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news
London bike commuters in Lycra (copyright Britishcycloing.org_.uk)The artist Grayson Perry talks about his Dutch bike - and says MAMILs confuse function with status
The artist Grayson Perry has spoken of why he chooses to ride a traditional Dutch bike – and says that men splashing out on a road bike that is more suited to the Tour de France than a commute are confusing function with status.
The Turner Prize winner, who sometimes dresses as his female alter ego Clare, can regularly be seen riding his green Vogue Elite bike in the streets near his North London studio.
Writing on the website of the auction house Christie’s, he said that he likes the bike, which he ordered online from the Netherlands, “very much.”
“It is a ladies’ bike, so I can wear a dress on it,” he said. “I have a yellow plastic milk crate on the front, which is where I put my shoes and handbag. I really enjoy passing men on racing bikes, particularly when I am wearing a skirt.”
Earlier this week, a poll on our live blog showed that black is Britain’s most popular bike colour, but it certainly wouldn’t have got Perry’s vote.
https://road.cc/content/news/254980-live-blog-britains-favourite-bike-co...
“I chose the pea-green model because I am a colour campaigner and wanted a bike that was bright. I never buy black — ‘cowards’ black’, I call it. Black clothes on men are an abstention from the conversation.”
On riding his bike, he said: “One of my favourite things is to pedal it about London very slowly on a beautiful balmy summer’s evening, like a kind of two-wheeled flâneur.
“Sometimes I might stop for a pint or two on the way round, just on my own, so I can hear and smell and watch the world go by. I love doing that.”
Dutch-style bikes of the type Perry rides are very much the exception in a city where bike commuters often ride drop-bar road bikes, with some attracting the nickname of MAMIILs – Middle Aged Men in Lycra.
Perry, who when cycling in his guise of Clare is perhaps more of a MAMID – a Middle Aged Man in a Dress – said that men who commute on expensive road bikes are confusing function and status.
“I have done a lot of work around masculinity, and I find that men are very confused about the role of function, which they often think is a way of displaying statusm” he explained. “
So they get a £2,000 bike that weighs five kilograms and would be useful if you were on the Tour de France — but it’s completely impractical for riding to work.”
He added: “A town bike that you leave on a rack needs to be cheap: that’s one of its functions. This bike has a squishy saddle and is very comfortable — but comfort is another function that gets ignored in the man world, because no status is attached to it.”
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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47 comments
BS....I ride my Cervelo S2 (a carbon race bike by his standards) to work every day in summer dressed like Mark Cavendish. I'm an average rider, I'm not pretending to be a pro rider, I just like the kit colours and it matches the bike....I go fast when I feel I want to, I dawdle along when I feel it.
On a nice summers day you cant beat the ride to work in comfortable clothing on a nice bike.....that really is it. I dont judge other people, ride what you want, wear what you want....just enjoy the freedom.
It's good to hear a voice for a more sedate style of cycling, even though i suspect most (incl. myself) of those on road bikes are either (consciously) trading function for fun or have longer distance commutes.
I found cycling in London is a very different experience to cycling in Oxford in all the ways you would expect. London cyclists are not messing about, and when you first start cycling here, it can be intimidating.
Very much on Kendal's back wheel here. It appears that Grayson likes a bit of recreational cycling when it suits him.
I do not drive so have to commute come rain or shine. Mt cx bike is practical as it demolishes potholes, grips, has all the right gears and can shift when it needs to.
The best bike for anyone is the one that gets you riding it, so function and style are both imortant to the individual!
A Dutch bike might be good for the flat comute from the outskirts of a town or city, but I will stick with my CX bike for the 40km commute through the South Lakes. If it's all the same to you GP.
I'm going to let this one go as i like him too much. I guess he has half a point though, but seeing how fast you can go (even if your not that fast) is a big part of the fun with road bikes and sometimes its nice to commute to work on your number 1 bike.
Grayson Perry is a) brilliant and b) probably right, but if you see the amount of motorist commuters in sports cars then impractical and potentially fast can increase fun at the expense of practicality. So what? Get whatever bike you'll want to ride more than any other.
