobody would really regard them as cool.

yikes! :shock:

Maybe not cool. But usually interesting, especially once you are home and back in the land of the sofa-dwelling urbanites (of which I am one for most of the year). Nobody wants to talk to a friend or colleague in detail about what they did on their sun/sea holiday in Maldives/Med because nothing really happens, unless they are comparing relative levels of luxury, value and excess. A biking holiday is good for hours of amusement. As are any similarly active or adventurous holidays.

Special K

pneumatic wrote:

Perhaps we are like the Caravan Club: lots of people do it and enjoy it but nobody would really regard them as cool.

yikes! :shock:

Maybe not cool. But usually interesting, especially once you are home and back in the land of the sofa-dwelling urbanites (of which I am one for most of the year). Nobody wants to talk to a friend or colleague in detail about what they did on their sun/sea holiday in Maldives/Med because nothing really happens, unless they are comparing relative levels of luxury, value and excess. A biking holiday is good for hours of amusement. As are any similarly active or adventurous holidays.

Gavin Gilbert

pneumatic wrote:

I'll tell you one thing, you wouldn't come across Kenneth Williams at a Sportive ( :shock: oooh, Matron! Reeeeallly! :shock: )

True, but you probably would on an Audax ride :twisted:

I wouldn't worry about it...you'll be having more fun on your bikes than us racers manage :roll:

psmiffy

Not only unfashionable but in UK becoming demographically aged - the number of young brits you see are very few - just cast your eyes around the contents of a Bike Express coach

when i am among europeans this is possibly not so marked - lots of young cool germans (is that a tortology) and many dutch - and there is always a fair smattering of young antipodeans and americans

Chokingfish

What's not cool about carrying your pit around with you and sleeping under the stary canvas where ever in the World you want. Add to that the amount of lycra that is available now (its not all ron hill bikesters and high vis jackets!).

My first tour was on a £5 road bike from a car boot a few yeas ago, admittedly my gear wasn't cool then but now I've got everything I could possibly want, including a very handy touring/drinking partner - and we're only in our twenties!

Gotte

psmiffy wrote:

Not only unfashionable but in UK becoming demographically aged - the number of young brits you see are very few - just cast your eyes around the contents of a Bike Express coach

when i am among europeans this is possibly not so marked - lots of young cool germans (is that a tortology) and many dutch - and there is always a fair smattering of young antipodeans and americans

That's exactly what I mean, though. When I've toured in Germany, I could believe that it's the coolest thing in the world, but over here, I feel like I'm looked at like I've just joined a bowling club.

Still things can change. Remember how ludicrously unfashionable golf was?

Gotte

Chokingfish wrote:

What's not cool about carrying your pit around with you and sleeping under the stary canvas where ever in the World you want.

And that's what I mean as well. When you put it like that, it feels like the most Jack Kerouc thing in the world.

psmiffy

in my experience most people regard golf in almost the same way - I know I play golf as well

I think it is probably that in this day and age, if you do anything active that is not football you are regarded as being a wierdo -its lucky for our chances in the next olympics (is that where we came in) that the wierdos don't care

Tim Farr

Oh dear, It would seem that I'm doubly uncool - touring cyclist and Caravan Club member!

tardington

YOU!

I wanted to camp at a caravan club site and they wouldn't let me!

pneumatic

tardie wrote:

YOU!

I wanted to camp at a caravan club site and they wouldn't let me!

I've had that problem, too. I suspect they are very afraid of noisy riff-raff with transistor radios blaring out and long hair. I wonder if they would consider doing a special deal with CTC to allow only its members to camp on their sites. They could even supply a beard trimmer in the sanitory block.

Bodhbh

psmiffy wrote:

Not only unfashionable but in UK becoming demographically aged - the number of young brits you see are very few - just cast your eyes around the contents of a Bike Express coach

when i am among europeans this is possibly not so marked - lots of young cool germans (is that a tortology) and many dutch - and there is always a fair smattering of young antipodeans and americans

I stopped in Durness youth hostel several years back. It was my first wild camping/walking trip and I'd not stopped in a hostel for years. I didn't quite get the concept of youth hostel and was worried I would not get in, being in my early-30s and not exactly a youth - however I was the youngest one by about a 10yr margin in a hostel otherwise mostly full of cycle tourers looping across the N coast. Noticed a similar demographic in remote locations particularly in this country, if they are younger people they are mainly not from the UK - well but just anecdotal really.

I really wish I took up cycle touring 10-15 years earlier and can't believe it didn't occur to me younger, but it simply didn't. Whether just the outlay on bike and gear - even tho relatively modest - would have meant I just wouldn't even thought about it I dunno. It's ideal really when your young, haven't got much money to burn and want to see a bit of the world - but it wasn't even on the radar. It might be a stereotype, but I do get the impression it's something you turn too after a certain age.

knedlicky

Gotte wrote:

psmiffy wrote:

when i am among europeans … - lots of young cool germans (is that a tortology) and many dutch - and there is always a fair smattering of young antipodeans and americans

That's exactly what I mean, though. When I've toured in Germany, I could believe that it's the coolest thing in the world, but over here, I feel like I'm looked at like I've just joined a bowling club.

I agree with what you say about how bike touring is regarded abroad, at least in the central European lands and its fringes (so also Alsace, Slovenia, northern Italy). In those places, unlike in the UK, it’s like all healthy outdoor activities, even simple ones such as hiking and camping rough, are acceptable or even ‘cool’.

However, be careful when judging bowling clubs. My old Dad has been complaining the last couple of years that he hasn’t been so successful at crown green bowls, because of the increasing number of 30-40 year olds who have started playing, and playing well.

mz__jo

Bodhbh wrote:

psmiffy wrote:

Not only unfashionable but in UK becoming demographically aged - the number of young brits you see are very few - just cast your eyes around the contents of a Bike Express coach

I really wish I took up cycle touring 10-15 years earlier and can't believe it didn't occur to me younger, but it simply didn't. Whether just the outlay on bike and gear - even tho relatively modest - would have meant I just wouldn't even thought about it I dunno. It's ideal really when your young, haven't got much money to burn and want to see a bit of the world - but it wasn't even on the radar. It might be a stereotype, but I do get the impression it's something you turn too after a certain age.

I took up cycle touring when I was 15 (younger if you allow the period when I covered the Cotswolds on a scrappy upright 3-speed with rod brakes). We didn't invest in equipment, the bikes were built up from scrap and the Carradice saddlebag did duty in the week for hauling the schoolkit. I have a constant ideological battle with the french concept that if it is not exotic with the latest group you can't possibly use it to go touring. Mind you things were a lot easier 35 years ago. (Now I have an advantage that my clubmates give me their hand-me downs; they know that I can put it to good use).
Cheers Jo