Bicycle

A bicycle, or bike, is a pedal-driven land vehicle with two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. First introduced in 19th-century Europe, it evolved quickly into the familiar current design. With over one billion in the world today, bicycles provide the principal means of transportation in many regions and a popular form of recreation and transport in others.

Social and historical aspects

Economic and social implications

Bicycle manufacturing proved to be a training ground for other industries. Building modern bicycle frames led to the development of advanced metalworking techniques, both for the frames themselves and for special components such as ball bearings, washers, and sprockets. These techniques later enabled skilled metalworkers and mechanics to develop the components used in early automobiles and aircraft. J. K. Starley's company became the Rover Cycle Company Ltd. in the late 1890s, and then the Rover auto maker. The Morris Motor Company and ?koda also began in the bicycle business, as did Henry Ford and the Wright Brothers.

Related Topics:
Ball bearings - Washer - Sprocket - Automobile - Aircraft - Rover - Morris Motor Company - ?koda - Henry Ford - Wright Brothers

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Some of the bicycle clubs and national associations became prominent advocates for improvements to roads and highways. In the United States, the League of American Wheelmen was a prominent advocate for the improvement of roads in the last part of the 19th century, founding and leading the national Good Roads Movement in the US.

Related Topics:
United States - League of American Wheelmen - Good Roads Movement

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The evolution of the bicycle had less tangible effects as well, extending early to areas as diverse as fashion and politics. In the 1890s the cycling craze led to a new set of fashions, including bloomers, which helped liberate women from corsets and other restrictive clothing. A British perfumer marketed Cycling Bouquet, which came in a tiny vial designed to fit into a lady cyclist's purse. The diamond-frame safety bicycle gave women unprecedented mobility, contributing to their emancipation in Western nations. Sociologists suggest that bicycles enlarged the gene pool for rural workers, by enabling them to easily reach the next town and increase their courting radius. In cities, bicycles helped reduce crowding in inner-city tenements by allowing workers to commute from single-family dwellings in the suburbs. They also reduced dependence on horses, and allowed people to travel into the country, since bicycles were three times as energy efficient as walking, and three to four times as fast. In North America, the political organization of bicycle enthusiasts, in such groups as the League of American Wheelmen, led to further changes. Both their model for political organization and the paved roads for which they argued facilitated the growth of the bicycle's rival, the automobile.

Related Topics:
1890s - Automobile

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In recent years, US and European bicycle makers have moved much of their production to Asia. Some sixty percent of the world's bicycles are now being made in China. Despite this shift in production, as nations such as China and India become more wealthy, their own use of bicycles has declined. One of the major reasons for the proliferation of Chinese-made bicycles in foreign markets is the increasing affordability of cars and motorcycles for its own citizens 5.

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Bicycles at work

The postal services of many countries have long relied on bicycles. The Royal Mail first started using bicycles in 1880. Bicycle delivery fleets include 37,000 in the UK, 25,700 in Germany and 10,500 in Hungary. Police officers adopted the bicycle as well, initially using their own. However, they eventually became a standard issue, particularly for police in rural areas. The Kent police purchased 20 bicycles in 1896, and by 1904 there were 129 police bicycle patrols operating. Some countries retained the police bicycle while others dispensed with them for a time. Bicycle patrols are now enjoying a resurgence in many cities, as traffic congestion and pedestrian streets have limited mobility for car-borne officers. They also have the advantage of having the officers inherently more open to the public, are quieter to allow for a more stealthy approach toward suspects and can give an advantage in pursuit of them on foot.

Related Topics:
Postal service - Royal Mail - UK - Germany - Hungary - Police - Kent - Pedestrian street

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Bicycles have enjoyed substantial use as general delivery vehicles in many cities. In the UK, this use persisted for some purposes with generations of teenagers getting their first jobs delivering newspapers by bicycle. In India, many of Mumbai's Dabbawalas use bicycles to deliver hot lunches to the city’s workers. In Bogotá, Colombia the city’s largest bakery recently replaced most of its delivery trucks with bicycles. Even the car industry uses bicycles. At the huge Mercedes-Benz factory in Sindelfingen, Germany workers use bicycles, colour-coded by department, to move around the factory.

Related Topics:
India - Mumbai - Dabbawala - Bogotá - Colombia - Mercedes-Benz - Sindelfingen - Germany

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Bicycles and war

Main article: Bicycle infantry

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The bicycle is not suited for combat, but it has been used as a method of transporting soldiers and supplies to combat zones. Bicycles were used in the Boer War, where both sides used them for scouting. In World War I, France and Germany used bicycles to move troops. In its 1937 invasion of China, Japan employed some 50,000 bicycle troops, and similar forces were instrumental in Japan's march through Malaya in World War II. Germany used bicycles again in World War II, while the British employed airborne Cycle-commandos with folding bikes.

Related Topics:
Boer War - World War I - 1937 - Malaya - World War II

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In the Vietnam War, communist forces used bicycles extensively as cargo carriers along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. There are reports of mountain bicycles being used in scouting by U.S. Special Forces in the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and in subsequent battles against the Taliban. The only country to recently maintain a regiment of bicycle troops was Switzerland, who disbanded the last unit in 2003.

