Despite legislative progress, accessible cities remain elusive

Amid a complex web of disability civil rights legislation in Canada and the United States, one could easily be lulled into thinking that the work is done. Some of this legislation is now several decades old; more recent additions ...

Evaluating the ecological impacts of mountain biking

Mountain biking is one of the most popular leisure activities today. Sport ecologists at the University of Bayreuth have now compiled and evaluated a wide range of previously published findings on the ecological consequences ...

Women want to ride a bike without fear of injury and harassment

Despite the health and environmental benefits of getting on a bike, in Melbourne, twice as many men ride bikes as women. A new study by Monash University has uncovered both why this is the case, and how it can be reversed.

Pop-up lanes boost bicycle traffic and air quality

In the course of the pandemic many European cities seized the opportunity to accelerate the transition towards more sustainable urban mobility. Moving with the times, planners in Berlin created a number of pop-up bike lanes. ...

What makes a healthy city?

Assistant Professor of Urban Planning and Spatial Analysis Geoff Boeing is part of an international team of researchers who recently published a series in The Lancet Global Health on how to create healthy and sustainable ...

Can greater access to e-bikes get more people biking?

Replacing more car trips with bike trips can be a great way to reduce carbon emissions, but biking can be tough if you have physical limitations, have a long way to travel or just don't want to get sweaty on your way to work. ...

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Bicycle

A bicycle, also known as a bike, pushbike or cycle, is a human-powered, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A person who rides a bicycle is called a cyclist, or bicyclist.

Bicycles were introduced in the 19th century and now number about one billion worldwide, twice as many as automobiles. They are the principal means of transportation in many regions. They also provide a popular form of recreation, and have been adapted for such uses as children's toys, adult fitness, military and police applications, courier services and bicycle racing.

The basic shape and configuration of a typical upright bicycle has changed little since the first chain-driven model was developed around 1885. However, many details have been improved, especially since the advent of modern materials and computer-aided design. These have allowed for a proliferation of specialized designs for particular types of cycling.

The invention of the bicycle has had an enormous impact on society, both in terms of culture and of advancing modern industrial methods. Several components that eventually played a key role in the development of the automobile were originally invented for the bicycle, including ball bearings, pneumatic tires, chain-driven sprockets, and spoke-tensioned wheels.

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA