We're backpedaling to the pushbike era

As China embraces motor transport, London is returning to a much simpler conveyance

All of a sudden, London cyclists have never had it so good.

The city authorities are constructing cycle superhighways - not just a white line painted down the side of the road, but a proper, curbed lane dedicated to getting cyclists through the traffic, unhindered by buses, cars and, most importantly, trucks.

The latter have been proving to be the most dangerous to cyclists, a number of whom have been killed by truck drivers who haven't seen them in their mirror while turning left.

Steps are now being taken. Trucks have to have an audible alarm that sounds when turning left, right or reversing. Many have "modesty panels" along the sides between front and back wheels to prevent cyclists being dragged underneath.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan recently announced plans to ban commercial vehicles that don't have a clear field of vision for the driver to spot cyclists, forcing truck manufacturers to redesign the driver's cab.

For cyclists, the pressure is on to wear high-visibility clothing, helmets, reflective gear at night and have bright lights front and back.

So there have you it, the place in modern society of the humble bike. But was it always so humble?

Let's step back in time to the Chairman Mao era in China, when the bicycle reigned supreme.

The government of the time said the bicycle was the approved form of transport, and China became known as the Kingdom of the Bicycle.

Step forward the mighty Flying Pigeon, first produced in 1950 and based by its inventor, a worker named Huo Baoji, on a 1930s English classic, the Raleigh Roadster. I know all about the Raleigh Roadster. When I was 12 my dad bequeathed me his, a dark green monster weighing about 50 kg that was a pig to ride.

In China, the Flying Pigeon became the ride of choice for many - after all, hadn't a bicycle been named as one of the three must-haves for any citizen, along with a wrist watch and a sewing machine? Indeed it was Deng Xiaoping, who launched Chinese economic reforms in the 1970s, who once defined prosperity as "a Flying Pigeon in every household."

At its height, some 500 million of the machines were produced, vying in popularity with the Phoenix, made in Shanghai.

The Flying Pigeon shared something with the classic early 20th century motor car, the Model T Ford. You could have it in any color you wanted, as long as it was black.

Over in Vietnam, the North Vietnamese adopted the humble bike to help win the war against the United States. The soldiers didn't actually ride them. They welded an extension onto the handlebars, adjusted the frame, and got rid of the pedals, so they could be pushed down the famous Ho Chi Minh Trail carrying as much as 200 kg of supplies.

As a kid, I can remember growing up in Oxford, home of the then vast British Motor Corp. Every week day, at 12 noon precisely, a siren would go and upwards of 20,000 workers would take to their bicycles and head home for lunch. Impressive stuff.

After two years of wrestling with my dad's old bike, I finally achieved every schoolboy's dream - a pristine Raleigh Trent Tourer, complete with roomy saddlebag, straight handlebars, a Sturmey-Archer three-speed hub and, best of all, a built-in dynamo for the lighting system. Bees's knees wasn't in it.

Meanwhile, back in China, my contemporaries dreamed of the latest Flying Pigeon.

Now, in a twist of fate, Chinese youngsters are more likely to be looking for their first car (Beijing's traffic jams and chaotic parking are proof of that) or motor scooter.

Here, many who work in the capital are looking to the humble bike, and the Financial Times, no less, says cycling, particularly competitive riding, is slowly taking the place of golf as the preferred sport of young executives.

My cycling days are long gone - but I do like the look of these new-fangled electric bikes.

I wonder...

The author is managing editor of China Daily European Bureau. Contact the writer at chris@mail.chinadailyuk.com

(China Daily European Weekly 10/07/2016 page11)