On the bike@cartky.org mailing list there's an amusing discussion on the proposition that bicycles should be unremarkable tools, like vacuum cleaners. Brent kicked it off with:

“Our relationship to the bicycle in Copenhagen is much like the vacuum cleaner. We don’t have five of them that we keep polished and well-oiled, there are no vacuum cleaner enthusiasts, we don’t go to a specialty shop to buy one or wear special clothes while we vacuum. The bicycle and the vacuum cleaner are just tools. One of them we clean our homes with, the other we use to transport ourselves around the city.”

http://bikeportland.org/2009/10/30/want-to-be-like-copenhagen-think-about-vacuum-cleaners-and-raging-bulls/

That precipitated three replies in October (David Jimmy Brent), and in November even more discussion ensued, eith Michael and Jim also weighing in.