Australian riders – give your ideas to a COVID-19 end of (bicycle) trip survey

Australian riders - give your ideas to a COVID-19 end of (bicycle) trip survey. Bicycles Create Change.com 20th April 2020.
Image: Bicycle Network

Bicycle Network is Australia’s biggest bike riding organization that has nearly 50, 000 members nationwide. One of the things I really appreciate about Bicycle Network is that they often undertake surveys in order to see how members and local riders feel about certain key issues. Previously this blog has shared Bicycle Network’s survey on how people feel about Australian helmet laws as well as the results of that survey and some of the flow on critiques and counterarguments the survey results stimulated. Their latest survey gauging how bike riders how they use end of trip facilities at work and if that might change because of COVID-19.

This post is an invitation for Aussie riders to contribute their ideas to help Bicycle Network create a set of guidelines for workplaces so end of trip facilities remain open and people can ride their bike to work- if you are interested – read on!

Australian riders - give your ideas to a COVID-19 end of (bicycle) trip survey. Bicycles Create Change.com 20th April 2020.
Image: Bicycle Network

Does your workplace have somewhere to store your bike and wash up after your commute? Do you wish it did? Let us know what you do when you get to work and how that might change when lockdown eases.

End of trip facilities—areas with bike parking, showers, change rooms and lockers—are a vital part of workplaces that enable people to ride a bike instead of driving or taking the train.

And it is likely end of trip facilities will become more important. New bike lanes are being installed in Australian cities and public transport is running at reduced capacity, encouraging more people ride to work.

However, end of trip facilities will need to run a little differently to before COVID-19.

Some facilities might need caps on the number of people who can use the facility at the same time and cleaning will need to be done more regularly.

Bicycle Network is producing a guide with advice for workplaces on how to manage their end of trip facilities so people can keep riding to work.

To help us make the guide we’d like people to complete a survey, tell us how their end of trip facility works and if it will affect the way they travel to work after COVID-19. 

Australian riders - give your ideas to a COVID-19 end of (bicycle) trip survey. Bicycles Create Change.com 20th April 2020.
Image: Bicycle Network

Survey, images and content in this post courtesy of Bicycle Network.

Bikespiration – 5 historical female non-riding influencers who appreciate bicycles

Bikespiration - 5 historical female non-riding influencers who appreciate bicycles. Bicycles Create Change.com 10th April 2020.

It has been a busy week and I needed a bit of a boost. As a bike rider and two-wheeled enthusiast, it’s easy for me to love bikes and share that love with others. But not everyone loves bikes as much as bike enthusiasts do. But, there are many well-known people who are not famous for their ‘bike love’, yet still appreciate the capacity and opportunities bicycles enable. So today, I wanted to do a bikespiration post that shows the significant impact bikes have for people who aren’t usually known or associated with riding bikes.

Bikespiration - 5 historical female non-riding influencers who appreciate bicycles. Bicycles Create Change.com 10th April 2020.
Helen Keller. Image: jamesray.com

1. Helen Keller – American Author & Activist

“Next to a leisurely walk I enjoy a spin on my tandem bicycle. It is splendid to feel the wind blowing in my face and the springy motion of my iron steed. The rapid rush through the air gives me a delicious sense of strength and buoyancy, and the exercise makes my pulse dance and my heart sing.”

The top of this list for me is Helen Keller (1880-1968) because she is a person very few would associate with bike riding – hence the above comments being all the more impactful! Helen Keller was a prolific author, political activist, and speaker/lecturer. She was born deaf and blind and with the support of her teacher Anne Sullivan, Helen learnt to not only communicate but was the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. Keller went on to (literally) be a world-famous voice for women’s rights, labour rights, people with diff-abilities. She was a staunch socialist and actively supported the anti-war movement. Keller’s somments are a great reminder of the embodied joys of riding a (tandem) bike with a friend!

Bikespiration - 5 historical female non-riding influencers who appreciate bicycles. Bicycles Create Change.com 10th April 2020.
Iris Murdoch. Source: Flinders Uni

2. Iris Murdoch – Irish Novelist & Philosopher

“The bicycle is the most civilized conveyance known to man. Other forms of transport grow daily more nightmarish. Only the bicycle remains pure in heart.”

Iris Murdoch (1919–1999) is a famous ‘realist’ novelist and Booker prize winner. Many of her books have been adapted for the screen and stage. Her writing exposed our moral and ethical secret lives full of ‘love, sadness, fear, lust, power … Murdoch’s strange, radical novels seethe with emotion’. She wrote 26 novels in 40 years, the last written while she was suffering from Alzheimer’s. Murdoch was also a university lecturer, Socialist and philosopher. Murdoch lived in the era when automobiles became increasingly popular and cities were being oriented to accommodate them.

Bikespiration - 5 historical female non-riding influencers who appreciate bicycles. Bicycles Create Change.com 10th April 2020.
Francis Willard. Image: US Library of Congress

3. Francis Willard – American Author & Suffragette

“Tens of thousands who could never afford to own, feed and stable a horse, had by this bright invention enjoyed the swiftness of motion which is perhaps the most fascinating feature of material life.”

“I began to feel that myself plus the bicycle equaled myself plus the world, upon whose spinning wheel we must all learn to ride, or fall into the sluiceways of oblivion and despair. That which made me succeed with the bicycle was precisely what had gained me a measure of success in life — it was the hardihood of spirit that led me to begin, the persistence of will that held me to my task, and the patience that was willing to begin again when the last stroke had failed. And so I found high moral uses in the bicycle and can commend it as a teacher without pulpit or creed. She who succeeds in gaining the mastery of the bicycle will gain the mastery of life.”

