Re: [CR]Push Bike!

(Example: Production Builders:Tonard)

Date: Tue, 17 Jun 2008 19:35:38 -0400
To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
From: "John Betmanis" <johnb@oxford.net>
Subject: Re: [CR]Push Bike!
In-Reply-To: <BAY103-W40654A0AF8AFB117DC269790A80@phx.gbl>


At 09:48 PM 17/06/2008 +0000, Doug Smith wrote:
>An interesting fact arose which concerned the older bicycle owners jargon.
>It was
>the use of the words , "push bike", by all the folk young and old as a natu
>ral way
>to describe anyone owning a bike.

I remember this term from when I lived in the UK in the 1950s. I always thought it was to differentiate a bicycle from a motorbike, because as the working class became more affluent and acquired motorcycles and then cars, the word "bike" could be ambiguous. You pushed on the pedals to make it go and often pushed it up hills.

In North America "bike" usually means "motorcycle" and in the US "cycle" can mean "motorcycle", usually heavy type, like a Harley.

John Betmanis
Woodstock, Ontario
Canada