Figure 1.--.Here we see an unidentified English boy on a bicycle. It is apostcar back photograph. While undated the postcard-back means it would have been taken in the 1900s decade. This could be afamily snpshot, butitcould be a portrair taken by a streer photographer. There is no informatiin in the back. We believe that the building in the backgroud was probably hus home. An it looks like a lower-middle class home. The boy looks to be a young teenager, he may be still in school. Notice the head light. It looks to be chemical and not electric.

Bikes were quite expensive during the late-19th and early-20th century. Workers might be able to afford them to go to work, but only wealthy children had them or well-to-do middle-class families. The bike industry was becoming important. Their were bicycle mechanics throughout America and Europe--more bicycle mechanics than automobile mechanics. Automobile were for a small number of wealthy families. Notice who first mastered powered flight--two bicycle mechanics in the middle of nowhere--Ohio. The roadster bicycle developed in Britain appeared (late-19th century). Major British manufacturers in England included Raleigh and BSA. Carlton, Phillips, Triumph, Rudge-Whitworth, Hercules, and Elswick Hopper also built roadsters. It proved to be the most popular of bike type, not only in Britain, but in British Empire countries and Europe (especially in the Netherlands and Denmark). It can still be seen in the developing world today. Some maintain it was the 'single most popular mechanized vehicle in the world'. After the turn-of the 20th century, children's bikes began becoming more important. They more were no longer a rarity, but still only well-situated families. Than another American fundamentally changed the role of the bicycle--Henry Ford. His low-priced Model-T made it possible for ordinary people to own an automobile. From then own the bicycle became just a recreational device--at least in America. This change took longer to develop in Europe. We see lower priced cars, but nothing like the American Model-T and its successors. Thus for a time, the bicycle played adult role. Not only a recreational role, but a range of transport roles like messengers, postmen, police, and other roles. As late as World War II, the German Army used bicycles. But we see the bicycle playing an importantly recreational role. France and Britain led the motorization of Europe. Recreational cycling was steadily increasing throughout Europe after the turn-of-the 20th century, but it began to drop off with the rise of the automobile not nearly as much as in America, but was a factor. Automobiles began to be preferred means of transportation. While not on the American scale, it was more true in Britain than the Continent. After Word War I, we see middle-class children with bikes and in the inter-War era bicycles in Britain were increasingly being seen as children's play things. This was less so in Germany where bikes were still being used by workers. After World War II, bicycles in the United States were mostly being made for children. Cycling continued be an important adult activity in Britain and Europe. We see bicycle racing, commuting, and 'cyclotouring'. After World War II with the European economic miracles, we see working-class children with bikes as well. Although Britain's failure to participate in the post-War economic miracles clouded this somewhat. Finally the average child could expect to have a bike. Both boys and girls got them. Adult use of the bicycle declined after World War II in Britain. With the rise of global warming as a major concern, biking began rising in importance in both America and Britain. The bike has become a kid of fashion statement and transportation for hip city residents.

Created: 10:20 AM 5/5/2023
Last updated: 10:21 AM 5/5/2023