Frances Willard (1839–1898), author of “A Wheel Within a Wheel: How I Learned to Ride the Bicycle,” (1865) was a contemporary and friend to Susan B. Anthony (two below). She learned to ride a bicycle late in life and noted how dress reform was needed to do it well. Bloomers were a controversial new fashion that were better adapted for cycling than full skirts. During this momentous time, bicycles gave women freedom of movement, enabling them to leave the confides of the home.

Bikespiration - 5 historical female non-riding influencers who appreciate bicycles. Bicycles Create Change.com 10th April 2020.
Anne Strong Image: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

4. Ann Strong – American Journalist & Activist

“The bicycle is just as good company as most husbands and, when it gets old and shabby, a woman can dispose of it and get a new one without shocking the entire community.”

Ann Strong was a journalist and suffragette activist. There is not much history to be found on her except this quote which first published in the Minneapolis Tribune in 1895. This was during an era when bicycling first became widely popular and gave women increased freedom. The suffrage movement was steering a new course for women, away from traditional marriage, and the bicycle was one tool in creating this freedom. This quote has been (re) used by Frances E. Willard and many others since given its historical suffragette cheekiness.

Bikespiration - 5 historical female non-riding influencers who appreciate bicycles. Bicycles Create Change.com 10th April 2020.

5. Susan B. Anthony – American Abolitionist and Suffragette

“Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel…the picture of free, untrammeled.”

Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906) was a leader of the American women’s suffrage movement. Bicycles became wildly popular in the 1890s and ushered in a new era where women were not tied to the home. During Susan’s era, the ‘New Woman’ started wearing ‘new clothes’ (like custom made skirt/pants for riding bikes instead of heavily layered skirts), going to college, engaging in sports, and entering the workforce.

The personalities and some content here are sourced from a longer list by David Fiedler.

London’s Bicycle Library

This post is a great story of how a renovated double-decker bus is getting more Londoners on bicycles. This story comes courtesy of Inhabitat where it first appeared as a story on Architecture and was published under the title: The Bicycle Library Invites Londoners to “Borrow” Bikes Inside a Converted Double Decker Bus. What I find really exciting about this project is the array of thoughtful and useful services the London Bike Library offers. Read more about these services and more in the accompanying interview by Yuka Yoneda who interviews Karta Healy, the man who made it all happen. Such an inspirational story! Enjoy! NG.

London's Bicycle Library. Bicycles Create Change.com 5th April 2020.

London’s Bicycle Library

Most of us are no strangers to libraries where you can borrow books but what about libraries where you can borrow bikes? Well, that’s exactly what The Bicycle Library is (yeah, they didn’t get too creative with the name). Not only does this London-based business promote green transportation, it’s also situated in a converted double-decker bus.

Talk about giving re”cycling” a whole new meaning!

Inside the adapted bus, there is a “library“/gallery on the top floor with a showroom on the first level.

Londoners who need expert advice on which bike they should rent or buy can speak to an in-house “librarian” specializing in all things two-wheeled.

There’s even an array of actual books pertaining to – what else? – bicycles, on hand for reference. The first floor also boasts a shop with clothing and biking accessories.

Just as you would in a regular library, you can browse thorough different bikes, take them out and even test them out on the track outside.

There are seven types of bicycles to choose from: folding, MiniVelo, FGSS (Fix Gear Single Speed), Ladies Coaster, Mens Coaster, cargo and electric, so you’re sure to find one that’s right for you.

And if you find, after renting it for a while, that you’ve met your perfect bike match, the Bike Library even has a borrow to buy program so that you can make it your own.

London's Bicycle Library. Bicycles Create Change.com 5th April 2020.

Karta Healy Interview

Last week, we showcased the Bicycle Library, which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like, and it was so unusual that we had to get in touch with its founder and pick his brain. We needed to know what makes a person wake up one morning and want to start a library where people take out bikes instead of books – and in a revamped double-decker bus, no less?! So we caught up with Karta Healy, the driving (or should we say cycling?) force behind this mobile resource, and found out the answers to those questions and more – read on to see what he said..

How did the Bicycle Library get its start?

Karta: It all started last September, when I did a cycle fashion show extravaganza during London Fashion Week. We rented two buses to showcase all my TWOnFRO designs and my friends’ brands such as Rapha, swrve, Cyclechic, Dashing Tweed, 4TN and Brooks.

The buses were a key part of our layout of a London city street within the hallowed halls of Smithfield Market. I set up a test Bicycle Library for our guests and everyone loved it as much as me. That got me thinking…

People love the fact that the Bicycle Library makes its home inside a converted double decker bus – can you tell us about where it came from and why you decided to revamp an old vehicle instead of opening up a more traditional storefront?

Karta: I fell in love with the size and space inside these buses – they carry a certain nostalgia for all of us. From there I searched for our bus -a Leyland Olympian. I found it after 3 months in Milton Keynes. Maggie she is called, because all of her identifying marks start with M, and also because we have a great poster of Margaret Thatcher on a bicycle!

Can you tell us a little about your in-house “librarians” and your borrow to buy program?

Karta: Librarians are there to assist you with any questions, which are answered via their expertise, as well as the books and magazines in the reference library, which is a complete selection of all the best books on bicycle design, culture and history.

There is also a set of iPads to browse all of our bookmarked cycling websites, which are organized according to the 7 sub categories of bikes we advocate for the city.

The Borrow to Buy program is a rent-to-own system with an emphasis on trying many types of bikes in a week, or every week. The total days of bike borrowing is subtracted from the price of the final decision – hopefully a bike for life!

