Bike boom

The bike boom or bicycle craze is any of several specific historic periods marked by increased bicycle enthusiasm, popularity, and sales.

Prominent examples include 1819 and 1868, as well as the decades of the 1890s and 1970s –the latter especially in North America –and the 2010s in the United Kingdom.

The first period which may be called a bicycle craze actually refers to a precursor of the bicycle which was propelled by being pushed along with the feet as the rider straddled the contraption, and had no pedals. This machine was invented by Baron Karl von Drais in Germany, and was called variously a "draisine" (English) or "draisienne" (French) after his name, a "velocipede" from the Latin terms for "fast foot", a "hobby horse", or a "dandy horse", the last name being perhaps the most popular. Drais got a patent for his invention in 1818, and the craze swept Europe and the United States during the summer of 1819 while many manufacturers (notably Denis Johnson of London) either copied Drais's machine or created their own versions, then quickly died out as many pedestrians began to feel threatened by the machines, and as municipalities passed ordinances prohibiting their use.

During the next 43 years, chiefly in England, inventors continued to explore the concept of human-powered transport, but on vehicles with three or four wheels (called "tricycles" and "quadracycles" respectively), which were thought to be more stable since they did not require the balance necessary for two-wheeled vehicles. But none of these achieved much popularity.

In the early 1860s the first true bicycle was created in Paris, France, by attaching rotary cranks and pedals to the front wheel hub of a dandy-horse. The Olivier brothers recognized the commercial potential of this invention, and set up a partnership with blacksmith and bicycle maker Pierre Michaux, using Michaux's name, already famous among enthusiasts of the new sport, for the company. They began the first mass-production of bicycles (still called "velocipedes") in 1868, as the first real bicycle craze had begun the year before, reaching full force all over Europe and America in 1868 and 1869. But exactly as with the dandy-horse, pedestrians complained about them, and the craze again faded quickly. Another factor in their demise was the extremely uncomfortable ride, because of the stiff wrought-ironframe and wooden wheels surrounded by tires made of iron –this led to the pejorative name "boneshaker", which is still used today to refer to this type of bicycle.

Again, England was the only place where the concept remained popular during the early 1870s. But the design changed drastically, with the front wheel becoming larger and larger, and with many other improvements making the ride more comfortable. This type of bicycle was known in its day as the "ordinary", but people later began calling it a "penny-farthing" because of the resemblance of its wheel sizes to the largest and smallest English copper coins of the time; it is also known as a "high-wheel". Front-wheel sizes quickly grew to as much as 5 feet (1.5 metres), and the bicycles were considered by the general public to be quite dangerous. In addition, they were expensive, and thus riders were mostly wealthy young men who formed an elite brotherhood. However, bicycle races were staged and well-attended by the public, which spread interest for the high-wheeler worldwide because of the far-flung British colonies, by the end of the decade. Albert Pope purchased Lallement's original patent and created his "Columbia" bicycle in the U.S. in 1878, and went on to manufacture thousands of bicycles.

La década de 1890 fue testigo de una de las mayores fiebres por las bicicletas, impulsada por varios avances significativos: la invención de la " bicicleta de seguridad " con su transmisión por cadena , cuyas relaciones de engranajes permitían ruedas más pequeñas sin una pérdida simultánea de velocidad, y la posterior invención del neumático de bicicleta (inflable y lleno de aire). ^{[ 1 ]} Se habían intentado experimentos con la transmisión por cadena en 1869 y 1879, pero la primera bicicleta de transmisión por cadena bien conocida fue la "Rover", producida en 1885 por John Kemp Starley . Muy pronto, la bicicleta de rueda alta pasó de moda, y multitudes de personas en todo el mundo comenzaron a montar la "bicicleta de seguridad".

El 13 de septiembre de 1892 se inauguró un ferrocarril para bicicletas entre Mount Holly, Nueva Jersey, y la empresa manufacturera HB Smith en Smithville, Nueva Jersey, durante la feria de Mount Holly, con 3.000 pasajeros en su primera semana (para divertirse en lugar de para ir al trabajo).

Coney Island quería uno, y la Exposición Mundial Colombina de Chicago también lo incluyó. Se construyeron varios más para el entretenimiento en Atlantic City , Ocean City y Gloucester City, Nueva Jersey (los dos primeros en 1893 y el último en 1894). ^{[ 2 ]}

En 1896, se produjo simultáneamente un aumento en la popularidad de la bicicleta y una grave depresión económica . ^{[ 3 ]} Las bicicletas eran uno de los pocos sectores de la economía donde las ventas crecían; la gente las compraba «independientemente de si podían permitírselas o no». ^{[ 3 ]} Esto atrajo a cientos de fabricantes al negocio de la bicicleta. ^{[ 3 ]} Este aumento en la producción resultó en una espiral descendente de saturación del mercado, exceso de oferta e intensa competencia de precios. ^{[ 3 ]} Muchos fabricantes de bicicletas, ante el exceso de inventario y precios demasiado bajos para obtener ganancias, quebraron. Varias docenas de empresas de bicicletas se fusionaron en la American Bicycle Company en 1899.

