Technophobia Keeps People Off Bicycles???
I read the following quote in a Wired article:
sales associate Babs Brockaway says she’s seen the number of customers leaving with shiny new fixed-gear (”fixie”) and single-speed bikes skyrocket. …The simplicity appeals to neophyte riders overwhelmed by too much technology. “It’s simple: You just pedal,” she says. “This is shocking, but there are people who buy bikes with gears, who don’t shift gears.”
…and I dismissed it as an anecdote.
Then I found out that Shimano and Trek have both confirmed this in recent market research.
Both sets of research determined that people who hadn’t ridden for some time were intimidated by multiple gears and complex shifting systems and didn’t feel comfortable using cable hand-braking systems. This untapped market, the research showed, longed for a simple bike that reminded them of childhood. “Expecting someone to learn how to shift is a pretty tall order for someone who hasn’t ridden since they were a kid and is now 40 years old,” Bryant says.
It’s one thing to not know how to assemble a bike from scratch, or write computer programs, or fly an airplane. But shifters? Hand brakes?!? Like Babs, I too am shocked.
Although I’m rather horrified by the commonality of such extreme technophobia, I applaud the industry’s efforts (such as the Trek Lime) to get “mainstream consumers” to ride bikes. These people should not be driving cars.
You laugh, but I’ve developed a somewhat similar piece of technophobia: cell phones. I perfectly comfortable, say, programming in lisp, but whenever I have to borrow someone’s cell phone, I end up calling their aunt, or playing their voicemail, or some other such thing. I suppose if I had one of my own and was forced to learn to use it, it wouldn’t be hard. But until then, they are a bit daunting. I guess for some people bikes are the same way.
Nah, that’s a very mild technophobia. Mobile phones have a multitude of functions and the user interface must fit into a very small space; they pose a major challenge for any UI designer. And there isn’t much consistency between the UIs of different phones. I know how to use my mobile phone, but other phones are still confusing.
Bikes have just one function: they go forward. The controls vary somewhat, but really brakes and derailleurs do the same thing on every bike.