I think most mount from the left because it helps avoid getting chain grease on one's pants leg, or one's own leg when wearing shorts. But quite likely bicycles developed with the chain on the right due to horses being mounted from the left.
Regards,
Jerry Moos
Big Spring, Texas, USA
> From: John Betmanis <johnb@oxford.net>
\r?\n> Subject: [CR] Mounting and dismounting
\r?\n> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
\r?\n> Date: Tuesday, February 10, 2009, 7:54 AM
\r?\n> John Crump wrote:
\r?\n>
\r?\n> > NOW a poll. When dismounting or mountain your bike DO
\r?\n> YOU?? Throw
\r?\n> > your leg (STILL attached to your body that is!) over
\r?\n> the bars OR
\r?\n> > the saddle Or? I remember as a kid it was allways real
\r?\n> gen to go
\r?\n> > over the bars, Track chaps seemed to do this, catching
\r?\n> the bike,
\r?\n> > (SOMETIMES) with one hand and looking around for
\r?\n> applause, Like,
\r?\n> > see what I did!? Cheers John Crump
\r?\n> OldOKbacktosleepBrit. Parker, Co
\r?\n> > USA?
\r?\n>
\r?\n> This is how I usually do it: I swing my right leg over the
\r?\n> the saddle and
\r?\n> onto the right pedal, flipping it so as to get my foot into
\r?\n> thr toe clip. I
\r?\n> too remember the way guys at the track would swing their
\r?\n> leg over the bars
\r?\n> and thought it was cool, but found it harder to do because
\r?\n> of the cables
\r?\n> and my short legs.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Of course, the classic way to mount a bike was to place
\r?\n> your left foot on
\r?\n> the left pedal, "scoot" with your right foot to
\r?\n> get rolling, then
\r?\n> gracefully swing your right leg over the saddle and ride
\r?\n> off. Dismounting
\r?\n> was the reverse, where you ended up walking beside the
\r?\n> bike. This was
\r?\n> usually done by men riding roadsters, not so much
\r?\n> lightweights.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> I learned to mount a bike from the left because I started
\r?\n> riding in England
\r?\n> in the early 1950s. I also always place my left on the
\r?\n> ground when stopped,
\r?\n> be it a bicycle or motorcycle, and push on the right pedal
\r?\n> to start. I
\r?\n> never actually paid much attention to how others mounted
\r?\n> their bikes in
\r?\n> North America. Do we all mount from the left side, just
\r?\n> like a horse, or
\r?\n> does it vary, depending on which side of the road we ride
\r?\n> on?
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n> John Betmanis
\r?\n> Woodstock, Ontario
\r?\n> Canada