I met with Sam Hecht, British industrial designer. This interview discusses the efficiency of the bike, its popularity between English, American and Japanese cultures. As well as considering attitudes towards safety and whether England is a mature cycling society.
Sam: I started riding out of necessity, budgetary but mostly I was terrible at waking up – I could get into work quicker. See you’d work out a route, you’d time it and you know whatever happens it’s going to be the same time. You’ve got this efficiency; you’ve got this reliability.
Nick: You don’t have that with public transport?
Sam: Not in this country, Japan yes. I’ve always been fairly efficient with the day. If I think the bicycle is much more efficient to get me into work, that’s for me. It becomes incredible, conserved, focused. You realise what are people doing, wasting hours? You have to take a bus here, get a train. The thing about Japan is they don’t ride on the road and we all ride on the pavement…
Nick: Legally or illegally?
Sam: Is it illegal to ride on the road in Japan? … It’s illegal to ride on the pavement! So why does everyone do it? Why do you very rarely see cyclists on the road? When I cycled on the road in Japan the police stopped me! They waved me down; they thought I’d nicked the bike! I saw him and I thought I’d stop, just to see what he wants. Then they both came and they were looking at the bike.
Nick: See this is a very big tension. In Nottingham I was on the cycle lane, get nearly hit by two cars… so I was upset, I just got on the pavement for two minutes then a community policemen stops me and says, if I see you again I’m going to charge you £30.00 and I said but what about the two people that just tried to kill me?
Sam: When I was there (Tokyo) they had the freestyle courier championships which was great… There’s also a cycle track. I think its very big money in Japan, the cycle track. I must have gone to about 10 different bike shops when I was there, I was just drooling, there are just beautiful, beautiful bikes from all around the world, that I’ve just never ever seen before that they import and they make…
Nick: But if in Japan everything runs on time, why do you need the bike?
Sam: It’s quite a big thing… wherever you go in Tokyo there are bikes.
Nick: Cycling is more of a necessity in London more of a fashion.
Sam: Well it’s become quite fashionable, these fixed-gear, in these very acid colours. Especially round here, in the east end there’s quite a few makers. Where they basically get old steel frames. They look stunning.
Nick: So in terms of the difference, you were in San Francisco, so the only other people who were on two wheels were the mods?
Sam: Yeah there were a lot of vespers and lambrettas.
Nick: Maybe there’s a crossover between bicycle fashion and mod culture?
Sam: Well they’re not using the mods, its more beach culture… you don’t see them in L.A anymore, but no one rides bikes.
Nick: But you carried on your interest in cycling?
Sam: I think I do need it, I feel incredibly frustrated if I don’t have it… It is good in the morning because your getting your body moving and the blood is flowing.
Nick: But at the end of the day do you find the cycle home a good chance to let everything out?
Sam: I think you do see different things when you cycle as well. I do think a lot about the day and about the work as your cycling because it’s basically you and a bike. Whereas I think when your doing other things its not quite the same. The amazing thing is now my wife cycles and she’s Californian… come rain or shine there on the bike. Some people, especially kids say, I don’t want to do it; it’s raining. But they don’t really see the difference now because daddy does it, its great.
Nick: Would you advocate a lot more changes and what changes would you advocate to promote cycling in cities like London?
Sam: I think if I’m brutally honest, when I started riding in London, not that long ago but there were not many riders at all on the roads compared to now. So this is pre-congestion charge. I remember when the congestion charge came in, it was like riding through a village, it really was amazing and the roads were empty. But now its packed with cars again and not only that but you’ve got a lot of bikes. A lot of cyclists are not very good, so you know if you’re in a cycle lane their veering in the cycle lane or their on your side. A lot of them don’t have lights. It’s not a mature cycling society yet.
Nick: But still you’re more likely to get injured from a mistake by a car than a cyclist… Do you think there should be some big changes in cycling?
Sam: If someone could devise a way to, I don’t know how they could do it, where you could lock your bike up with a guaranteed security. I think that would just change it.
