Bicycle
is an extraordinary phenomenon of the industrial era. Its popularity embarked
when the German Baron Karl von Drais launched his Laufmaschine, a
kick bicycle, the harbinger of the modern bicycle at Mannheim in
the summer of 1817. Although only a handful
of its technological modifications have been revolutionary, the bicycle has
shown significant resilience by charming a generation after another. While it has preserved its simple
structure, it has spread widely over the globe to various cultures. Despite its
age of two hundred years, still millions of people use the bicycle daily; it is
one of their means for everyday transport. Nevertheless, the bicycle is not
just a vehicle. It has various other connotations. It is a model of technology
adjusting to changes in society and its demands, signal on societal values and
lifestyles, political statement, toy, hobby, sports equipment, status symbol
and research topic for historians and social scientists. During its lifetime, the
bicycle has had its tides and ebbs; nonetheless, it has managed to change its
societal image and start new fashions with novel cultural associations.

This
edited volume is a result of a long-term research and cooperation in the
bicycle history. For more than a decade, authors have presented their papers on
the theme and met each other in various conference.  Symposia organized by the International Committee for the History of
Technology (ICOHTEC) have been one important forum for us. In the ICOHTEC
symposium held in conjunction to the ICHST in Manchester, UK in 2013, we held
our largest joint session. Authors have met in many other conferences and
gradually the idea of this book was developed. Some of the essays in this
volume are elaborated versions of previous conference papers, while some are
results of brand new research.

Despite
its technological simplicity, the bicycle has managed to prove its socially complex
character. The previous publications in bicycle history have brought up the
variety of viewpoints, from which we can examine bicycle and its history. By
this book, we present a multitude of aspects of bicycle and furthermore, we
also aim to open new angles to its history. 
This volume does not provide only another contribution in the history of
bicycle’s technological development. The focus of the book is to examine the
integration and disintegration of bicycle in society. How noticeable has the
bicycle been in various societies in different periods? Which roles have the
bicycle played in in the society?  A
broad geographical spread of the essays extends the examination to the
international level.

Bicycle
history provides a peephole to the values and conventions of societies at the
time of study. History has witnessed various public debates arisen around
bicycles and cyclists. Actually, bicycle has often seemed bigger in spirit than
its physical dimensions might give a reason to suppose. Bicycles have on one
hand helped to solve many problems of everyday life but on the other hand, they
have ignited numerous public debates.  For
different reasons, bicycles have also been regarded as a nuisance or even
threat to the social order. Attempts to discriminate against bicycles and
cyclists have initiated reactions: struggles to avoid marginalization. After its
heyday during the post-World War II period, cycling has developed as a
counterculture to automobilism during the past fifty years.

While
this edited volume aims to bring up new approaches and viewpoints to bicycle
history, it also puts the field in a broader societal context. The authors
claim that not only have car drivers considered cyclists undetectable but also
historians have often ignored their significance. Bicycles are regarded as too
commonplace to be recognized by mainstream historians. In contrast, bicycle
historians consider cyclists as an informal social movement, which substantially
contributed to change the world. For example, in the early 20^th
century, bicycles broadened the micro-cosmos of everyday life for various
population groups, enabling them be more mobile and work, shop and socialize
within much larger areas than earlier. We hope that this edited volume will contribute
to a new, broader and more diversified bicycle history.

Formal
and informal networking has supported the compilation of this edited volume. We
are grateful for several commentators and examiners of our earlier manuscripts;
we have learned a lot from their feedback. The book has also benefitted from the
financial support by the Academy of
Finland to our research projects, such as ‘Gendered Technology of Everyday Life in the Past´ (project no.
110034).  Some of the authors in this
volume have gained encouragement from the prizes awarded to them by scholarly
societies, such as the Society for the History
of Technology. Bicycle history has had a close relationship to the history
of technology but as this edited volume indicates, it is nowadays expanding
towards many other fields, too.