First Look : £1,000 Specialized Diverge E5 Sport

Much debate on this but the summary is the UK has one of the most toxic cyclist-hating highway cultures on the planet. Strangely lumped together with other English speaking nations; America and Australia. The media is saturated with highly obnoxious presenters who can freely suggest slicing heads off cyclists with a taut wire across a path, without any repercussions. Most drivers are broadly ignorant of the hierarchy of road users, passing distances and how VED is arrived at. The degree of arrogance on display from within 2 tonnes of potentially deadly machinery used on the public highway is widespread and police, CPS and judges' institutional bias is effectively complicit in the road rage pandemic. All bow to the Car god. The idea of sustainable transport and cycling for a healthy nation is dead in the water while this toxic culture remains so pervasive. I have no faith in the policing of dangerous driving, cycling or walking. How police resources are deployed is beyond a joke, where it is now a political weapon and jack boot on the throat of the Freedom of Speech and the Right to Protest.

@Zermattjohn This is one reason I loathe policing in our society. Illegal drugs cause no more (probably less) harm through their use than do alcohol and tobacco. The continuing war on drugs does itself cause enormous medical, social, economic and financial harms - many addicts refuse to seek help because of the real fear of being reported to the police, for example, and there might be less incentive for addicts to steal our bikes if they are enabled to manage their consumption.

@Rendel Harris How secure is it to keep a bike outside in a yard or front patio, for example? I'm not sure I'd be willing to do so, no matter how good the lock. It would mean covering the bike(s) with a waterproof material and attaching the bike securely to something solid fixed to the ground or the wall. Not ideal, and hardly an attractive prospect for people who aren't sold on cycling yet.

@chrisonabike That's interesting. I agree; cycling has long been abandoned by most people as an uncool, childish or geeky means to get around. Plus, as Jaymack observed, humans naturally prefer warm, motorised vehicles rather than pedal power.

@This Wreckage Whilst I agree of course that for some people bicycle storage is a problem (personally, with four bikes (two mine, two hers) in a one bedroom flat, albeit a rather spacious one, I think bikes as a wall decoration are second only to bookshelves), 78% of dwellings in the UK are houses or bungalows, most of which will have some outside space front or back, so that can't be a really major factor in the low take up of cycling. The *perception* that there's not enough room might be quite influential and that's a bit of a chicken and egg situation, people are only likely to bewilling to readjust their living space or look for innovative storage solutions to keep bikes if they use them regularly and enjoy it, but they are not likely to use them regularly and find out they enjoy it unless they already have a bike at home.

@Dodonline Look up "Induced Demand" adding capacity does not work.

@chrisonabike ...have impersonated Dutch bike shop owners, people with disabilities, and possibly different genders / sexualities. And have gone from broken English to perfect fluency in a week or so Only a few of us remember those hilariously inept impersonations!