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Issues and Inspiration
This section of Bike Culture contains some of our favorite bits of cycling writing. Read these and you'll never be far from your bike again.
Balancing Act
Do we shape history or does history shape us? Can we understand the forces that govern this world and use them to shape the future for homo-sapiens? By RICHARD BALLANTINE
Worlds of difference
A slip-up during a radio-interview reminded JIM McGURN just how varied is the international world of cycle culture.
Decelerate
RICHARD BALLANTINE asks; 'Where are we going, and how are we going there'?
People with Brown Shoes
Why do people hate cyclists? Because they do – only some of them, true, but more than we like to think. ROBERT POOLE recounts a painful experience.
“Please let me change your life.”
It’s a daily dilemma: I ride up the side of a long, static queue of traffic, and, on my other side, past a group of people waiting at a bus stop......
Russian along with the pack.
JEFF POTTER rode a Russian bike on a journey through American attitudes to cycling.
The Fuel-Tank Flyer.
A unique recumbent trike based on the fuel tank from a decommissioned Russian fighter jet.
Entranced on the Eco-Trip
OLLI KUUISTO from Finland, human power enthusiast and solar sailer, describes the Eco-Trip, a convivial amphibious journey to demonstrate transport alternatives.
Path-ology
JIM McGURN examines the benefits of the growing networks of cycle paths
Science Fiction: Ringrider
Dinger fuhr auf dem Ring, seit MotorCor ihn gebaut hatte, und seitdem hatten sie sich gut um ihn gekümmert...
The Apple Macintosh was nearly...the Apple Bicycle!
Our thanks to CARLTON REID, founder of BikeBiz.com. for finding this.
*The Other Island
This was the summit conference, which would think up the big idea to snatch the western world out of economic crisis. Anchored off-shore were the luxury yachts of private corporations, their hospitality suites and shuttle boats constantly busy.
Why on earth do we do it?
Social conscience, protection of the environment, convenience, personal freedom. The standard arguments for cycling trip easily off the tongue. But here Dr. STEPHEN WRIGHT looks further at what motivates the dedicated cyclist.
I have seen the future and it's got pedals attached.
Englishman ROBERT POOLE experiences a very different approach to cycling on a visit to Germany.
Travelling alarm
Even holidays which include cycling are not always as eco-friendly as they seem. We compare the true costs of a range of holiday packages. JIM McGURN and ANNE BORRELLO
Nirvana and back the long way round
A guide to Cycling and Ecology. By GRAHAM BELL
Helmets or not: research findings turn up the heat
Englishman COLIN CLARKE was working in Australia when compulsory helmet laws were introduced. This prompted him to study the worldwide research on the subject, with some surprising results.
The Outsider
MIKE BURROWS gained public recognition after designing the Olympics superbike, and cyclists had been aware of his inventiveness for years before that. We talked to him about his feelings and his future.
Doctor Bike
Cycles of every kind are the medicine dispensed by Doctor COLIN GUTHRIE.
Heads & Tales
Once again, the pro-helmet lobby, consisting largely of non-cyclists, is pushing for compulsion. Never before has there been such need for facts and analysis. Confirmed helmet-wearer STEVEN McKAY looks at the latest findings. TIM KIRK helped with the research.
Cycling the Solar System
JIM McGURN finds that we often travel further than the distance we cover.
Back to the Future
The relationship between cars and pedal cycles is a long and complex one. JOHN STUART CLARK takes a sideways look.
Getting the Bikes to the People
JIM McGURN discovered that most people don’t discover just how magic cycling can be unless you put them on a saddle and say ‘Pedal!’
The machine we really need
IVAN ILLICH's incisive insights into the social and economic role of the bicycle and the wastefulness of our current transport system are an inspiration
Cycling Plus: combining cycling with other activities
"Follow your genius closely enough and it will not fail to show you a fresh prospect every hour." (Thoreau).
Critical Mass, Critical Thinking, in the USA
This piece is as relevant today as it ever was. Compiled and edited by ROBERT POOLE.
Class act
When teacher GRAHAM PATIENT brought cycling into the curriculum, school became the smart place to be.
Trouble in store
Ex-bike mechanic ALEXANDER J. BIER gives some impassioned insights into the world of bike mechanics and customers’ expectations.
The Invisibility Machine
This article by Jim McGurn first appeared in the Ecologist Magazine, in the UK
Rover’s Return
How do world travellers settle down again to their own beds? Or do they ever? LYNNE CURRY went to meet Anne Mustoe
A Convivial Life
EDGAR NEWTON writes about the life and philosoophy of Ivan Illich
Two wheels and some sticks.
JIM McGURN looks back down the highway of cycle technology, and finds that ideas and inventions of the past are still with us today.
De Motu Urbanorum
Celebrated cycling physician Dr Williams makes good use of humour. Here is an extract from an article first published in The British Medical Journal 4th Oct 75
Who owns the roads?
Historian ROBERT POOLE describes how common rights to the highways were abandoned decades ago.
The things we share
Life does not always lay itself out in happy patterns. This occurred to the two young Washington Post reporters who tracked down the Watergate culprits. They discovered that one of the President's guilty team, a suit with few scruples, was also, like them, a card-carrying bike freak. They found it very hard to take. By JIM McGURN
Touring into trouble
JOSIE DEW is a keen cycle tourist. Here she explains how she deals with the kind of harassment and problems experienced by many women cyclists
The Fantasy Man
Amsterdam-based artist ERIC STALLER has come to hope for a future that is technological yet human. Among his works, which range from large-scale architecture to whimsical mini-sculpture, there is a strong pedal-powered element, closely allied to his personal philosophy.
*Bangladesh: Rickshaw riders
In many cities of the world, the rickshaw is the only way to travel - although it's not without its cost...
Never Too Old: ‘Rickshaw Willie’ is a Hometown Hit
DAN WERNER tells the tale of Rickshaw Willie, rejuvenated by his Main Street Pedicab.
"Where are your friends..... Where is your husband...?".
The experiences of a lone female tourist.
High on bikes
JEAN ASCHER of the Copenhagen-based Circus ChangHigh describes how it all started, and how he's now part of a profitable unicycle circus with a worldwide reputation.
The Rinky Dink
The travelling pedal-powered sound system against war and injustice!
Profile: Maurice Burton
It’s Leicester’s Saffron Lane velodrome, August 1974. The newly crowned British 20 kilometre champion, Maurice Burton waves his bouquet. Sections of the crowd are booing. Is it because the champion rode a tactical race – or perhaps because his skin is a different color? By EDMOND HOOD
Family on Tricycles 1880s
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I relax by taking my bicycle apart and putting it back together again.
Michelle Pfeiffer
Cartoons
From Phil Somerville
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