What do you think?
Rate this book
Bike Battles: A History of Sharing the American Road
Americans have been riding bikes for more than a century now. So why are most American cities still so ill-prepared to handle cyclists? James Longhurst, a historian and avid cyclist, tackles that question by tracing the contentious debates between American bike riders, motorists, and pedestrians over the shared road. "Bike Battles" explores the different ways that Americans have thought about the bicycle through popular songs, merit badge pamphlets, advertising, films, newspapers and sitcoms. Those associations shaped the actions of government and the courts when they intervened in bike policy through lawsuits, traffic control, road building, taxation, rationing, import tariffs, safety education and bike lanes from the 1870s to the 1970s.
Today, cycling in American urban centers remains a challenge as city planners, political pundits, and residents continue to argue over bike lanes, bike-share programs, law enforcement, sustainability, and public safety. Combining fascinating new research from a wide range of sources with a true passion for the topic, Longhurst shows us that these battles are nothing new; in fact they're simply a continuation of the original battle over who is - and isn't - welcome on our roads.
Watch the trailer.
Today, cycling in American urban centers remains a challenge as city planners, political pundits, and residents continue to argue over bike lanes, bike-share programs, law enforcement, sustainability, and public safety. Combining fascinating new research from a wide range of sources with a true passion for the topic, Longhurst shows us that these battles are nothing new; in fact they're simply a continuation of the original battle over who is - and isn't - welcome on our roads.
Watch the trailer.
306 pages, Hardcover
First published March 18, 2015
6 people are currently reading
323 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
October 19, 2015
Interesting. The American road from the perspective of bicyclists, mostly, but also pedestrians. A good socio-cultural history of the bicycle and the road.
In the eighteen-eighties, city people shared the road with horses, carriages, omnibuses, streetcars, street vendors, pedestrians and bicyclists. But just thirty years later, the more powerful automobile began to bully everything else off the public roads, which marginalized other forms of transportation, even though bicycle rights to the road predated those of the car.
Cities became autocentric, which may be the biggest urban policy and planning mistake. In hindsight, we lost the balance of transportation. Public roads became the battlegrounds of mismatched competitors, wrote James Longhurst, an historian of urban environmental policy.
The problem grows from an imperfect allocation of the road. This is a problem as old as human cities, wrote Longhurst. But thinking of the road as a common resource elevates us to see the big picture. And that could lead to a utopia — cities given over to cyclists, pedestrians and public transit, where café culture replaces car culture.
While the law recognizes the rights of bicyclists, it is the budget allocations, design of the roads and America's car culture that favor the automobile driver. This book focuses on public debates over government action that influenced practical bicycling in American cities.
As an urban pedestrian, I share more in common with the bicyclist than the car driver. But the sidewalk has become a battleground as bicyclists weave without signaling between pedestrians, even on streets with bike lanes. Longhurst describes civil times when bicyclists would ring their bell or dismount when approaching pedestrians.
Longhurst traces the ebb and flow of the bicycle's popularity. In the modern era, counterculture hippies of the sixties and seventies agreed with the 1973 book Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered by E F Schumacher. He discussed small, human-scale and appropriate technologies, which included the bicycle.
This April article turned me on to the book: http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsi...
Bike Battles pairs well with Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time.
For a detailed discussion about urban planning mistakes that led to the autocentric city and ways to undo it, see Planning Chicago, published by the American Planning Association.
Dad trained me on a 1950s Schwinn coaster bike. Fond memories of that and the day that the training wheels came off. As a young adult, I bought a three-speed Schwinn. It worked well, riding it from the newsroom to events while working as a reporter in the seventies, although that set me off as an edgy radical. A bad and broken knee ended my bike riding twenty-two years ago.
In the eighteen-eighties, city people shared the road with horses, carriages, omnibuses, streetcars, street vendors, pedestrians and bicyclists. But just thirty years later, the more powerful automobile began to bully everything else off the public roads, which marginalized other forms of transportation, even though bicycle rights to the road predated those of the car.
Cities became autocentric, which may be the biggest urban policy and planning mistake. In hindsight, we lost the balance of transportation. Public roads became the battlegrounds of mismatched competitors, wrote James Longhurst, an historian of urban environmental policy.