London's Bicycle Library. Bicycles Create Change.com 5th April 2020.

What is your most popular bike right now? What is your own personal favorite bike to ride?

Karta: Our most popular bike category is the electric bike by far, and we have some very special models that really give a snap of the neck with a twist of the wrist. Also, the cargo bikes are very popular, especially the Bernds model with its super-sized wicker basket. My personal favorite is my bamboo bike I built for myself – it flexes enough to soak up the shite London streets’ surfaces, and is unique enough not to be stolen… yet.

What do you think is the biggest obstacle keeping people from riding bikes and how do you think we can change that?

Karta: Each city has a different set of challenges, and London, my city, is a battlefield. Cars are keeping cyclists from multiplying, and the HGV’s are subtracting us even. Best we ban smoking tailpipes in cities, just as we have rid bars of their cigarette fumes already. There are many reasons, safety being the obvious one, due to said motorists.

Another one is image – whether tribal, lycra, or hipster, none say: “I have a real job”. The stigma of sweaty dishevelled students with a hangover on creaking bicycles, although we were all happy with that at one time, has to be outgrown. The sense of aspiration and achievement are typically forsaken for the bicycle in image only. Nowadays there are so many premium, stylish options, even e-bikes that keep you from sweating.

The other obstacle is bike theft, which must be supervised by NATO or somebody with the balls to tackle it. Studies show that when someone has their expensive shiny bike stolen, they will go out and buy one half the price, when that gets stolen, they will find the cheapest possible bike which they will hardly use, and if that gets stolen, they are back on the underground, or even worse, behind the wheel of a car. Cities need to introduce valet parking for bicycles, supervised parking areas, and even automated underground systems like the ones in place across Japan.

We couldn’t agree more! Karta makes it sound easy but we’re sure it was tough work setting up this impressive roving cycle library so congratulations to him and his crew.

Kind of makes you want to set up your own Bicycle Library in your own city, doesn’t it?

London's Bicycle Library. Bicycles Create Change.com 5th April 2020.
London's Bicycle Library. Bicycles Create Change.com 5th April 2020.

All images from Inhabitat.

New Materialism SIG: My bicycles-for-education PhD fieldwork presentation

Note: the first 2020 NM SIG gathering was held before COVID-19 social distancing and workplace lockdown came into effect – hence us meeting in person.

New Materialism SIG: My bicycles-for-education PhD fieldwork presentation. Bicycles Create Change.com 1st April 2020.
Nina riding during fieldwork in Sierra Leone

As many of you know, I am the co-convenor of a New Materialism Special Interest Group (SIG) at Griffith’s Institute for Educational Research (GIER). Each month a group of HDR candidates, Early Career Researchers and Academics meet to explore, discuss, experiment and share complex and emerging post-qualitative ideas, methods and approaches.

New Materialism is the framing I am using for my African girls’ bicycles-for-education PhD Project. To kick off the first SIG for 2020, I presented my African fieldwork.

I’ve had a few people contact me asking how the trip went. Below is a snapshot of my bicycle PhD project, the context and what I did during my PhD fieldwork in Lunsar, Sierra Leone.

Here’s some highlights of my fieldwork presentation (more details in slides below).

  • Opening: An Acknowledgement of Country, Diversity and Inclusion and that Matter Matters and thanks to the local Lunsar chiefs and the amazing people who have been instrumental in helping make this project happen.
  • Researcher positionality: Who am I and how did I come to this project
  • Research context background : 5 intersections of Girls unfreedoms
  • Girls Ed Lit Review: Current directions in NGO Literature on the topic
  • Establish Space: Key Project that opens up my research space – completed in 2010
  • Confirm & Extend: Follow up – a specific project on girls bicycle projects in Lunsar – completed 2016
  • Established gap leads into my research questions (no slide for this = top secret!)
  • My Study Design: Aims, Methodology and theoretical framing (NM)
  • Fieldwork details: Tech Matters and other research developments/considerations
  • Country context: Background to Sierra Leone (very general history & context)
  • Site Location: Background and context about Lunsar (my fieldwork location)
  • Research partnership case study: Intro to Village Bicycle Project (organization) Stylish (host/research participant/all-round incredible man!)
  • Fieldwork ‘Data’: list of all the research data/activities achieved (so busy!) and other events, opportunities and visits – so busy!
  • Present some ‘Data‘: I showed some fieldwork bike ride footage for discussion (no slide – top secret)
  • The return: Now I have returned, I outlined my next steps and questioned how/what to do to start ‘data analysis’
  • Q&A: Open discussion and suggestions on entry points for data analysis using NM approaches.

Aside from being able to share my fieldwork experiences with others, it was also great to get stuck into some rigorous academic discussions and come away with a number of productive and tangible ideas to apply for data analysis.

Most satisfying of all though, was seeing how interested people are in Sierra Leone and having the opportunity to promote and celebrate the beautiful people, places and experiences I had there.

