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Let's see if there are any comparisons made to the bicycle phenomenon, Critical Mass.

I'd like to hear Major Softie's comments. He, among others, was outspoken about bicyclists holding up traffic. I wonder if he feels the same about motorcyclists holding up traffic?

My contention is that it is an issue of size (of vehicle) or to put it in other terms, tonnage. Motorists have an attitude of righteousness based on their size, or more correctly, the fact that they can "run over" a cyclist and a cyclist cannot do the same to them.

Anyway, it looks like some of the French protest was warranted, and some of the text of that story was worded to benefit a bias, and that was done in the hope that readers wouldn't read it critically.

Chuey

PS This is for Melville: when I read the title of the post, I thought it was going to be a commentary on French bicycles and how unreliable they are. Plastic shift levers, anyone?

Chuey wrote:Let's see if there are any comparisons made to the bicycle phenomenon, Critical Mass.

I'd like to hear Major Softie's comments. He, among others, was outspoken about bicyclists holding up traffic. I wonder if he feels the same about motorcyclists holding up traffic?

Yes. They are mad at their leader, so they infuriate the rest of their countrymen. Senseless counter-productive actions. They are making people hate them when what they need most is for those same people to be on their side.

Chuey wrote:My contention is that it is an issue of size (of vehicle) or to put it in other terms, tonnage. Motorists have an attitude of righteousness based on their size, or more correctly, the fact that they can "run over" a cyclist and a cyclist cannot do the same to them.

Bicyclists have "an attitude of righteousness" based on the fact that they feel their transportation is "green" and riding their bicycle is contributing to saving the planet while the cars around them are destroying it. Thus they express a moral superiority to those in cars. This does not, of course, apply to every cyclist, but certainly as large a percentage as the motorist attitude you've described. There's even a bit of that kind of self-righteousness among motorcyclists. All sides are equally capable of wrong-headed and Holier-than-Thou thinking.

Chuey wrote:Anyway, it looks like some of the French protest was warranted, and some of the text of that story was worded to benefit a bias, and that was done in the hope that readers wouldn't read it critically.
Chuey

"Some" of the text? That was one of the most slanted pieces of propaganda I've ever read. I will credit them with making absolutely no attempt to hide their extreme bias, so at least there's nothing sneaky about it. The only thing that makes it seem likely that the protest may have been warranted is the fact that so many people participated. Certainly, I would never make such a judgment from the arguments made by the blog. I would have to see at least one semi-unbiased report on the issue to think I had anything remotely like the whole story.

Major Softie, thanks for the thoughtful reply. I can say from the viewpoint of being a motorist and a cyclist that cycles have much more to complain about motorists about than the other way around.

Chuey

Chuey wrote: PS This is for Melville: when I read the title of the post, I thought it was going to be a commentary on French bicycles and how unreliable they are. Plastic shift levers, anyone?

How could French bikes stop anything, what with those Squeak-o-matic MAFAC centerpulls?

I've had good luck with Italian plastic--Ofmega shifters on my crit bike, and Modolo Cronos (black) and Orion (grey) brake levers on different bikes over the last 25 years.

A participant in the madness posted a few pics over to advrider and used the words "Critical Mass":

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=699853

Chuey wrote:Major Softie, thanks for the thoughtful reply. I can say from the viewpoint of being a motorist and a cyclist that cycles have much more to complain about motorists about than the other way around.

Chuey

Can't argue with that. Same goes for motorcyclists.

And truck drivers.