The problem grows from an imperfect allocation of the road. This is a problem as old as human cities, wrote Longhurst. But thinking of the road as a common resource elevates us to see the big picture. And that could lead to a utopia — cities given over to cyclists, pedestrians and public transit, where café culture replaces car culture.
While the law recognizes the rights of bicyclists, it is the budget allocations, design of the roads and America's car culture that favor the automobile driver. This book focuses on public debates over government action that influenced practical bicycling in American cities.
As an urban pedestrian, I share more in common with the bicyclist than the car driver. But the sidewalk has become a battleground as bicyclists weave without signaling between pedestrians, even on streets with bike lanes. Longhurst describes civil times when bicyclists would ring their bell or dismount when approaching pedestrians.
Longhurst traces the ebb and flow of the bicycle's popularity. In the modern era, counterculture hippies of the sixties and seventies agreed with the 1973 book Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered by E F Schumacher. He discussed small, human-scale and appropriate technologies, which included the bicycle.
This April article turned me on to the book: http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsi...
Bike Battles pairs well with Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time.
For a detailed discussion about urban planning mistakes that led to the autocentric city and ways to undo it, see Planning Chicago, published by the American Planning Association.
Dad trained me on a 1950s Schwinn coaster bike. Fond memories of that and the day that the training wheels came off. As a young adult, I bought a three-speed Schwinn. It worked well, riding it from the newsroom to events while working as a reporter in the seventies, although that set me off as an edgy radical. A bad and broken knee ended my bike riding twenty-two years ago.
January 14, 2017
There are a number of points in this work that made me grunt, "Huh." That doesn't mean a great deal out of context but (no brag, just fact) I've read a lot of material about bicycle history and its relationship to urban design and growth. All that to say, Longhurst found material that I had not seen before or had not thought of in the context in which he presents it. That's a very good thing.
The thing that has stayed uppermost in my mind is the way the League of American Wheelmen (LAW), from their inception, promoted bicycling as an activity for social elites that should be defended from the hoi polloi at all costs.
With that came a concomitant racism that forbade any but Caucasian membership. The greater effect of this policy was to prevent black racer from participating in sanctioned races. Look for a history of Major Taylor to get the broader view of that.
Both of the above policies were very much a reflection of the times. The LAW was very much a creature of their times. Unfortunately, these policies also made the LAW inflexible and completely incapable and unwilling to adapt to the cultural changes around them. One result was the eventual death of the organization.
That loss of the only national bicycle advocacy organization by 1915 led to a failure to guide the direction of the growth of national transportation infrastructure and control systems created for the use of that infrastructure. The bicycle, as a result, entered a kind of transportation limbo in which it was simultaneously a vehicle and a device, one subject to rules of the road, the other banned from the road itself.
Fifty-five years later, the reborn LAW maintained an updated version of the elitism of the late-19th and early-20th centuries with the introduction of "vehicular cycling" and John Forester's vehement opposition to separate bicycle infrastructure. The schism this created within bicycling created another situation in which the organization was rendered ineffectual in guiding policy at the national level.
Fortunately, the once-again-reborn organization, now the League of American Bicyclists (LAB), has abandoned strict vehicularism and has become adept at maintaining its identity while adjusting to current cultural norms.
Least I be misunderstood, this work is about a great deal more than the LAW/LAB. It does an excellent job tracing and illuminating a select number of pivotal aspects of the growth of the US transportation system, the creation of the Good Roads movement and some of the necessary compromises needed to achieve its goals, the effects of the rise of the motor vehicle, how World War Two helped reshape the bicycle from a child's toy to a legitimate transportation vehicle, and the subsequent post-War return to bicycle as child's toy. Longhurst looks at a wide array of sources and media to build his case and does so very well.
"Bike Battles" is a well rounded look at a select number of policy challenges in the US affecting the bicycle and its relationship to transportation systems and culture. I would have given it a 4.5 if I had been able to do so. If you are interested in bicycle history and how it relates to larger issues of transportation this is a book well worth reading.