New Materialism SIG: My bicycles-for-education PhD fieldwork presentation. Bicycles Create Change.com 1st April 2020.
Researcher positionality: Who am I and how did I come to this project
New Materialism SIG: My bicycles-for-education PhD fieldwork presentation. Bicycles Create Change.com 1st April 2020.
Research context background : 5 intersections of Girls unfreedoms
New Materialism SIG: My bicycles-for-education PhD fieldwork presentation. Bicycles Create Change.com 1st April 2020.
Girls Ed Lit Review: Current directions in NGO Literature on the topic
New Materialism SIG: My bicycles-for-education PhD fieldwork presentation. Bicycles Create Change.com 1st April 2020.
Establish Space: The Child Mobility Project – Key project that opens my research space. Completed 2010
New Materialism SIG: My bicycles-for-education PhD fieldwork presentation. Bicycles Create Change.com 1st April 2020.
Confirm & Extend: Lauren’s Hof follow up: a specific project on girls bicycle projects in Lunsar. Completed 2016
New Materialism SIG: My bicycles-for-education PhD fieldwork presentation. Bicycles Create Change.com 1st April 2020.
My Study Design: Methodology
New Materialism SIG: My bicycles-for-education PhD fieldwork presentation. Bicycles Create Change.com 1st April 2020.
Fieldwork details: Tech Matters
New Materialism SIG: My bicycles-for-education PhD fieldwork presentation. Bicycles Create Change.com 1st April 2020.
Fieldwork details: Other research developments/considerations
New Materialism SIG: My bicycles-for-education PhD fieldwork presentation. Bicycles Create Change.com 1st April 2020.
Country context: Background to Sierra Leone (very general history & context)
New Materialism SIG: My bicycles-for-education PhD fieldwork presentation. Bicycles Create Change.com 1st April 2020.
Site Location: Background and context about Lunsar (my fieldwork location)
New Materialism SIG: My bicycles-for-education PhD fieldwork presentation. Bicycles Create Change.com 1st April 2020.
Research partnership case study: Intro to Village Bicycle Project (organization) and Stylish (host/research participant/all-round incredible person!)
New Materialism SIG: My bicycles-for-education PhD fieldwork presentation. Bicycles Create Change.com 1st April 2020.
Fieldwork ‘Data’: list of all the research data/activities achieved (so busy!) and other events, opportunities and visits – so busy!
New Materialism SIG: My bicycles-for-education PhD fieldwork presentation. Bicycles Create Change.com 1st April 2020.
The return: Now I have returned, I outlined my next steps and questioned how/what to do to start ‘data analysis. Q&A: Open discussion and suggestions on entry points for data analysis using NM approaches
New Materialism SIG: My bicycles-for-education PhD fieldwork presentation. Bicycles Create Change.com 1st April 2020.
To close poem: World Bicycle Relief

Becoming Ruby: MTB, inclusion, identity & heros

Becoming Ruby. Bicycles Create Change.com 21st March 2020.

A Mountain Bike film about inclusion, identity and hand-drawn heroes.

Becoming Ruby is a personal portraiture of an MTBer, family, diversity and community.

This 18 mins film centres on Brooklyn Bell who is a mountain biker, skier and artist. In the film, she speaks about her experience of being a woman of colour in MTB and the alter-ego hand-drawn Ruby she created to help better face the world.

The film explains how Brooklyn was ‘not seeing herself reflected in the community she loves, mountain biker, skier and artist Brooklyn Bell created her own role model: a hand-drawn hero called Ruby J. With Ruby J as a guide, Brooklyn spent the next few years trying to “live like her, breathe like her, be unapologetically black like her,” and in the process shaped her own identity, one that intertwines her love for dirt, snow and art—and a voice with which to advocate for diversity and inclusion.’

As Brooklyn chats with her sister, they muse how MTBers are ‘often annoying, stuck up and rich’. Brooklyn also notes that even if you have money and access, but come from a family that doesn’t value MTB, then you are spending a tonne of money on a new bike or new skills or a climbing rack … that you are a person and part of a culture that has a ‘cognitive dissonance’ – and how isolating that can be.

Becoming Ruby. Bicycles Create Change.com 21st March 2020.

Brooklyn’s narration of what it is like to be a woman on colour in MTBing is well worth hearing. I find particularly salient her comments about music choice being a (differing) point of inclusion as opposed to acceptance.

MTB is definitely ‘white-dominated’, but ultimately for Brooklyn, ‘all that fades away and that what really matters is being connected to the dirt’.

Oh, and the beautiful cinematography of being outdoors, riding bikes and MTB trails – (*sigh*).

Becoming Ruby. Bicycles Create Change.com 21st March 2020.

Brooklyn’s closing poem says it all:

Dear Ruby,

I am strong

I am fit

I am beautiful

I am fast

I have a huge heart

And I will not give in

And I will not give up

I am comfortable in my own skin

I love to ride.

I deserve to be heard and I am here

I am here

And it is just wonderful.

All images in this post courtesy of : Becoming Ruby (film stills)

Fairy Houses and Mountain Bikes

Recently I happened to come across a YouTube video by a guy called Jonathan Wilkins.

Jon is an everyday guy who lives in the US. He is a mountain biker, runner, camper and loves a good beer.

He has a daughter called Sara who is mad about football (soccer), is an active outdoorswoman and keen musician.

Jon has been uploading short videos on YouTube for 10 years. When he first started out in 2010, he uploaded one video per month. His videos range from 11 seconds to 7 minutes and they document everyday life moments – family outings, work commutes, football highlights, music jams and Sara at various stages of growing up.

In 2019, it looks like Jon set himself a challenge to upload one video per day for the whole year. Each video is no longer than 1 minute.

The video that caught my eye was from Jon’s 2019 collection. It was the title that got my attention first. It was called Day 89: Fairy Houses and Mountain Bikes.

Fairy Houses and Mountain Bikes. Bicycles Create Change.com 13th Dec 2019.
Jon and Sara out MTB riding.

It features his daughter Sara working on a fairy house and then the pair going for a ride in the woods. Perfect!

When I watched this video, it made me smile.

This video has it all – simple pleasures, whimsical creative play, celebrating everyday moments, quality father-daughter time, trying new things (thrills, spills) and getting outdoors – and of course bikes!

I also love the juxtaposition of fairy houses and MTB –very original!

