Quick thought on bikes, fashion and cultural labeling

I had a thought today on my ride into work, and while it’s a little half baked I thought it was kind of interesting. Does labeling young cyclists as hipsters unfairly stigmatize the activity?

There has been a lot written about the need to expand ridership in urban areas. There are a lot of good reasons for this, which I am not going to get into now, and it’s a subject that I care a lot about. But at the same time we have this cultural movement in the opposite direction, throwing a lot of mockery at “hipsters,” particularly about bicycling in the movement. You even get shades of this within corners of the biking community, complaining about hipsters using bikes as a fashion accessory and the rise of the fixed gear in urban environments.

This seems to go against everything we’re working for as bicycling advocates. Any person on a bike is a step forward, whatever the motivation it took to get them there. If it took fashion or perceived coolness to get them pedaling, I’m not complaining. In many ways we need more of that! Seeing attractive and/or fashionable people riding makes biking seem more accessible because it breaks down the stereotype of cyclists as competitive lycra road warriors.

Hipster is a label that a lot of people try to avoid, probably due to trying to avoid the cultural connotations the label carries (bad beer, narcissism, whatever). By throwing the label at any young and fashionable person who is into bikes are we chasing away people from an awesome activity? Especially as we are trying to get more people onto bikes, and demonstrate it as a legitimate method for transportation not limited to extreme distances and speeds or specialized bicycling clothing.

However you choose to ride is cool with me, I just want to get you out on two wheels. Anyways, that was my thought for the day.