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Once enough people figure out how to make bicycles into a money maker, we'll all be able to see bikes enter the mainstream of American consciousness at an alarmingly fast rate.
Beers are, to my knowledge, the first to really tap into what will likely become a massive onslaught of bicycle-related advertising in the coming years.
That commercial is fantastic.
Unfortuantly the beer tastes like shit which is a real shame, because I share my last name with the company.
Ubrayj02, I think you are dead on about the commercial mainsteraming of bikes bieng something that will have a big effect on ridership.
The process of this is going to be difficult for a lot of people to swallow, because it will probably look something like the commercialization of punk or skateboarding.
It will be the selling off of our culture to the highest bidder and it will be really crass.
On the otherhand, when the dust settles, we will have a lot more people riding bikes.
When we see a bunch of people getting into fixies and riding because of:
MASH
or because of a ROCKSTAR video game about a bike messenger
or because an actual rockstar or actor is into riding.
or because of some amazingly talented Tony Hawk like impresario pushes the art to a new level and figures out how to mass market it.
Many people will be annoyed by the whole thing and get really turned off. What, with kids on the street asking:
"how far can you skid"
"can you do a backwards wheely?"
"how high can you bunny hop"
...
Its going to be a gross comercialzation that sits poorly with a lot of people. But at the end of the day, when the culture has been put through the mill of capatializim we will see that many more people on bikes ... which of course is a good thing.
Cycling won't have its underground status anymore but there will definately be more people on the road. Many of us will love it and hate it.
Oh and how we will wish it came in form of an old chubby guy shuttling his beers in a bike basket in the snow.
It's a matter of time..
That commercial makes me feel like someone is saying, "If you don't like High Life's and pedal your self through snow to get some, you don't love freedom."
Bikes entering the mainstream? Can't you go to Wal-mart and get a bicycle? How more main stream can you get? Now if you're wondering if fat sam will squeeze into some tight ass pants and ride a Pista, that's already happening right? How many people in LA are from some other place? A lot I figure.
LA is a car town, it's built around the auto and earthquakes, bikes on the horizion but it will take longer that in smaller places like Portland, NY, or SF.
the heineken commercial for the pony keg tap that they sell where all the owners in the neighborhood open up their garages and turn them into bars and everyone is cycling between them is a favorite of mine.