“Handing over a bank note is enough to make a bicycle belong to me, but my entire life is needed to realise this possession.”
THIS ASSESSMENT of the impact and potential of the bicycle is attributed to French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre by cycling advocate and author Robert Penn in his book Its All About The Bike – The Pursuit of Happiness on Two Wheels. In it and an accompanying television documentary, Penn relates in near evangelical terms the story of handing over very many bank notes as he journeys around the world gathering the best parts to build his dream bike. Simultaneously, he traces the extraordinary sociological impact of what is the most popular form of transport in history.
Of course – as demonstrated by Conor Pope in last week’s Pricewatch section – cost is not the only issue when it comes to cycling (though lock up your wallet if the bicycle bug bites). Ahead of National Bike Week, which began on Saturday, he tested a range of models, from a €1,500 electric bike to a €1,200 Dutch-made version complete with “granny frame”. He also tried the ugly duckling but eminently practical model used by the Dublin Bike Scheme which is available for rental (subject to conditions) for €10 a year. However, his favourite was a €150 reconditioned hybrid, made by Dublin-based Rothar from parts left to die around the city.
Whatever your choice – steel, alloy or carbon, commuter or racer – the bike remains the great liberator in a grand tradition that has changed remarkably little since the original design emerged in the late 1800s. Fashions have come and gone and the influence of the bicycle has waxed and waned. It has been a means of mass transportation, extending human horizons; it has been a workhorse, a leisure activity and a sport. And for a period, its popularity was undermined by the advent of the car. But it never went away.
Now the bicycle is on the rise again as a new generation discovers its virtues: as a reliable and efficient means of urban transport, as the ultimate form of independent travel and as a tonic for body and mind. The bicycle is the great enabler, only limited by fitness and imagination.
To borrow another quote from Penn's book, this time from Patrick Kavanagh's Inniskeen Road: July Evening:
“A road, a mile of kingdom, I am king
Of banks and stones and every blooming thing.”