The thing that has stayed uppermost in my mind is the way the League of American Wheelmen (LAW), from their inception, promoted bicycling as an activity for social elites that should be defended from the hoi polloi at all costs.
With that came a concomitant racism that forbade any but Caucasian membership. The greater effect of this policy was to prevent black racer from participating in sanctioned races. Look for a history of Major Taylor to get the broader view of that.
Both of the above policies were very much a reflection of the times. The LAW was very much a creature of their times. Unfortunately, these policies also made the LAW inflexible and completely incapable and unwilling to adapt to the cultural changes around them. One result was the eventual death of the organization.
That loss of the only national bicycle advocacy organization by 1915 led to a failure to guide the direction of the growth of national transportation infrastructure and control systems created for the use of that infrastructure. The bicycle, as a result, entered a kind of transportation limbo in which it was simultaneously a vehicle and a device, one subject to rules of the road, the other banned from the road itself.
Fifty-five years later, the reborn LAW maintained an updated version of the elitism of the late-19th and early-20th centuries with the introduction of "vehicular cycling" and John Forester's vehement opposition to separate bicycle infrastructure. The schism this created within bicycling created another situation in which the organization was rendered ineffectual in guiding policy at the national level.
Fortunately, the once-again-reborn organization, now the League of American Bicyclists (LAB), has abandoned strict vehicularism and has become adept at maintaining its identity while adjusting to current cultural norms.
Least I be misunderstood, this work is about a great deal more than the LAW/LAB. It does an excellent job tracing and illuminating a select number of pivotal aspects of the growth of the US transportation system, the creation of the Good Roads movement and some of the necessary compromises needed to achieve its goals, the effects of the rise of the motor vehicle, how World War Two helped reshape the bicycle from a child's toy to a legitimate transportation vehicle, and the subsequent post-War return to bicycle as child's toy. Longhurst looks at a wide array of sources and media to build his case and does so very well.
"Bike Battles" is a well rounded look at a select number of policy challenges in the US affecting the bicycle and its relationship to transportation systems and culture. I would have given it a 4.5 if I had been able to do so. If you are interested in bicycle history and how it relates to larger issues of transportation this is a book well worth reading.
October 13, 2019
An well written, excellent read on the history of bicycles on American roads and how after being instrumental in paved roads happening in America, they were progressively and systematically marginalized on these same roads. A great historical reference, that also includes a path forward how current changes are slowing coming in effect and finally some changes over a century in the making are finally coming to fruition. A must read for any cyclist and driver alike.
March 9, 2022
Read a bit too much like a textbook to be accessible to someone without massive interest in the topic and also looking back with several years of hindsight, some of the conclusions are a bit optimistic. I certainly learned new things about the trials that have made American cycling the mismash of options it is today.
September 11, 2020
"Bike Battles" is not really a history of bikes and their development, but, as the author says, "Selected Cycling Policy Debates" over the use of public roads.
That said, there was enough history to keep me interested. Being a baby boomer, I particularly enjoyed the chapter, "1950's Syndrome."
("In an energy-rich Cold War context, creating superhighways and emphasizing the freedom of personal automobile ownership were logical policy choices to drive economic expansion and decentralize potential urban targets of atomic warfare.")
On the back jacket cover, Bruce Epperson provides a good summary of the book. "First too fast, now too slow, once too elite, now too plebian, (the bicycle) has always been the square peg in the round hole of urban social order. The 'battle' in BIKE BATTLES isn't between cars and bikes; it's between individuals and the infrastructure state."
That said, there was enough history to keep me interested. Being a baby boomer, I particularly enjoyed the chapter, "1950's Syndrome."
("In an energy-rich Cold War context, creating superhighways and emphasizing the freedom of personal automobile ownership were logical policy choices to drive economic expansion and decentralize potential urban targets of atomic warfare.")
On the back jacket cover, Bruce Epperson provides a good summary of the book. "First too fast, now too slow, once too elite, now too plebian, (the bicycle) has always been the square peg in the round hole of urban social order. The 'battle' in BIKE BATTLES isn't between cars and bikes; it's between individuals and the infrastructure state."
