[This article is not intended to slight the Continental Bike Shop. They’re one of the best shops in Metro Detroit and have a long history of supporting the bicycling community.]

There is a somewhat popular bumpersticker saying, “Friends don’t let friends ride junk.” It’s intended message is to encourage people to buy higher-quality bikes at independent shops rather than low-cost department stores bikes.

But that message can reinforce a bit of bicycle snobbiness.

What about those that can only afford the department store bikes? Or what about those riding the second- and third-hand department store bikes? Or what about those living in cities like Detroit — a bike shop desert — where you can’t even buy a new Trek or Cannondale without heading to a suburban bike shop?

And what about those living in areas prone to bike theft? Sometimes a junk bike is a better choice.

This goes beyond road bicycling. Mountain bike festivals sometimes have a Huffy toss where the contest is to throw a Huffy bicycle like a discus. What message does that send to those who can only afford to ride a Huffy?

It seems we need to encourage all biking, from carbon fiber to high-tensile steel, from 24 speeds to one.

Perhaps a better bumpsticker message would be “Ride what you got.”