La aplicación del motor de combustión interna a la bicicleta durante la década de 1890 dio como resultado la motocicleta .

U.S. bike boom of 1965–1975: The period of 1965–1975 saw adult cycling increase sharply in popularity –with Time magazine calling it "the bicycle's biggest wave of popularity in its 154-year history"^[4] The period was followed by a sudden^[5] fall in sales, resulting in a large inventory of unsold bicycles. Seven million bicycles were sold in the U.S. in 1970.^[6] Of those, 5+1⁄2 million were children's bikes, 1.2 million were coaster brake, balloon-tired adult bicycles, and only 200,000 were lightweight 3-speed or derailleur-equipped bikes.^[7] Total bicycle sales had doubled by 1972 to 14 million –with children's bikes remaining constant at 5+1⁄2 million, adult balloon-tired bicycles falling to about 1⁄2 million, and lightweight bicycles exploding fortyfold, to 8 million.^[7]Time magazine reported in 1971 that "for the first time since the 1890s, nearly one-half of all bicycle production" was "geared for adults."^[4]

The boom received a kick start in the mid-1960s with the advent of the Schwinn Sting-Ray and other wheelie bikes. Sales reached 4 million units per year for the first time.^[8] At the height of the boom, in 1972, 1973, and 1974, more bicycles than automobiles were sold in the U.S.^[7][9]

Factors contributing to the U.S. bike boom included affordable and versatile 10-speed derailleur-gearedracing bicycles becoming widely available,^[10] the arrival of many post-World War IIbaby boomers at adulthood and demanding inexpensive transportation for recreation and exercise, and increasing interest in reducing pollution.^[4][10] The 1973 oil crisis, which increased the cost of driving an automobile, making bicycle commuting a more attractive option, is commonly assumed to have propelled the bike boom, but in fact, bicycle sales had already peaked when the crisis struck in October, 1973.^[11]

The United Kingdom experienced a mountain bike boom during the 1990s. Road bike customers were seen as reluctant to spend money, while the mountain bike market offered new features such as suspensions and materials such as carbon fibre, aluminum and titanium. The market declined coinciding with the 2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth outbreak, which made mountain biking more difficult due to land closure. Since then it has barely recovered to the level of its prime years.^[12]

In 2008, some industry analysts saw signs of surging bicycle popularity.^[13] The British press cited 2012 as a bike boom, fuelled by the successes that summer of UK cyclists in the Tour de France and at the London Olympics,^[14]Bradley Wiggins and Laura Kenny in particular,^[15] and the subsequent success in the Tour by Chris Froome.^[16]

In 2016, Simon Mottram of the cycling clothing brand Rapha traced the boom back to the after-effects of the 7 July 2005 London bombings, which closed parts of the Tube and encouraged many commuters onto bicycles. Two years later, the Tour de France started in London on the anniversary of the attack, and the following year Team GB dominated cycling at the Beijing Olympics. He also credits the financial incentive of the Cycle to Work scheme (introduced in 1999), and the increasing emphasis on health and congestion.^[16]British Cycling, the sport's governing body, claimed that over "two million people across the country now cycle at least once a week, an all-time high".^[16]Halfords, responsible for a third of bikes sold in the UK, reported an increase of sales of 11% up to March 2015.^[16] Many customers are younger men, and the most rapidly growing group is women.^[16] One of the older men, the architecture writer and cycle campaigner Peter Murray, described how business relationships are created and nurtured during longer rides; the BBC referred to cycling being "the new golf" in this sense."^[16] This led to the construction of cycle lane networks in Greater London and later Greater Manchester.

With the development of technology, the 2010s also saw the rise of bicycle-sharing systems around the world, as well as a surge in popularity for electric bicycles, or e-bikes.

2020 saw a bike boom when the COVID-19 pandemic took hold. People looked to bicycles for something to do during quarantine, exercise and as an alternative to public transportation that allowed for physical distancing to minimize the risk of infection. The increase in demand and the impairment of bicycle production worldwide led to shortages of the vehicles.^[17] This lasted up until March 2021 with the industry collapsing to 1970s level, commencing with closure of shops caused by rising costs and revenues from manufacturers declining.^{[18][19][20][21]}

• Balloonomania
• Canal mania
• Cyclability
• Railway mania
• Cars in the 1920s
• 1950s American automobile culture
• American automobile industry in the 1950s
• Bicycling and feminism
• Mamil, an acronym standing for "middle-aged man in lycra"
• Timeline of transportation technology

• Reid, Carlton (2017). Bike Boom: The Unexpected Resurgence of Cycling. Washington, DC: Island Press. ISBN 978-1-61091-817-6.

• 14 June 1971 Time Magazine article on bicycles, on the eve of the bike boom
• Graphic comparison of US auto and bike sales, 1972–2008