I bike, you bike, we all bike.

The gearhead vs. fashionista debate rages on over at 1lesscar...

I think it's funny that so many hardcore cyclists seem so unhappy that biking is now officially fashionable. On the one hand, I guess no one likes to see their culture getting appropriated by the fashion machine (it wouldn't be the first time. Or the second.) Fashion generally plucks what it likes from a culture/subculture for inspiration and leaves the rest, giving people a distorted view of said culture - and leaving members of it feeling misrepresented. That's pretty much the essence of fashion - style over substance. I'm the first to agree on that point.

But on the other hand you'd think that cyclists would be able to see the positive side of biking catching on with the fashion crowd. Think of all the pro's: more publicity means more bikes - which means more bike lanes and fewer cars. It means that girls - and that is who the fashion crowd consists of, lets not kid ourselves - who wouldn't have ridden a bike otherwise will go buy one. And THAT means better sales for bike shop owners, more repairs and overall more revenue for the bike industry as a whole. And hell, it also means more babes at critical mass and who is complaining about that? I don't know, but probably jerks.

The Deadly Nightshades started as a design collective. We produced indie fashion shows long before Alternative Fashion Week existed and all of us have either a fashion or arts background. So you know where my loyalty lies.

What do you think???