Because I have been a true believer in the power of bicycles to enhance and unlock life since before seatbelts were made mandatory in cars, working in a bike shop gave me the opportunity to make converts of everyone who walked in. You’re a cyclist. As a young, idealistic person, couldn’t you have been prone to bicycle evangelism? In short, I wanted everyone—everyone—to love cycling as much as I did. It seemed to me a surefire path to happiness and fulfillment.
I no longer remember the event, but I attended a panel discussion where a quartet of muckity-mucks opined on the cycling market. I was young enough that I’d yet to make the transition from self-propelled wrench to publishing pro, so I attended in the hope that I’d learn something useful.
One of the bigger wigs who spoke hailed from Huffy USA. Most of what he said made no impression on me. It was “drive down costs” this and “lifecycle” that. Then he said something that I’ll never forget. He said that the average life of a Huffy bike was 100 miles. That is, a Huffy would be ridden for 100 miles, give or take, and then it would go in the rafters of someone’s garage, or against the wall, behind the lawnmower and there it would stay until the owner disposed of it.
Yes, 100 miles.
His argument was that everyone else present was idiots for putting so much effort into making fancy bikes, that Huffy alone had the sophistication to appreciate that in the U.S., most people don’t ride bikes more than a few times each summer, so making a thing of quality made no financial sense.
Decades have passed since I heard that guy speak, and to this day, my overwhelming response continues to be: People know quality. They know enjoyment. If he had been correct, we wouldn’t have full-suspension mountain bikes, electronic shifting, carbon fiber or disc brakes. If he had been right, it wouldn’t be safe to ride down a mountain at freeway speeds. If Huffy’s bikes hadn’t sucked so bad, more people would be interested in riding bikes, but their shoddy quality actively drove people out of cycling.