Bike Boom causes (my list):
and in no order of importance
Major emphasis on physical fitness begun during the Johnson Administration
(1964-69) in schools. This is how funding was obtained for the first bik e paths, recreation and sports facilities etc. The Nixon Administration ke pt most of these programmes in place and, ironically, spent even more money o n them!
"Baby Boom Generation" reached maturity at end of the 1960s, early 70s wit h loads of money, more leisure time and generally more outdoors/fitness oriented. There are no end of books analysing the buying habits of "us" Baby Boomers from frisbees to bikes to Rubiks Cubes. The Bike Boom was o ne of many "booms"!
"Greatest Generation" (the wartime generation) was the core of the bike boom, especially British "lightweights" or "English Racers" (which meant 3-speed Raleigh Sports etc) owing from the huge number of US servicemen stationed in the UK during the war who discovered bikes didn't have to be 60 pound balloon-tyred toys. American cycling took on a decided British/European focus and was popular among adults, not children, which i t hadn't been since the turn of the century. A lot of the Bike Boom buyers of lightweights were 40-50 year guys, not kids remember. We boys couldn't afford a $240 PX-10 in 1970. But our dads sure could.
Earth Day. First Earth Day was what, 1969, and the US, despite what one reads in various European newspapers, was way ahead of the game in "environmental" issues than most countries. Still is. Just compare emmission standards for cars in California vs. say Italy! Green was in a nd cycling was naturally part of that. More bike paths, the first cycle lan es etc. came from this. Cycle commuting became commonplace.
Fuel crisis: begin in Oct. 1973 so had an impact on the final phases of the boom. Film "Breaking Away" was a nice valedictory to the boom era I thin k and that came out in what, 1979??
Sunbelt Migration: who wants to cycle in rainy, cold, foggy Britain?! Or
New England for that matter. Cycling is a lot more fun in sunny, warm California, Arizona etc... and so was living. The Bike Boom coinci ded with the epic (and still going on) migration of Americans from the Northeast an d Midwest to the West and Southwest.
By the way, Elswick-Hopper was "big" in the US back in the 1950s even with
lightweights. If you want to see what British cycle manufacturers were thinking of when it came to the US market, get back numbers of "British Export News". Fascinating stuff.
The production numbers tell the story or some of it. I think the real beginning of the "boom" started in the mid 1960s and lasted to the end of the 1970s. It sure did with my dad and our family and it was 100 per cen t British/French oriented, too. He almost became part owner in a local cyc le shop and that was Raleigh-Peugeot. Down the road it was Gitane. Never saw an Italian bike. Not one.
That's my take on it... over to others...
Peter Kohler Washington DC USA
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