General Cycling Discussion - A world without bicycles...

What would the world be like without bicycles? (This is not a question for people who cannot possibly conceive of such a world, like Badger.)

1. People who now ride bicycles might drive cars instead (ECHH!)
2. The National Center for Bicycling and Walking would be the National Center for Walking and would probably therefore not exist.
3. There would be no justification for urban bike paths
(a plus.)
4. Mike Stone would have an empty garage and would be spending more time with his wife.
5. Badger would be fat, but he would be doing much better in school and be sleeping better, too.
6. Lance Armstrong who?
7. Joe Gardner would be moderating the website, "SnowboardingForums.com."
8. Pete Clark would be a chubby, nerdy little squirrel.
9. Who KNOWS what Cambronne would be doing.

Would be a sad sad world, me thinks

A world without bicycles... that would be the whole of human history, up to the mid XIX century. Grim. All we had were horses. Horses are much better than mountain bikes on debris strewn singletrack, but they don't get around velodromes in anything resembling an elegant and effortless manner. Plus, they bite.

The bicycle was invented by home-skilled engineers who were desperately sick of cruising round on skittish, noisy, feed-me-all-the-time, smelly beasts, who left mountains of poo in their wake, making a discarded Goo packet here & there seem almost a welcome relief.

The first bikes were of wood and iron, so one had termites and rust to combat, they weighed upwards of 200#, and would top out at about 3mph, plus, they had no pedals.

Still, the general consensus was "cool, no more poo!"

Had the bicycle not been invented, The Tour de France would be one killer footrace, Campagnolo would be making toasters and dishwashers, "bicycle" couriers would be shot from cannons, Lance would be running a Radio Shack store somewhere in Texas, and I, no longer having the intense physical release that comes from bicycling, would have taken that job as a mob hit-man.

Oh, and we'd all be up to our armpits in horsesh*t!

Originally posted by Cambronne
Had the bicycle not been invented, [...] Campagnolo would be making toasters and dishwashers...

Or maybe Campagnolo would be making operating systems and we'd all enjoy our computers a lot more!

I saw a documentary on PBS that stated, among other things, that the modern US highway system owes its beginnings, not to cars, but to the bicycle craze of the very late 19th century, which prompted the first smooth roads to be built.

So maybe motorists should pay a tax to bicycle companies.

And they could rebate it to purchasers of bikes....

Originally posted by JonR
I saw a documentary on PBS that stated, among other things, that the modern US highway system owes its beginnings, not to cars, but to the bicycle craze of the very late 19th century, which prompted the first smooth roads to be built.

Don't forget that Dunlop and Michelin owe their first fortunes to the introduction of pneumatic tires for bicycles, long before cars were anything more than a strange, rich person's extravagant eccentricity.

Originally posted by Pete Clark
What would the world be like without bicycles?

Life as we know it would end, and besides that, it would totally suck.

Originally posted by Ba-Dg-Er

That's an understatement... what would I do with all my free time?

Badger, last I heard you didn't have any free time, so what free time are you talking about?
But just in case, you could make homemade bread and get fat like Pete...:cry:

A world without bicycles would really suck. I'd get so bored that I'd probably take up... well, god only knows what! Hell, I might even respect motoring primates! In fact, I could even be one!

Like I said, the world would really suck! :cry:

chris

Originally posted by Cambronne
The bicycle was invented by home-skilled engineers who were desperately sick of cruising round on skittish, noisy, feed-me-all-the-time, smelly beasts, who left mountains of poo in their wake...

...we'd all be up to our armpits in horsesh*t!
Ah, that's right!

A world without bicycles would be a world without horse-poop.

Still some people lost their jobs over that. Seen any of those, "poo wagons" lately? (no, not "antique" cars that are exempt from emissions inspections.)