'Cycling is cool' says the latest research

A team of academics at the Bristol Social Marketing Centre at the University of the West of England (UWE) has announced the latest findings from their research into what British people really think about cycling.

Professor Alan Tapp with colleagues Fi Spotswood and Sarah Leonard commissioned YouGov to undertake this UK wide survey. Their research investigated the opinions about cycling amongst a representative UK sample of adults. 3,885 people aged 16-64 were interviewed in early summer 2010.

Professor Tapp (pictured right) said: “We wanted to find out if cycling is still the ‘poor man’s transport’ populated by badly dressed social misfits muttering about gear ratios, or a fashionable activity of good looking people who rock up to the office with the latest carbon frame. We asked questions about how congestion, global warming and ever-rising fuel prices might persuade us out of our cars and back onto two wheels.

“Our findings suggest that most people see Jeremy Clarkson-esque critics of cycling as missing the point. An impressive 42% of the British public think that ‘cycling has become cool nowadays’, and, good news for those forty-something men with mid-life crises, 38% agree that bike technology is much sexier nowadays.

“Perhaps surprisingly there was also encouragement for government initiatives, with 43% agreeing that ‘there’s a new push by the government towards getting people to cycle’.

“These pro cycling feelings might be a symptom of traffic jam stress as much as anything.

“A whopping 43% of us agreed that ‘When I’m stuck in a traffic jam I sometimes wish I were cycling’.

“The success of the likes of Chris Hoy and Mark Cavendish might be rubbing off on us as well: a surprising 18% of us admit that ‘The success of British cyclists has encouraged me to think about cycling more myself’.

The research shows that 53% of people recognise Sir Chris Hoy as a cyclist - although that's compared with 59% of people identifying with the cycling credentials of David Cameron and 48% picking up on Boris Johnson's love of two-wheeled transport.

‘Commuter cyclists not serious career people’?

Researchers also investigated whether UK cyclists see themselves as a breed apart. They asked how cyclists see themselves and what the motoring majority think of them.

Findings suggest that the way cyclists see themselves isn’t always matched by how outsiders see them.

Cyclists see themselves as 'independent minded and free spirited, environmentally aware, adventurous, and even a bit rebellious'. They are also less likely to see themselves as 'conventional or boring'. But a different picture emerges when non-cycling people were asked what they thought of cyclists.

Some descriptions such as 'fitness conscious and independent minded' were not surprising, but interestingly the general public thought that cyclists were 'less happy than they were'.

We'd like to know your thoughts on why you think this might be the case? For instance, do the public see cyclists out in the cold and wet and feel pity for them? Or do the public think that cyclists only cycle because they can't afford public transport? Sign in and leave your comments below.

Professor Tapp concludes: “We were also surprised to find that cyclists were seen as lazy and  non-cyclists percieve cyclists as less hard working than they are. Maybe the perception is that if you are a serious career professional in the UK, you don’t cycle – you drive a 5 Series instead.”

More findings from this research are expected later this year, including a set of findings specific to the Bristol region.