Related Topics:
Vietnam War - Ho Chi Minh Trail - U.S. invasion of Afghanistan - Taliban - Switzerland - 2003

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Bicycle racing

Main article: Bicycle racing

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Shortly after the introduction of bicycles, competitions developed independently in many parts of the world. Early races involving boneshaker style bicycles were predictably fraught with injuries. Large races became popular during the 1890's "Golden Age of Cycling", with events across Europe, and in the U.S. and Japan as well. Paris-Brest-Paris (PBP), which began in 1891, is the oldest bicycling event still run on a regular basis on the open road, covers over 1200 km and imposes a 90-hour time limit. The most famous of all bicycle races, and perhaps the most well-known race of any type, the Tour de France began in 1903, and continues to capture the attention of the sporting world. Recumbent bikes were banned from bike races in 1934.

Related Topics:
Paris-Brest-Paris - 1891 - Tour de France - 1903 - Recumbent bike

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As the bicycle evolved its various forms, different racing formats developed. Road races may involve both team and individual competition, and are contested in various ways. They range from the one-day road race, criterium, and time trial to multi-stage events like the Tour de France and its sister events which make up cycling's Grand Tours. Velodromes host short course track cycling which features mostly fixed-gear bicycles, while cyclo-cross races are held on rugged outdoor terrain. In the past decade, mountain bike racing has also reached international popularity and is even an Olympic sport.

Related Topics:
Grand Tours - Velodrome - Track cycling - Fixed-gear bicycle - Cyclo-cross - Mountain bike racing

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Modal share: cycle use in modern cities

Cyclists and motorists make different demands on road design which may lead to conflicts both in politics and on the streets. Some jurisdictions give priority to motorised traffic, for example setting up extensive one-way street systems, free-right turns, high capacity roundabouts, and slip roads. Other cities may apply active traffic restraint measures to limit the impact of motorised transport. In the former cases, cycling has tended to decline while in the latter it has tended to be maintained. Occasionally, extreme measures against cycling may occur. In Shanghai, a city where bicycles were once the dominant mode of transportation, bicycle travel on city roads was actually banned temporarily in December 2003.

Related Topics:
Shanghai - 2003

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In areas in which cycling is popular and encouraged, cycle-parking facilities using bicycle racks, lockable mini-garages, and patrolled cycle parks are used to reduce theft. Local governments also promote cycling by permitting the carriage of bicycles on public transport or by providing external attachment devices on public transport vehicles. Conversely, an absence of secure cycle-parking is a recurring complaint by cyclists from cities with low modal share of cycling.

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Extensive bicycle path systems may be found in some cities. Such dedicated paths often have to be shared with inline skaters, scooters, skateboarders, and pedestrians. Segregating bicycle and automobile traffic in cities has met with mixed success, both in terms of safety and bicycle promotion. At some point the two streams of traffic inevitably intersect, often in a haphazard and congested fashion. Studies have demonstrated that, due to the high incidence of accidents at these sites, such segregated schemes can actually increase the number of car-bike collisions.7

Related Topics:
Bicycle path - 7

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Bicycle activism

Cyclists of many types form associations, both for specific interests (trails development, road maintenance, urban design, racing clubs, touring clubs, etc.) and for more global goals (energy conservation, pollution reduction, promotion of fitness). There tend to be two broad themes associated with bicycle activism: one strand of opinion tends to be more overtly political and frequently has roots in the environmental movement, while the other tends to draw on the traditions of the established bicycle lobby.

Related Topics:
Energy conservation - Environmental movement

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Such groups may promote the bicycle as an alternative mode of transport and may also emphasize the potentials for energy and resource conservation and potential health benefits gained through a modal shift to cycle use from automobile use. Activists in both main camps tend also to argue for improved local and inter-city rail services and other methods of mass transportation, and also for greater provision for cycle carriage on such services.

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Controversially, some bicycle activists and some traffic management advisors seek the construction of segregated cycle facilities for journeys of all lengths. Activists from the more established tradition tend to view such devices with suspicion and favour a more holistic approach based on planning, road design, road user education and enforcement of the existing traffic regulations. The opposition to segregated cycle facilities has well-founded historical roots regarding the safety, practicality and intent of such systems. However in some cases this opposition has a more ideological basis: some members of the US Vehicular Cycling Movement oppose the use of segregated cycling facilities as a matter of principle8, and offer training courses aimed at the safe integration of cyclists into everyday urban traffic. This is part of the ongoing cycle path debate.

Related Topics:
Segregated cycle facilities - Vehicular Cycling Movement - 8 - Cycle path debate

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A recent focus, especially for European bicycle activists, has been opposition to compulsory bicycle helmet legislation. Their concerns have been raised by evidence suggesting that compulsory helmet laws and helmet promotion have been associated with significant reductions in bicycle use and with simultaneous increases in the risk of death or injury to individual cyclists. As a consequence, activists from both sides have put aside their differences in order to fight the helmet lobby.

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Critical Mass is a worldwide activist movement of mass bicycle protest rides that may have more overt political overtones. While this anarchic movement is difficult to typify, it tends to incorporate the themes of increasing the road- and mind-share given by society to bicycle transport, and has historically drawn support from environmentally minded campaigners as well as many other more diverse strands of political thought. However the particular forms of protest embraced by Critical Massers has drawn criticism from the broader streams of activism.

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