I would argue the opposite. Most people riding a drop bar road bike in to work do so because they ride a reasonable distance. I know that is the way it is where I work. The people that live in Oxford ride mostly hybrid bikes with “normal” clothes on (not heavy Dutch sit up and beg bikes, or risk getting work clothes muddy) and those who go further want something fast and light ish. Generally that is £500-£1k aluminium road bikes, not ££££ carbon bikes with expensive drive trains that are going to get trashed by commuter use.
As for cars, I would say most people buy 5 seat 4 door cars they don’t need and would be better off with a smaller, lighter 2 seat car. Most people only need one “big” car in the family. That’s what we do. I have 2 children and one big family car and a 2 seat sports car between me and my wife, but we don’t fall in to the “my car” trap, just use whichever we need. We have never felt it was an issue, and we don’t have a boring hatch back with a tiny engine and two seats that are only used to store rubbish. People who know nothing about cars reasonable regularly comment on the sports car being posh or impractical, when they have a newer, more expensive hatch back they don’t need.
A 5kg bike for £2,000? Where from?!
I used to commute on my race bike all the time mainly because it was bloomin' great to ride!
did anyone actually ask him for his opinion
How does he know? Did he try it?
I find my roadbike very comfortable as it is set up properly and the more you ride it the more comfortable it feels as you become more flexible which is surely a good thing.
I would have a sore bum on one of those dutch bikes as all the weight falls on your backside rather than distributed evenly between your legs and arms.
As for the lycra, I cycled the first year in normal clothes but I found them bulky and annoying, lycra feels great and I could not give a toss what others think.
Well, I beg to differ as I commute on my "race" bike. To me, it's nothing to do with trying to be a professional cyclist (I'm not really interested in bike racing and don't follow any races), but I enjoy trying to go fast and I find that my bike works really well for my commuting. It's got disc brakes and is a lot more aero than non-race bikes, so I finish my commute as quick as I can. The lack of mudguards is probably the biggest drawback, but I tend to not ride when it's raining, so it just means washing my bike more often.
I don't get why he's harping on about masculinity - I've been passed by a woman on a "race" bike whilst on my way home and there's plenty of women riding around on road/race bikes. Just ride whatever's most fun.
Actually, I'm going to call *bluff* on his comfy/squishy seats - they're not more comfortable for longer distances.
Great artist.....and Mountain biker!!
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/may/02/cycling-is-the-perf...
"Cycling is perfect exercise for transvestites as it does not bulk up your upper body and it gives you an excuse to shave your legs"
National treasure
Or talentless self promoting poseur whose art leaves me cold. You pays your money and you makes your choice, but the idea that his art and his witterings on masculinity make him an expert on why I buy the bikes I buy is frankly hilarious. He seems to have an opinion for every commission that has a cheque attached.
He wasn't necessarily talking about you. But if the cap fits...
This article exists because he's famous. Famous people get asked lots of questions and the media publish some of the answers. If you want to see someone give an uninformed opinion then just ask a pro cyclist about cycle helmets.
Having an opinion doesn't make Perry an expert but you don't have to be an expert to have an opinion, as the comments on this website demonstrate. It's easy to find spurious reasons to dismiss an opinion one doesn't agree with but it is instructive to hear different opinions and perspectives and to have one's views challenged (unless you don't want to learn anything).
He may have a point - he's probably thought about it more than most of the people on here and with a different PoV - but I don't think he's saying that everyone in lycra on a road bike is doing it purely for status.
And even if he is saying that, does it really matter? Are we cyclists so precious? Lots of people buy £50,000 status symbols to whisk the kids to school etc. Do they get in a lather if someone else who drives a Fiat 500 writes about it?
Grayson Perry of all people, and I have a lot of time for him, should respect people's right to self expression in how they dress and the image of themselves they are comfortable in projecting.
Race bike, Ferrari, stilleto heels, Goth black or dressing like Ronald McDonald in drag. Do what feels good to you and celebrate in the diversity.
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