April 6, 2024
Though mostly about US and how it’s basically royally screwed when it comes to promoting cycling (because of social, political, cultural and every aspect of that country), the overarching narrative about “bike battles” and the conclusion around path dependency and managing “the commons” is wonderful. It’s a pity that the historical account only goes until the 1980s, and that there’s no “post-covid” edition of the book (that would be a great analysis)
July 5, 2025
Nice book overall. Some of the battles are more interesting than others and some, perhaps intentionally (due to the history), are repetitive. As someone who enjoys cycling and is a civil engineer, experienced in roadway design I really enjoyed it.
June 25, 2022
In depth, broad look at bikes on the road. Good legal perspective and lots of cultural/social aspects. A bit dry
February 27, 2017
This book describes the evolution of cyclist use of roads in America, which got its start before the appearance of automobiles. If today there is some recognition of the need for "complete streets," then this is something we have arrived at after considerable evolution, with highs and lows along the way.
If someone is interested in the history of recreational (rather than racing) cycling in America, this book provides an interesting perspective. If you are a regular bicycle commuter as I am, reading this certainly explains the history of how we got to where we are with some, but not (in my view) enough support for cyclists.
The title overemphasizes conflict in this history, as the author admits - "Bike Battles" sounds more interesting than "Selected Cycling Policy Debates." After working his way from the 1800s through to today, the author's advice to cyclist-policy advocates is to take a moderate approach, recognizing that roads are a shared resource, to be used by motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians.
Some of the information and detail was new to me. I had not known much about the "sidepath" movement, which sought to create dedicated bike paths suitable for cycling at a time when roads used by horse-drawn vehicles were often not suitable for bicycling. This movement never got very far and had various misadventures with how it sought public funding. It somewhat presaged the conflicts closer to the present day between those who favor "vehicular cycling," that is, riding in the road as a vehicle with no special infrastructure for cyclists and those who favor such special infrastructure.
The book includes interesting photographs, many from the National Archives, that I had not seen before to make various points. There are also different instructional videos mentioned, many of which can be found on YouTube with a little searching.
While presented as an academic work, with footnotes and a bibliography, the approach is engaging and readable. I was able to find this at my local public library.
If someone is interested in the history of recreational (rather than racing) cycling in America, this book provides an interesting perspective. If you are a regular bicycle commuter as I am, reading this certainly explains the history of how we got to where we are with some, but not (in my view) enough support for cyclists.
The title overemphasizes conflict in this history, as the author admits - "Bike Battles" sounds more interesting than "Selected Cycling Policy Debates." After working his way from the 1800s through to today, the author's advice to cyclist-policy advocates is to take a moderate approach, recognizing that roads are a shared resource, to be used by motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians.
Some of the information and detail was new to me. I had not known much about the "sidepath" movement, which sought to create dedicated bike paths suitable for cycling at a time when roads used by horse-drawn vehicles were often not suitable for bicycling. This movement never got very far and had various misadventures with how it sought public funding. It somewhat presaged the conflicts closer to the present day between those who favor "vehicular cycling," that is, riding in the road as a vehicle with no special infrastructure for cyclists and those who favor such special infrastructure.
The book includes interesting photographs, many from the National Archives, that I had not seen before to make various points. There are also different instructional videos mentioned, many of which can be found on YouTube with a little searching.
While presented as an academic work, with footnotes and a bibliography, the approach is engaging and readable. I was able to find this at my local public library.
January 7, 2018
An interesting survey of various cultural, political, and economic attitudes towards bicycling throughout history.
April 30, 2015
As a cyclist, I have mixed feelings about this book. Overall, you'd have to simultaneously very interested in bicycling, urbanism, public policy and history to find this book riveting. I didn't. That said, it did have some interesting highlights.
For my tastes, there was too much focus on social and urbanist history -- and not enough on the technological evolution of bicycles. The brief discussion on technological innovation focuses on Japan -- which was interesting but entirely overlooks advances in Europe. I want to know about changes in the materials that bikes are made of (the shift from steel to aluminum to carbon), changes in brake technology (cantilever, pad, disc brakes), the changing size and ratios, wheel materials.