Fairy Houses and Mountain Bikes. Bicycles Create Change.com 13th Dec 2019.
Sara’s Fairy House

It always makes me so happy to see MTB dads getting out with their daughters/kids on bikes – and Jon not only does that, but also incorporates Sara’s interest in the Fairy House into the video as well. GOLD!

This video spoke to me of connection, fun, action, playfulness, diversity and inclusion.

Which is what riding bikes is all about for most riders.

I like watching MTB videos (like on Pink Bike) and appreciate the beautiful cinematography, scenery, skills and soundtracks. But equally, I can be turned off by how polished, white, male, elite rider centric most of the videos are.

I prefer videos that show a wider range of MTB experiences – like riders of all shapes, sizes, places, colours, ages and skills.

And having a twist – and the Fairy House is a great addition. I have seen a few ‘creative’ things on the side of MTB trials – why not MTB fairy houses. Why so serious?

It is also great to see the more experienced male riders – and dads in particular – genuinely encouraging more young girls/daughters to ride more.

Yup, it makes me smile.

We definitely need more videos, men, dads and riders like Jon (and Sara).

Happy riding all!

Fairy Houses and Mountain Bikes. Bicycles Create Change.com 13th Dec 2019.

All images courtesy of Jonathon Wilkins video (see above).

Ingenious Victorian cyclewear for women

Ingenious Victorian cyclewear for women. Bicycles Create Change.com 4th Dec 2019.
Image: The Guardian

This blog post comes from an email I recently received from fellow PhDer Janis. Janis’s research investigates the heritage of Queensland’s Woollen Textile Manufacturing industry, so she has a particularly keen eye for stories about fabrics and textiles. So when she saw this fabric-and-bike-related content, she sent it over to me. This content about the ingenious cyclewear Victorian women invented to navigate social mores, comes from a 2018 Guardian article by sociologist Dr Kat Jungnickel. Thanks so much for sending this through Janis!

Ingenious Victorian cyclewear for women. Bicycles Create Change.com 4th Dec 2019.
Image: Kat Jungnickel

Kat Jungnickel was researching modern-day cycling and in her interviews, people (especially women) kept mentioning the role that clothing had on cycling identity, participation and enjoyment. So she started to investigate a very particular period of UK clothing design innovation for women’s cyclewear from 1895 to 1899.

Kat has since turned her research into a book called Bikes and Bloomers. Her book and website are well worth checking out.

Dr Kat Jungnickel is a senior lecturer in sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London. More about her research, including re-creations of convertible costumes and free sewing patterns inspired by the patents, is available at her website and in Bikes & Bloomers: Victorian Women Inventors and their Extraordinary Cycle Wear, out now through Goldsmiths Press.

In her article below, Kat explains how patents by female inventors from the 1890s reveal the creative ways women made their body mobile through clothing.

Ingenious Victorian cyclewear for women

 Much has been written about the bicycle’s role as a vehicle of women’s liberation. But far less is known about another critical technology women used to forge new mobile and public lives – cyclewear. I have been studying what Victorian women wore when they started cycling. Researching how early cyclists made their bodies mobile through clothing reveals much about the social and physical barriers they were navigating and brings to light fascinating tales of ingenious inventions.

Cycling was incredibly popular for middle- and upper-class women and men in the late 19th century, and women had to deal with distinct social and sartorial challenges. Cycling exaggerated the irrationality of women’s conventional fashions more than any other physical activity. Heavy, layered petticoats and long skirts caught in spokes and around pedals. Newspapers regularly published gruesome accounts of women dying or becoming disfigured in cycling crashes due to their clothing.

Fortunately, little was going to stop women riding and they rose to these challenges in a plethora of ways. Some took to wearing “rational” dress, such as replacing skirts with bloomers. While this was safer and more comfortable for cycling, dress reform was controversial. It was not unusual for onlookers who felt threatened by the sight of progressive “New Women” to hurl insults, sticks and stones. Other women adopted site-specific strategies to minimise harassment, such as cycling in conventional fashions in town and changing into more radical garments for “proper riding”.

Some pioneering women came up with even more inventive strategies. Remarkably, some Victorians not only imagined, designed, made and wore radical new forms of cyclewear but also patented their inventions. The mid-1890s marked a boom in cycling and also in patenting, and not only for men. Cycling’s “dress problem” was so mobilising for women that cyclewear inventions became a primary vehicle for women’s entry into the world of patenting.

The patents for convertible cyclewear are particularly striking. These garments aimed ambitiously for respectability and practicality. Inventors concealed converting technologies inside skirts, including pulley-systems, gathering cords, button and loop mechanisms and more, that enabled wearers to switch between modal identities when required.

Alice Bygrave, a dressmaker from Brixton, lodged a UK patent in 1895 for “Improvements in Ladies’ Cycling Skirts”. She aimed to “provide a skirt proper for wear when either on or off the machine”. Her parents owned a watch- and clock-making shop in Chelsea and her brother and sister-in-law were professional cyclists. Her invention brings all of these influences together in an ingenious skirt with a dual pulley system sewn in the front and rear seams that adjusts height according to the needs of the wearer. Bygrave also patented her invention in Canada, Switzerland and America, and it was manufactured and distributed by Jaeger. It was a hit and was sold throughout the UK and America. It even made its way to Australia.

Ingenious Victorian cyclewear for women. Bicycles Create Change.com 4th Dec 2019.
Image: The Guardian. Patent illustrations accessed in the European Patent Office Espacenet Database.

