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Bicycle culture is a phrase with two related, but different meanings. It can be used for countries with a culture that supports, encourages, and has high bicycle usage. In countries with relatively low bicycle usage, such as the USA, it refers to the cycling subculture
Subculture

In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong....
, and related fashions and characteristics.

type of cycling culture is found in cities and countries that feature a high rate of bicycle usage, sometimes called utility cycling
Utility cycling

Utility cycling encompasses any cycling not done primarily for physical fitness, recreation such as bicycle touring, or sport such as bicycle racing, but simply as a means of transport....
, as part of their cultural identity.






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Brosen City Bicycle
Bicycle culture is a phrase with two related, but different meanings. It can be used for countries with a culture that supports, encourages, and has high bicycle usage. In countries with relatively low bicycle usage, such as the USA, it refers to the cycling subculture
Subculture

In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong....
, and related fashions and characteristics.

Integrated Cycling Culture

This type of cycling culture is found in cities and countries that feature a high rate of bicycle usage, sometimes called utility cycling
Utility cycling

Utility cycling encompasses any cycling not done primarily for physical fitness, recreation such as bicycle touring, or sport such as bicycle racing, but simply as a means of transport....
, as part of their cultural identity. Several countries have established bicycle cultures, including Denmark
Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries....
, the Netherlands
Netherlands

The Netherlands is a country that is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands is located in North-West Europe, and bordered by the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east....
, Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
, China
China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
, Bangladesh
Bangladesh

, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a country in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south....
 and Japan
Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
. It is particularly in the cities that bicycle culture is most widespread. In Copenhagen
Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban area with a population of 1,153,615 . Copenhagen is situated on the Islands of Zealand and Amager....
 and Amsterdam
Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the Capital of the Netherlands and List of cities in the Netherlands with over 100,000 people of the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands of North Holland in the west of the country....
, in particular, 37% and 40% respectively of all citizens ride their bike on a daily basis. In Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
, bicycle culture is generally regarded as meaning citizens using their bikes for commuting, running errands and dropping off children at school or kindergarten.

A city with a strong bicycle culture usually has a well-developed infrastructure
Infrastructure

Infrastructure can be defined as the basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise , or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function....
 favouring bicycles, including segregated bike lanes and extensive facilities catering to a large amount of bicycles in the urban landscape, such as bike racks at train stations.

Cycling Sub-Culture


In some countries, where transportation infrastructure is focused on automobiles, people who ride bicycles may do so as a ethical and emotional choice, and an active cycling sub-culture has developed. Examples of countries where this is the case are the USA, Canada
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
, and Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
. Bike culture is regarded as a social movement, a sub-culture in many areas, celebrating cycling as a choice, and advocating an increase in bicycle usage in the population. Bike sub-culture is a loose collection of magazines, fashion trends, websites, art, music, and community events offered by passionate bicyclists. Often these are attempts to inspire beginners, rally the faithful, and express their love of bicycling as a life choice.

Those who have made bicycling a lifestyle choice, not a mere recreational habit, often see bicycling as a movement they want to help grow to stop pollution, and build local communities. There are several paths people use to convince others to try biking: Practical improvements, Logic and Facts, and "Bike Culture".

Practical improvements include measures at the level of local government, such as bike lanes , improved parking facilities, and access to public transportation. Improvements in products that improve the bicycling experience, such as flat-resistant tires and simple, effective safety products also help encourage people to cycle. These techniques help address the common objections to bicycling: "I don't feel safe", "my tires are flat", "what if my bike gets stolen?"

Bike Culture contributors use their efforts to access the emotions that are at the heart of decision-making. Recognizing that bicycling for transportation represents a significant departure from a more established automobile-centered lifestyle, and therefore requires a strong emotional basis, Bike Culture artists, musicians, and organizers seeks to use their offerings and events to embolden these emotions, and encourage people to use bicycles as a transportation choice. Through music, art, and shared group experiences such as rides and events, bike culture aims to hit the emotions that can bring us the point of making changes in peoples daily habits and lives.

Bike culture consists of:

  • Bike Music


  • Bike Film


  • Bike Rides, often noncompetitive in nature. Includes Critical Mass
    Critical Mass

    Critical Mass is a bicycling event typically held on the last Friday of every month in over 300 city around the world. While the ride was originally founded in 1992 with the idea of drawing attention to how unfriendly the city was to bicyclists, the leaderless structure of Critical Mass makes it impossible to assign it any one specific goal...
    , Midnight Ridazz
    Midnight Ridazz

    Midnight Ridazz is a late-night group bicycle ride that celebrates bicycle culture in Los Angeles, California. The ride takes place on city streets in traffic, has no sponsors, is not sanctioned by any government agency, and does not require registration or membership in a club....
    .


  • Art Bikes, often impractical for transportation purposes or fantastical, such as tall bikes, choppers, unusual multi-person human-powered vehicles, and human powered floats.


