Bikerider007

Long read but interesting and some cool pics.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlton...k#6ec2b88a41cf

Lemond1985

Man, I wanted a gas mask so bad when i was a kid, after seeing those pics. Seemed like the coolest thing ever (I was an idiot, of course).

You could still get really cool stuff like that easily at surplus stores back then. Uniforms, helmets, bayonets, etc. Those places really had a distinctive smell ...

Shrevvy 

What does the gun sign say? "Bang All You Need To Stop The..."

I can't make out the last word.

mkeller234

my guess is pollution

Lemond1985

"Pollution"? We had a little Earth Day protest in our town, I guess it was 1970. It was like "Ahh, let the hippies have their fun." No one did anything different, though I recall backyard burning of garbage being outlawed locally about the same time. That kind of stuff was routine for a long time.

bikemig 

A bike boom in the 70s and now one in 2020. Maybe disco will come back as well . . .

lasauge 

I feel like this topic is bound for P&R, but before that happens and fewer people see this thread, a question for those who were around to experience the bike boom: Why did it end, in your opinion?

Wildwood 

Exercise is bad, a person only has so many heartbeats in life.
Cycling is bad.
Big huge gold plated cars are good.
We LOVE the uneducated, too
Trust me, I'm smarter than the health experts.
A healthy 237 pounds.
Earth Day ?? We're gonna SELL all the National Parks, wasted space.
And no more public beaches. Who ever dreamed up Free Beach Access?
Clean Air?? Clean Water?? I told EPA to roll those pollution controls back to the good ole 60s&70s!

Nemosengineer 

That is the single most complex question I have ever seen asked and there is no simple answer as the period from 1965 to 1975 was a time of vast social, economic, and technological change. So somewhere between the TV show "My Three Sons" and the movie "Easy Rider" lies your answer.


: Mike

Wildwood 

Gas in USA got cheap again after oil embargo, etc.

machinist42

The Oil Embargo and the hike in fuel prices began in October of '73, near the end of the Bike Boom.
Was licensed to drive in July of '73.
Timing is everything.

I'm going with "market saturation".

Wildwood 

I thought the bike boom lasted until '74? - whereupon it crashed in USA with cheap gas. But what do I remember, I was in Europe most of those days.

machinist42

When I got my license, gasoline, (petrol), was ~$0.24/gallon. Four months later it was over $0.50, and you had to wait in a long line to fill up the tank. 1974 brought expensive fuel, triggering stagflation. A gallon of milk was more expensive week by week. At least we had toilet paper? The price of gas never really came down, but wages eventually caught up, rendering it relatively less expensive.

The Bike Boom didn't end because of cheap gas. If anything, it ended because of expensive gas.

Everyone who wanted a bike had a bike by then, all hoping for a necessary and promised build out of infrastructure. The higher price of gas and runaway inflation, stagnant demand and high unemployment made increasing taxes or borrowing untenable, sidelining plans for bicycle friendly transportation planning and construction, essentially leaving everyone all dressed up with nowhere to go.

I was born in the Haight in San Francisco and learned to ride a bicycle in Davis, where my godfather was a Professor. I was spoiled by the bike prioritized infrastructure of Davis in the 60's. I've been waiting and working for the extension of that model for a while.

Who knows, now that every day is Wednesday, anything can happen?

Kabuki12

For me the “bike boom” is still alive! The seventies brought us some nice bikes and I still ride them. I have quite a few more ten speeds than I did back then when I was in my twenties, so I guess MY bike boom is growing. Keep the flame and peddle like you mean it! Joe

randyjawa 

I am not sure how many of us know about the late Ken Kifer and his love for bicycles. Here is a link to all of his articles and the bike boom question is answer, very well as I recall. When I have time, I think that I will read through all of his stuff again. It makes one think. Have a look at Site Map for Ken Kifer's Bike Pages, if you wish. You might enjoy what you find there.

nlerner

Fades get replaced by new fads. Atari released Pong in 1973. Nuff said.

jethin

My guess is that it was cultural. Maybe bikes were seen as fun/transportation/economical during the boom but by the 80s it was all about cars/status/convenience. Bikes generally became things for children or poor people.

T-Mar

Like most "Booms", the early 1970s bicycle boom ended when the market achieved saturation (~ 43 million bicycles were sold during 1972-1974). A lot of people discovered that cycling, like other forms of exercise was "too much hard work". Many bicycles got tucked away in the garage or basement with few miles on them. Only a small percentage of the original early 1970s bicycle converts stayed in the sport. Even if they had stayed in the sport, the number of people buying new bicycles would have been small, so sales would still have diminished. Most cyclists wouldn't have bought a new bicycle until there was some significant development to warrant it (i.e, indexing or ATBs). USA sales wouldn't surpass the 1973 peak until 1992, almost 2 decades later, but by that time the population had increased by ~20%, so sales still weren't as significant on a bicycles per capita basis. That didn't happen until about 2000. It also might have happened during the first bicycle boom in the very late 1890s, though there are no reliable sales statistics for the period.