Julia Gill, a court dressmaker from north London, registered her convertible cycling skirt in 1895. Her aim was to “provide a suitable combination costume for lady cyclists, so that they have a safe riding garment combined with an ordinary walking costume”. This deceptively ordinary A-line skirt gathers up to the waist via a series of concealed rings and cord into what Gill called a “semi-skirt”. The lower flounce, when made from similar material to the jacket, creates a stylish double peplum. The inventor also recommended combining the skirt with some rather splendid “fluted or vertical frilled trowsers”.

Ingenious Victorian cyclewear for women. Bicycles Create Change.com 4th Dec 2019.
Image: The Guardian. Patent illustrations accessed in the European Patent Office Espacenet Database.

Mary and Sarah Pease, sisters from Yorkshire, submitted their patent for an “Improved Skirt, available also as a Cape for Lady Cyclists” in 1896. As the name suggests, this is two garments in one – a full cycling skirt and a cape. The wide waistband doubles as a fashionable high ruché collar. This garment is one of the more radical designs of the period because the skirt completely comes away from the body. Cyclists wanting to ride in bloomers could wear it as a cape or use the gathering ribbon to secure it to handlebars, safe in the knowledge they could swiftly replace the skirt should the need arise.

Ingenious Victorian cyclewear for women. Bicycles Create Change.com 4th Dec 2019.
Image: The Guardian. Patent illustrations accessed in the European Patent Office Espacenet Database.

Henrietta Müller, a women’s right’s activist from Maidenhead, registered her convertible cycling patent in 1896. Unusually, the inventor addressed an entire three-piece suit – a tailored jacket, an A-line skirt that can be raised in height via loops sewn into the hem that catch at buttons at the waistband, and an all-in-one undergarment combining a blouse and bloomer. Müller was committed to the idea of progress for women, and not content with trying to fix one element when she could see problems with the entire system. She was acutely aware of the politics and practicalities of pockets for newly independent mobile women. As a result, this cycling suit features five pockets, and Müller encouraged users to add more.

Ingenious Victorian cyclewear for women. Bicycles Create Change.com 4th Dec 2019.
Image: The Guardian. Patent illustrations accessed in the European Patent Office Espacenet Database.

These inventions are just some of the fascinating ways early female cyclists responded to challenges to their freedom of movement. Through new radical garments and their differently clad bodies they pushed against established forms of gendered citizenship and the stigma of urban harassment. Claiming their designs through patenting was not only a practical way of sharing and distributing ideas; it was also a political act.

These stories add much-needed layers and textures to cycling histories because they depict women as critically engaged creative citizens actively driving social and technical change. Importantly, they remind us that not all inventions are told through loud or heroic narratives. These inventors put in an awful lot of work to not be seen. They were successful in many ways, yet the nature of their deliberately concealed designs combined with gender norms of the time means they have been hidden in history – we have yet to find any examples in museums.

As such, they raise questions: what else don’t we know about? How can we look for other inventions hidden in plain sight? And if we learn more about a wider range of contributors to cycling’s past, might it change how we think about and inhabit the present?

Ingenious Victorian cyclewear for women. Bicycles Create Change.com 4th Dec 2019.
Image: Kat Jungnickel

Pro cyclists overtaken by local farmer

Video: Youtube RM Videos

Sometimes after a busy week like the one I’ve just had, all I want is a quick happy bike story fix.

This week, I revisited Luis, the local Colombian farmer who effortlessly overtook a group of ‘pro’ road cyclists up a hill while they were attempting a world record.

It a simple story that many cyclists love.

Here’s what happened:  Two road cyclists, Axel Carion (French) and Andres Fabricius (Swedish) were trying to break the current world record (58 days) to ride the whole length of South America (7,450 miles in total).

While in Antioquia (Colombia), they were struggling up a particularly steep hill, when local farmer Luis rode up behind them and then continued to sail past them on his old clunker wearing only a shirt and denim jeans.

The pro cyclists in full lycra and on high-end bikes couldn’t believe their eyes!

He gives them a friendly nod as he overtakes them and just keeps going about his business – GOLD!

Apparently, Luis rides 62 miles every day around his hilly surrounds – which explains why he is so fit and could so effortlessly overtake them.

Pro cyclists on the rivet overtaken by a local farmer. Bicycles Create Change.com 26th Nov 2019.
Image: The Daily Mail – CEN/Biking Man

I know it is a clique, but I still love the idea of a local on a clapped-out bike creaming professional cyclists all decked out in lycra on high-end bikes. It just makes me happy.

It totally speaks to my it-doesn’t-matter-who-you-are-just-get-on-a-bike-and-ride approach to biking.

It’s also a good reminder for all riders not to take themselves too seriously.

For all those Luis’s out there…. we need you!!

Keep being amazing and ride on!

Pro cyclists on the rivet overtaken by a local farmer. Bicycles Create Change.com 26th Nov 2019.
Image: The Daily Mail – CEN/Biking Man

This story was first published by The Daily Mail.

International Cycling Safety Conference (ICSC2019)

International Cycling Safety Conference 2019. Bicycles Create Change.com 17th Nov 2019.
Image: ICSC 2019

This week the best minds working on cycling safety are coming to my home town!

The 8th International Cycling Safety Conference (ICSC2019) is being held in Brisbane this week on the 18-20 November 2019 at QUT.

This is the first time this conference has been held in Australasia.

This event is hosted by the Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety-Queensland (CARRS-Q).

Included among the delegates attending are Australian and international keynote speakers, advocacy groups, researchers, practitioners, businesses and policymakers.

This conference includes research presentations, workshops, technical tours, poster presentations, networking opportunities and other social events.

What is on?

The conference goes for 3 days and is jam-packed full of sessions.