  • Printed word: Blogs, haikus, zines and magazines, stickers, spoke cards. Books include: Thomas Stevens
    Thomas Stevens (cyclist)

    Thomas Stevens was the first person to circumnavigation by bicycle.Born to William and Ann Stevens, with an older sister Bridget and younger Jane, he became a voracious reader of travel literature and in 1872 Stevens left his parents' home and moved to the United States where he held a number of assorted jobs before becoming a miner in C...
     with his narrative "Around the World on a Bicycle," Mark Twain
    Mark Twain

    Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an United Statesmerican author and humorist. Twain is most noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which has since been called the Great American Novel, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer....
     with his essay "Taming the Bicycle" and H. G. Wells
    H. G. Wells

    Herbert George Wells , known by his pen name H. G. Wells, was an England author, best known for his work in the science fiction genre. Wells and Jules Verne are each sometimes referred to as "The Father of Science Fiction"....
     with his novel The Wheels of Chance
    The Wheels of Chance

    The Wheels of Chance is a comic novel by H. G. Wells.Plot introductionThis novel was written at the peak of what has been called the...
     are popular to bicycle culture.


  • Spoken word: Slang, rap, poetry


  • Arts and Crafts (both handmade and mass manufactured): An example of visual art is Mona Caron's Bike Mural.


Who contributes to Bike Culture: Many cities contain subculture
Subculture

In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong....
s of bicycle
Bicycle

The bicycle, bike, or cycle is a pedal-driven, human-powered transport with two bicycle wheel attached to a bicycle frame, one behind the other....
 enthusiasts, including racers, bicycle messenger
Bicycle messenger

Bicycle messengers are people who work for courier companies carrying and delivering items by bicycle. Bicycle messengers are most often found in the central business districts of metropolitan areas....
s, bicycle transportation activists, mutant bicycle fabricators, bicycle mechanics, and cyclists who share an interest in peace and justice activism or various counter-culture groups. Group activities may involve competitive cycling, fun rides, or even civil disobedience, which is how motorists may characterize the activities of Critical Mass
Critical Mass

Critical Mass is a bicycling event typically held on the last Friday of every month in over 300 city around the world. While the ride was originally founded in 1992 with the idea of drawing attention to how unfriendly the city was to bicyclists, the leaderless structure of Critical Mass makes it impossible to assign it any one specific goal...
. Some groups work to promote bicycle transportation (community bicycle program
Community bicycle program

A bicycle sharing system is an increasingly popular system whereby bicycles are made available on a large scale in a city allowing people to have ready access to these public bikes rather than rely on their own bikes....
); others fix up bicycles to give to children or the homeless, or to poor people in other countries (Bikes Not Bombs
Bikes Not Bombs

Bikes Not Bombs is a Boston, Massachusetts based bicycle project which recycles donated bicycles, trains young people to fix their own bikes and become employable mechanics and sends thousands of refurbished bikes to communities in countries such as South Africa, Ghana, and Guatemala each year since 1984....
).

Bicycle magazines and organizations give yearly awards to cities for being "bicycle friendly". US Cities known as such include Austin
Austin, Texas

Austin is the capital of the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Travis County, Texas. Situated in Central Texas and part of the Southwestern United States, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 16th-largest in the United States....
, Bolder
Boulder, Colorado

Boulder is a Colorado municipalities#Home_Rule_Municipality that is the county seat and most populous city of Boulder County, Colorado, Colorado, in the United States....
, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, and Portland
Portland, Oregon

Portland is a city located in the Northwestern United States United States, near the confluence of the Willamette River and Columbia River rivers in the state of Oregon....
 feature "bicycle culture" as part of their urban identity.

Midnight Ridazz
Midnight Ridazz

Midnight Ridazz is a late-night group bicycle ride that celebrates bicycle culture in Los Angeles, California. The ride takes place on city streets in traffic, has no sponsors, is not sanctioned by any government agency, and does not require registration or membership in a club....
 is a group of bicycle enthusiasts who ride every second Friday of the month in Los Angeles California. Riding in numbers exceeding 1000 cyclists, this ride's only political motive is to inspire more people to ride bicycles. Similar midnight rides such as the Midnight Mystery rides of Portland and Victoria, the bi-monthly Midnight Mass of Vancouver BC, and similar rides across the US and Europe have been growing in popularity.

See also

  • Car-free movement
    Car-free movement

    The car-free movement is a broad, informal, emergent network of individuals and organizations including social activists, urban planners and others brought together by a shared belief that cars are too dominant in most modern cities....
  • Critical Mass
    Critical Mass

    Critical Mass is a bicycling event typically held on the last Friday of every month in over 300 city around the world. While the ride was originally founded in 1992 with the idea of drawing attention to how unfriendly the city was to bicyclists, the leaderless structure of Critical Mass makes it impossible to assign it any one specific goal...
  • Segregated cycle facilities
    Segregated cycle facilities

    Segregated cycle facilities are roads, tracks, paths or marked lanes designated for use by cyclists from which motorised traffic is generally excluded....
  • Utility cycling
    Utility cycling

    Utility cycling encompasses any cycling not done primarily for physical fitness, recreation such as bicycle touring, or sport such as bicycle racing, but simply as a means of transport....


External links


(video of lecture)