Cycling tribes: lifestyles, values, and aesthetics

Publication Date

1-1-2024

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Annals of Leisure Research

DOI

10.1080/11745398.2024.2322438

Abstract

Popular literature (Magnusson 2012; Weiss 2010; 2012; 2013) has celebrated varying ‘bike tribes’ including road cyclists, mountain bikers, BMXers, touring riders, commuters, and urban hipsters on fixed-gear bikes. Such literature identifies how each ‘tribe’ is differentiated by habits, clothing, aesthetics, and values. With these varying cycling ‘tribes’ in mind we explore the lived experiences of road cyclists in the San Francisco Bay area of the United States as they negotiate the varying practices, rituals, meanings, and material culture that cycling offers. We engage in broader discussions within the sociology of sport regarding the utility of Maffesoli’s (1996) idea of contemporary life being characterized by ‘neotribal’ affiliations. We use ethnographic methods drawing upon both participant observations and interviews to explore the extent to which the fluidity and transience of road cycling also intersect broader structural forces, and how riders navigate their engagement with the cycling industry.

Keywords

bicycle industry, consumption, Maffesoli, Neotribes, road cycling

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