Please elaborate on why you think the bicycle “merely offer convenience or entertainment”. I understand that people did not understand it’s potential and thought of it as a toy for crazy people, but wasn’t the same true for the gasoline-automobile? To me the bicycle is of great importance, not just/only for leisure, sport. I understand that the bicycle’s value depends on the distance, flatness, wind, road quality traveled, but compared to a horse (that most did not have) it is so much better.
Good point. It did evolve into more than just a convenience for many people. In the beginning, though, it was seen as a leisure activity with no real practical value. And even today its economic and social impact is not as great as, say, textile mechanization. Almost everyone on Earth wears mass-manufactured clothes; only a minority of people use a bicycle for anything other than recreation.
“only a minority of people use a bicycle for anything other than recreation”
I guess my upbringing and surrounding is special (densely populated area in north Europe), but I know plenty of people who move in no other way (shopping, vacation, commute, everything). Before the gasoline motor scooter became wide spread, and poisoned the air in Asia, people used bikes all the time.
Please elaborate on why you think the bicycle “merely offer convenience or entertainment”. I understand that people did not understand it’s potential and thought of it as a toy for crazy people, but wasn’t the same true for the gasoline-automobile? To me the bicycle is of great importance, not just/only for leisure, sport. I understand that the bicycle’s value depends on the distance, flatness, wind, road quality traveled, but compared to a horse (that most did not have) it is so much better.
Good point. It did evolve into more than just a convenience for many people. In the beginning, though, it was seen as a leisure activity with no real practical value. And even today its economic and social impact is not as great as, say, textile mechanization. Almost everyone on Earth wears mass-manufactured clothes; only a minority of people use a bicycle for anything other than recreation.
“only a minority of people use a bicycle for anything other than recreation”
I guess my upbringing and surrounding is special (densely populated area in north Europe), but I know plenty of people who move in no other way (shopping, vacation, commute, everything). Before the gasoline motor scooter became wide spread, and poisoned the air in Asia, people used bikes all the time.