Beauty and the Bike is a project established by Darlington Media Group in 2008 to explore more deeply the reasons why girls stop cycling in the UK. We began with a small group of teenagers and young women in the northern English town of Darlington, most of whom did not cycle on a regular basis. They told us why - cycling is not cool, friends don’t cycle, it isn’t safe, and not very pleasant. The lack of cool had a lot to do with the image of the lycra and helmet clad nerd, so dear to the risk assessment world of official UK cycling promotion.
http://www.bikebeauty.org/english/Bikebeauty_2010_English/The_Project.html