“Bicycles are not only
thermo-dynamically efficient, they are also cheap,” says Catholic philosopher
Ivan Illich (1926-2002) in Energy and Equity (Harper Collins, 1974).
“Bicycles let people move with greater speed without taking up significant
amounts of scarce space, energy or time.”
Jody Rosen affirms Illich’s
contention in Two Wheels Good: the History and Mystery of the Bicycle
(Crown, 2022). Bikes are “a remarkably effective device for converting human
exertion into locomotion,” he writes.
Two Wheels Good is informative, though discursive.
For example, Rosen presents stories and drawings that supposedly put bicycles
in long ago settings, often associating them with angels or goddesses. In fact,
the bicycle is a recent invention, as he details. It became a practical means
of travel when wheels were teamed with ball bearings in 1869. The invention of
pneumatic tires by John Dunlop of Belfast in 1888 added to bicycle efficiency.
By the 1890s there was a bicycle mania. Rosen describes the phenomenon in
quirky style: reprinting old newspaper stories about wives who, in their
husband’s opinion, neglect the family for the sake of riding a bike.
There is a recreational use of bikes
but most riders today are workers—migrants, day laborers, couriers, students,
factory hands and those providing transportation for tourists or other workers.
“Our economies [and] our laws are
designed for cars,” Rosen states. Yet cars are killing us with accidents,
pollution and depletion of resources. Electric cars might be an improvement,
but their production causes pollution and depletion of non-renewable minerals,
he says. The world needs a “new cycling infrastructure,” Rosen insists.
Chicago Dept. of Transportation, like
in many cities, has protected bike lanes, secure bike racks, a registry to
assist recovery of stolen bikes and a bike-share program. Bikes and scooters
are widely available throughout our city, including in my decidedly non-hip
neighborhood. Our city’s electronic lock system for the bikes costs about $10
monthly.
The Chicago program is flawed. It
squeezes a bicycle culture into its firmly established auto/truck
infrastructure. Plus, in my opinion, there is potential for waste or corruption
when municipal services, like Chicago’s bike rental component, are outsourced
to private companies. Nonetheless, our city and others have made a start. The
future of work and “the fate of cities maybe predicated on bikes,” Rosen
concludes.
A bicycle culture means bike shops.
Chicago has several independent shops for sales, parts and repairs. Schwinn has
a small number of its own stores. It and other national brands are sold and
repaired at some hardware stores. Big box retail chains also carry bikes.
During the summer prior to Covid-19 I
had the opportunity to tour R-Community Bikes (www.rcommunitybikes.net)
in Rochester, NY. It is an all-volunteer operation. Its basic idea is that a
good bike takes away one obstacle to holding a job, staying in school and doing
necessary errands. Thus on each hectic Saturday morning R-Community gives away
refurbished bicycles and some tricycles—a total of 31,500 over the past 14
years. A few higher-end bicycles are sold by appointment for about $150 each.
Several churches and agencies sponsor
used-bike drives for R-Community. Needy students, workers and seniors can also
drop off their own bike for repair. I was impressed that R-Community volunteers,
mostly seniors, are sometimes joined by young adults from the neighborhood,
eager to learn the trade.
Other cities likely have non-profit
bike shops that aid the community. If you know of one, please inform me.
Droel
edits a free, printed newsletter on faith and work: INITIATIVES (PO Box 291102,
Chicago, IL 60629)
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