The program also boasts a host of international guests, with delegates coming in from the Netherlands, New Zealand, Denmark, Japan, Norway, USA, Sweden, Canada and as the host country – Australia has a very strong representation from pretty much every University nationwide.

Presentation sessions are discussing ideas such as: obstacle avoidance manoeuvres, e-scooters/e-bikes, infrastructure challenges, rider/pedestrian conflicts, traffic control, crash data, bikeshare data and social media interfaces, and lane marking/intersection analysis, bicycle delivery modalities, and studies using agent-based modelling – and more!

I ‘m not attending this conference because I prefer to focus on the positive aspects of bicycle riding – which of course safety is part of…I just don’t want to be constantly working with ‘negatives’ such as crash figures, injuries and traffic hot zones and contestations – also crunching quantitative data is not my strongest research skill. But I appreciate that this is super interesting to many cycling researchers and policymakers. Such conversations and information sharing is critical to progressing more innovative solutions to cycling dilemmas and to increase the take up of biking universally.

International Cycling Safety Conference 2019. Bicycles Create Change.com 17th Nov 2019.
Meet the posters authors event. Tuesday 19th Nov. ICSC 2019.

Daily synopsis

Monday is the first conference day. The day is split into four sessions under two main streams: Workshops and Technical Tours. The two workshops offered are: Low-cost infrastructure for low cycling countries and Using bikes for all kinds of deliveries. Concurrently there are 5 technical tours: Inner City (x 2), Riverside, Bicentennial Bikeway and Connecting the infrastructure. The evening is the Welcome Reception and Stakeholder Dinner.

Tuesday before morning tea is official registrations, Introduction and Opening Keynote Trends and innovation research in cycling safety by Prof Christopher Cheery (Uni of Tennessee, USA).

Then there are 2 rooms running concurrent 20 min presentation sessions all the way up to afternoon tea except for a Conference Plenary and another Keynote Cycling Infrastructure: if you build it, will come? (and will they be safe?) by Dr Glen Koorey (ViaStrada, NZ) after lunch.

Tuesday afternoon session has two 1-hour Rapid Oral Presentation sessions followed by Meet the Poster Author’s Function and then the official Conference Dinner.

Wednesday morning opens with a Conference Panel session entitled Arising trends & challenges: what, why & how. Then a full day of 1-hour and 20 min concurrent presentation sessions all the way up to 4.30pm… Phew – what a long day!

At 4.30 it is ICSC Awards and official conference close. The final official event is the Peoples’ Night from 5pm.

Then it’s party time!

International Cycling Safety Conference 2019. Bicycles Create Change.com 17th Nov 2019.
Image: ICSC 2019

People’s Night

For the first time, the ICSC community is inviting the general public to attend the Cycling Conference free People’s Night.

I love the idea of a conference having a ‘People’s Night.’ Every conference should have one!

This is a unique opportunity to meet, discuss and network with conference delegates, check out the digital research poster, hear about some of the latest innovations, technology, infrastructure, developments, trends and findings in cycling safety research.

This event is offered in the spirit of the conference guiding principle to share cycling safety research with ALL stakeholders – which I think is a great move. Not everyone is interested or can afford the money or time to attend the whole conference, but to open up your doors and invite the local public an opportunity to interact with delegates is a very smart move – good for the conference, good for the locals!

I’ll be heading in for this event, so if you are in Brisbane on Wednesday night, I might see you there! If you would like to attend you can RSVP via the ICSC FB page HERE. Details below.

Date: Wednesday 20 November
Time: 5pm-6.30pm
Venue: The Cube, P Block, QUT Gardens Point Campus, Brisbane
Cost: Free
Inclusions: Complimentary food and non-alcoholic beverages

If you are riding your bike in and around Brisbane this week, check out the ICSC. Always good to get the latest intel of what is happening in the cycling world!

Hopefully, the safer it is to ride a bike, the more people will ride.

If that is the case, get ya conference on ICSC 2019!!

International Cycling Safety Conference 2019. Bicycles Create Change.com 17th Nov 2019.
Image: ICSC 2019

Adelaide Bike Art Trail

Adelaide Bike Art Trail. Bicycles Create Change.com 9th Nov 2019.
Image: Weekend Notes

Bike art trails have been featured previously on this blog in various conceptions.

They include Dubbo’s unique Animals on Bikes paddock art tourist trail in NSW and London’s interactive community bike art installation Bow Bells Ring by Colin Priest.

For this post, we travel to the beautiful city of Adelaide.

Adelaide’s Bike Art Trail project has 10 public art installations by four different artist/teams dotted around Adelaide on bike paths.

The idea behind this project is to use the art map to ride around and see each of the artworks which are located at key landmarks and tourist locations around the city.

A unique feature of this project is that some of the artworks have been incorporated into – or as – an actual bike rack as well as other being installed alongside bike paths. Although an interesting idea, I doubt cyclists would actually use the bike rack art to lock up their bikes. I’ve never seen any bikes locked up to them. The art bike racks seem more designed for aesthetics, public curiosity or as talking points. Even so, it is still good to see some colour, design and funding being invested to enhance local bike experiences.

These artworks were commissioned by the City of Adelaide, with assistance from the Government of South Australia, through Arts SA.

Adelaide Bike Art Trail. Bicycles Create Change.com 9th Nov 2019.
Map of artwork locations. Image: City of Adelaide

What are the artworks?

