On Bicycles: A 200-Year History of Cycling in New York City

by Evan Friss

Subways and yellow taxis may be the icons of New York transportation, but it is the bicycle that has the longest claim to New York’s two hundred years and counting. Never has it taken to the streets without 1819 was the year of the city’s first bicycle and also its first bicycle ban. Debates around the bicycle’s place in city life have been so persistent not just because of its many uses―recreation, sport, transportation, business―but because of changing conceptions of who cyclists are.

In On Bicycles , Evan Friss traces the colorful and fraught history of cycling in New York City. He uncovers the bicycle’s place in the city over time, showing how it has served as a mirror of the city’s changing social, economic, infrastructural, and cultural politics since it first appeared. It has been central, as when horse-drawn carriages shared the road with bicycle lanes in the 1890s; peripheral, when Robert Moses’s car-centric vision made room for bicycles only as recreation; and aggressively marginalized, when Ed Koch’s battle against bike messengers culminated in the short-lived 1987 Midtown Bike Ban. On Bicycles illuminates how the city as we know it today―veined with over a thousand miles of bicycle lanes―reflects a fitful journey powered, and opposed, by New York City’s people and its politics.

Genres: New York, History, Cycling, Nonfiction, Sports, Urban Planning, Cities

256 pages, Hardcover

First published May 7, 2019

Reviews

[Simon Zuberek · Rating 5 out of 5]

A captivating account of perhaps the only remaining contraption, and its impact on the American metropolis. A must read for all NYC cyclists and history aficionados.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

The descriptions of the late 19th century bike craze in NYC were fascinating. However I skimmed through the remaining chapters of the book since they did not hold my interest.

[Christine Garner · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The rattling of the subways is, likewise, little more than a century old. But bicycles have been rolling along New York’s streets for two hundred years”

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this more than I expected, but it wasn't the book I was thinking it would be, either.

The early history through the first (and perhaps most impressive) bicycle craze in the 1890s is more or less the kind of general discussion of bicycles, their evolution, and how they were used generally in NYC (for the most part).

There is something of long sidebar description of the woman bicycle rider who authored a highly popular book (at the time) published in 1896, "Bicycling for Ladies" (Maria Ward, Bicycling for Ladies, 1896. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nnc2.ark:/13960/t02z39v42. The Maria Ward book was remarkable for the extent of its discussion of what women riders should know and was well illustrated with engravings produced from photographs from Alice Austen, a Staten Island photographer.

The discussion of NYC cycling starting with the 20th century continuing to the present increasingly looks at city policy governing (encouraging, discouraging) bicycling in general. I wasn't that interested in the "Moses era" but once the discussion gets to the last forty years or so, I was more engaged and interested, particularly in what Sadik-Khan did under Bloomberg.

I'm not sure who the author thought the reader for this would be. The main lesson learned as a reader is that city policy has greatly affected how much and how bicycles are used in NYC. Given that there have been periods of high usage followed by low usage, there is reason to hope that with the right policies there can be an extended period of increasing ridership - it just takes the right policies and circumstances. I found it readable enough but then I'm kind of a utilitarian bicycle enthusiast. The writing and presentation is a bit scholarly - the book has extensive endnotes and oddly there is a lot of text hidden away with those notes.

Could have been a better book for the general reader, I think. Hmm.

[Terence · Rating 3 out of 5]

Biking in NYC has surged in popularity in 1860s, 1890s, 1930s, and the 1970s, only to lose interest shortly thereafter.

It wasn't until Bloomberg and Janette Sadik-Khan, in the early 2000, implemented bicycle infrastructure widely that cycling became an option for the masses. More people bicycle to work in NYC than in any other city.

The book could be better written but it has a number of interesting facts.

[David Mccowan · Rating 2 out of 5]

2/5 Stars

Gift

The historiography is good. Read if you love New York City. city planning, and the culure of cycling in a city. I only somewhat like the third. I wish the book would the author would havs spent more time on the track races.

[James Blakey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating history by Professor Friss. If you think people just started complaining about cyclists you're 200 years late. "On Bicycles" is thoroughly researched, filled with fascinating anecdotes. My favorite: Mayor Ed Koch never learned how to ride a bike as a kid. 5 stars!

[Jamie Magee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written history of the subject. A delight to read in small doses!

[Valerie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/3.5. Some parts interesting; some parts dragged on.

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great perspective on the history of New York City from a very specific subculture.