The book almost entirely overlooks anything since the 1980s (except for brief references in the conclusion). These are not trivial points. Can you really tell the story of bicycling in America without discussing Baby Boomer weekend warriors, the professional networking bike culture of the past decade and a half (especially in places like Silicon Valley) -- the tech venture capital deals made over a weekend bike ride. What about Lance Armstrong and the growth of American interest in bicycling as a sport during the late 1990s and early 2000s (along with his ignominious fall from grace), American interest in the big European races (Tour de France, Paris-Roubaix, Vuelta de Espana, Giro d'Italia) as Americans started participating in (and especially winning) them -- and the big U.S. races (e.g., Redlands).
Nor is there much depth about the most recent developments of biking as transportation in cities -- there are a lot of Census Bureau statistics on incomes, ages, occupations, etc of bike commuters that could have been really interesting here. Biking in the book is almost exclusively road biking -- there is no reference to modern mountain biking, BMX, triathlon. How do those align with the coastal urban culture of road cycling. What about the offshoots of biking, such as spinning and indoor cycling.
All this in mind -- if the cyclist in me was a little disappointed reading this book -- the public policy geek found an interesting if quirky case study of how local/municipal policy really shape the ways Americans live. Bike culture turns out to be a really interesting microcosm of local government action. However, the author doesn't go into any depth as to the reasons why some places turned out to be more accommodating to bikes than others. The book is much more narrative than analytic.
For my tastes, there was too much focus on social and urbanist history -- and not enough on the technological evolution of bicycles. The brief discussion on technological innovation focuses on Japan -- which was interesting but entirely overlooks advances in Europe. I want to know about changes in the materials that bikes are made of (the shift from steel to aluminum to carbon), changes in brake technology (cantilever, pad, disc brakes), the changing size and ratios, wheel materials.
The book almost entirely overlooks anything since the 1980s (except for brief references in the conclusion). These are not trivial points. Can you really tell the story of bicycling in America without discussing Baby Boomer weekend warriors, the professional networking bike culture of the past decade and a half (especially in places like Silicon Valley) -- the tech venture capital deals made over a weekend bike ride. What about Lance Armstrong and the growth of American interest in bicycling as a sport during the late 1990s and early 2000s (along with his ignominious fall from grace), American interest in the big European races (Tour de France, Paris-Roubaix, Vuelta de Espana, Giro d'Italia) as Americans started participating in (and especially winning) them -- and the big U.S. races (e.g., Redlands).
Nor is there much depth about the most recent developments of biking as transportation in cities -- there are a lot of Census Bureau statistics on incomes, ages, occupations, etc of bike commuters that could have been really interesting here. Biking in the book is almost exclusively road biking -- there is no reference to modern mountain biking, BMX, triathlon. How do those align with the coastal urban culture of road cycling. What about the offshoots of biking, such as spinning and indoor cycling.
All this in mind -- if the cyclist in me was a little disappointed reading this book -- the public policy geek found an interesting if quirky case study of how local/municipal policy really shape the ways Americans live. Bike culture turns out to be a really interesting microcosm of local government action. However, the author doesn't go into any depth as to the reasons why some places turned out to be more accommodating to bikes than others. The book is much more narrative than analytic.
November 28, 2015
a broad look at a broad and intangible problem - why can't all American cities grasp multi-modo streets, and what's the history behind our stubbornness? longhurst explores the relationships between industry, social class, racism, policy, popular opinion, and the trusty bicycle. how did America go from the beginnings of expansive bike networks and bikes as utilitarian transport in the early 20th century to "bikes are toys" myth? what does that have to do with wwii and racist/fear-based trade policy? how did vehicular cycling stagnate progress in many cities (cough, Pittsburgh)? and finally, longhurst argues that sharing streets will prepare us for an ever-dynamic and uncertain future where gas taxes fail to fund auto-only infrastructure.
if I had written this book I would have included more extensive research on what works and has worked in Portland and Davis. this book left me with a somewhat hopeless feeling, especially currently stuck in a very car-centric urban neighborhood longing for those glorious greenways and sidewalk networks (we're getting there! I hope). but I still think anyone who ever uses a road or sidewalk for any purpose needs to read this book.
if I had written this book I would have included more extensive research on what works and has worked in Portland and Davis. this book left me with a somewhat hopeless feeling, especially currently stuck in a very car-centric urban neighborhood longing for those glorious greenways and sidewalk networks (we're getting there! I hope). but I still think anyone who ever uses a road or sidewalk for any purpose needs to read this book.