1. Onion Rings by Greg Healey and Gregg Mitchell (Groundplay) – Grote St.

Greg Healey and Gregg Mitchell’s simple organic form references an onion. Adelaide Central Market is an incredibly popular destination. At 1.8m high, this work commands a significant presence in the streetscape. The circular form also allows several bikes to be locked to it

2. Play Here by Deb Jones and Christine Cholewa – Hutt St.

Hutt Street is a busy urban place in Adelaide that has a strong café, art and design culture. As soon as Deb Jones and Christine Cholewa saw the site they knew it needed some bold graphics. Somewhere that was a special place to lock your bike but also somewhere that could hold its own against the backdrop of the local TAB and the two nearby banks. 

Deb and Christine took their inspiration from the roads, airports, helipads and line markers of the world. They played with the predictable seriousness and colour tone that line marking usually delivers and added a few tertiary colours and a ‘you are here’ sign that reassures the person sitting on the bench close by of where they are

Adelaide Bike Art Trail. Bicycles Create Change.com 9th Nov 2019.
Onion Ring. Image Weekend Notes

3. Perspective by Deb Jones and Christine Cholewa – Tandanya, – Grenfell St.

Deb Jones and Christine Cholewa wanted their bike rack/artwork to be a gentle reminder:

  • that someone has been here before
  • that time will change your perspective
  • that we are inexorably linked to the land and the sky.

They have installed two differently shaped bike racks. Each bike rack has a shadow of a bike sandblasted into the ground below it, as if the bike is still there. Drawn from actual shadows, the shadow images indicate different times of the day; one long shadow for early morning and the shortened shadow for early afternoon.

4. Fashionistas by Greg Healey and Gregg Mitchell Groundplay) – Rundle St.

Rundle Street is fast becoming a high street fashion shopping destination and a pair of interlinked coat hangers not only acknowledges, but celebrates this. 

Shaping the hooks of the hangers into heads is intended to give them character and pay homage to Joff and Razak of Miss Gladys Sym Choon, recognised pioneers of fashion and of Rundle Street Culture.

Adelaide Bike Art Trail. Bicycles Create Change.com 9th Nov 2019.
Image: City of Adeliade

5. Branchrack by Deb Jones and Christine Cholewa – Botanic Gardens Entrance.

The Botanic Garden is a place that celebrates plants. Deb Jones and Christine Cholewa wanted to make a bike rack using plant materials, however, that wouldn’t last very long so they opted for the next best thing: a bike rack made from bronze, cast directly from a tree branch. 

When they visited the site and saw the row of existing standard bike racks, they decided to model the branch rack similar in form to the standard racks so that the artwork blend in and come as a surprise at the end of the bike rack line.

6. Camouflage by Karl Meyer (Exhibition Studios) – Adelaide Zoo.

This artwork was inspired by animal themes and connects with the diversity of animals within the zoo. Evoking childhood memories, it invites the user or passerby to ponder the relationship between ourselves and other animals. Playing with scale and colour, capturing the essence of the richness in diversity, the satin surface finish and smooth form is designed to invite touch, exploration and connection.

The work subtly embraces the cycling narrative with it spacing and orientation to the existing brightly coloured rack. Within the entry plaza the form and colour is conceived to integrate and complement the landscaping and forms. In contrast to the bright yellow bike racks within the space, the circular shapes seek to connect with bicycles wheels and animal diversity.

Adelaide Bike Art Trail. Bicycles Create Change.com 9th Nov 2019.

7. FORK! by Karl Meyer (Exhibition Studios) – Melbourne St.

The artwork seeks to connect with the contemporary cafe and food culture and as a free standing element. 

The Melbourne Street precinct is a vibrant blend of retail, residential and business. The pavements bustle and the area is well known as a popular eating place offering a range of restaurants. The artwork seeks to affirm the cafe scene, to entertain and provoke enquiry and is seen to be a statement to the independence and identity of Melbourne Street as a destination within the broader context of Adelaide.

8. Ms Robinson by Tanya Court – O’Connell St.

The current resurgence of the animal print trend is captured in ‘Mrs. Robinson’. Leopard prints are used as the basis to modify standard stainless steel bike racks, transforming our impoverished urban realm with the most exotic of animal simulations.

Adelaide Bike Art Trail. Bicycles Create Change.com 9th Nov 2019.
Image: Weekend Notes

9. Paper Bag by Michelle Nikou – North Terrace SA Museum

The location and the numerous ‘heads on plinths’ that line North Terrace generated the concept for this work. ‘Brown Paper Bag‘ is a contemporary and quirky take on ‘the establishment of success’. 

Michelle Nikou considered shyness, anonymity and the feeling of not wanting to be seen – or perhaps even negating the pressure to be great when creating this work. Whilst the work does have a serious undercurrent it is also, perhaps foremost, humorous and playful. There is something most charming about little people who play with the anonymity of putting a brown paper bag over their heads–moving in circles and bumping into things.

10. Parking Pole by Michelle Nikou – Hindley St.

This work of Michelle Nikou will mirror what exists beside it but perform a ‘softening of the rules’. It was not possible to construct a conceptually difficult work in such a fast paced zone, however, in the most gentle of ways Michelle hopes to shift perception with ambience of material and humour. 

Bronze always says ART and in this way the material is able to insert itself into a ‘dictated space’: changing the paradigm and presenting no rules. From the experience of having parked in the spaces just near this zone, Michelle realised they require some inspection to avoid a fine. Adding to the mix of that inspection is a blank – a blank parking pole and signs made from traditional artists’ materials, it has no instruction on it and therefore remains a space to project oneself on to, appreciable in today’s graphically overloaded world.

Adelaide Bike Art Trail. Bicycles Create Change.com 9th Nov 2019.
Image: ArtsHub

Details of each artwork from City of Adelaide blog.