September 2025 - update in progress...

Don't be fooled by common myths about cycling - use these explanations to help spread the truth!

• Our roads are too narrow
• It's too hilly here
• Shopkeepers rely on people driving
• Shops won't get deliveries
• We are not Dutch or Danish
• Cycling isn't safe
• People with physical disabilities can't cycle
• Elderly people can't cycle
• Liability laws will make people drive safely
• Everyone needs to share the road
• We need more cycle training, not cycling infrastructure
• The weather isn't right
• People should wear helmets when cycling
• Cycling infrastructure slows down cycling
• Cycling causes danger to people walking
• It's too expensive to provide for cycling
• People don't use cycling facilities that already exist
• Higher standards of driving would make cycling safe
• People break the rules when cycling
• Cycling causes congestion
• Cycling infrastructure is unsafe
• We need more electric cars
• We'll be stuck on terrible cycle paths
• People should cycle at the side of the road, not in the middle
• People who cycle don't pay for the roads
• Bus lanes provide good conditions for cycling
• People should wear hi-viz when cycling
• Cycling makes you sweaty
• You need lots of special stuff to cycle
• People won't or can't cycle very far
• Cycling is not practical in big cities
• Cycling should require a licence and registration
• Nobody would choose to cycle if they could drive instead
• Cycling means breathing in more polluted air
• Collective responsibility, collective guilt
• Cycling should require mandatory insurance
• Cycling infrastructure causes pollution
• Cycling isn't practical for shopping or for carrying loads
• Cycling with children isn't practical

Fallacies collated by popular topic...

• Cyclists should pass a test to ride on the road
• Cycle lanes are always empty, and they have caused the roads beside them to become congested
• Cycling infrastructure hinders emergency vehicles
• Roads were built for cars, not cycles
• The only people who cycle are middle-class white men (MAMILs)
• Women don't cycle because it messes up their hair

Are we missing a fallacy or two? @cyclingfallacies