January 10, 2016
The road is a shared community resource. This book is about the how and why of various times in American history when attitudes and laws about how to share this resource between bicycles and other modes of transportation have changed. It covers the bicycle boom of the 1890's, the rise of the automobile in the early 1900's, the war-time use of the bicycle in WWII, the rise of suburbs in the 50s, the new bicycle boom in the 1970s, and then briefly touches on the modern bicycle boom.
It full of interesting detail about how our current transportation infrastructure came to be. I had not realized, for example, that side-paths (what we might call "cycle tracks" today) were advocated for as early as 1890, but at that time it was to avoid terrible roads rather than to avoid automobile traffic. Nor had I previously understood how the bicycle boom of the 1970s failed to captalize on its own momentum, forcing use to repeat much work in the modern era.
It full of interesting detail about how our current transportation infrastructure came to be. I had not realized, for example, that side-paths (what we might call "cycle tracks" today) were advocated for as early as 1890, but at that time it was to avoid terrible roads rather than to avoid automobile traffic. Nor had I previously understood how the bicycle boom of the 1970s failed to captalize on its own momentum, forcing use to repeat much work in the modern era.
November 16, 2015
The author's alternate titles work perfectly for me (albeit without the awesome alliteration of Bike Battles): "Selected Cycling Policy Debates", p.231, and, my somewhat constructed, "[P]olitical negotiation [of Bikes]", p.231.
I commend the first three reviews I read. See what Art, Vhalros, and Aaron have to say in reflection.
I commend the first three reviews I read. See what Art, Vhalros, and Aaron have to say in reflection.
September 9, 2016
Well written book about policy, cycling, and law. Thoughtful approach.
June 20, 2016
This book changed my thinking. Freedom of movement is a constitutional right, and the road is a shared resource which we are all entitled to use.
Read
June 8, 2017James Longhurst (DC 1998, DC 2004), Author
From the author:
Americans have been riding bikes for more than a century now. So why are most American cities still so ill-prepared to handle cyclists? James Longhurst, a historian and avid cyclist, tackles that question by tracing the contentious debates between American bike riders, motorists, and pedestrians over the shared road. Bike Battles explores the different ways that Americans have thought about the bicycle through popular songs, merit badge pamphlets, advertising, films, newspapers and sitcoms. Those associations shaped the actions of government and the courts when they intervened in bike policy through lawsuits, traffic control, road building, taxation, rationing, import tariffs, safety education and bike lanes from the 1870s to the 1970s. Today, cycling in American urban centers remains a challenge as city planners, political pundits, and residents continue to argue over bike lanes, bike-share programs, law enforcement, sustainability, and public safety. Combining fascinating new research from a wide range of sources with a true passion for the topic, Longhurst shows us that these battles are nothing new; in fact they're simply a continuation of the original battle over who is - and isn't - welcome on our roads.
From the author:
Americans have been riding bikes for more than a century now. So why are most American cities still so ill-prepared to handle cyclists? James Longhurst, a historian and avid cyclist, tackles that question by tracing the contentious debates between American bike riders, motorists, and pedestrians over the shared road. Bike Battles explores the different ways that Americans have thought about the bicycle through popular songs, merit badge pamphlets, advertising, films, newspapers and sitcoms. Those associations shaped the actions of government and the courts when they intervened in bike policy through lawsuits, traffic control, road building, taxation, rationing, import tariffs, safety education and bike lanes from the 1870s to the 1970s. Today, cycling in American urban centers remains a challenge as city planners, political pundits, and residents continue to argue over bike lanes, bike-share programs, law enforcement, sustainability, and public safety. Combining fascinating new research from a wide range of sources with a true passion for the topic, Longhurst shows us that these battles are nothing new; in fact they're simply a continuation of the original battle over who is - and isn't - welcome on our roads.
Read
September 29, 2017388.3472 L854 2015
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews