Biking vs. Cycling: Is There a Difference?
If you read the blog post about wheel sizes, then you’re probably already aware that terminology for cycling, like any specific industry, can be pretty esoteric…but the bicycling industry seems to love to create confusing, non-standard lingo to keep things fresh. As a bike shop, we definitely like to see how the bike industry continues to evolve with modern components and frame designs, but we also appreciate the timeless elements of bike design that have served bicycles for over a 100 years. And while bikes have evolved to become lighter, faster, safer, pricier, etc., we’ve noticed that the customer intimidation factor pertaining to bikes has also evolved and not in a good way.
The Covid Bike Boom
Beginning in the summer of 2020 when lots of states were in lockdown, people began to look for safe ways to pass their time outdoors and bikes fit that bill perfectly for a lot of folks across the country. We saw more customers coming in to shop for bicycles that had not ridden a bike for over 20 to 30 years. Most every customer purchased the bike they test rode and often complimented the ride and feel of the bike as much more comfortable and easier to ride than they expected. Can you imagine how amazing the first ride would be from the Huffy, Schwinn, or Murray you grew up riding and retired at 12 or 13 years of age compared to a modern bike with better brakes, wheels, and drivetrain? We’re primarily a steel frame bike shop, so many of the “new to bicycling “ customers were impressed at how light and swift a steel frame bike could feel.
Zeitgeist of Bicycle Culture
Many of the customers would mention at the beginning of our conversation that they weren’t cyclists. They weren’t looking to race or wear the tight clothes they see on people riding bikes and they didn’t want handle bars that bent down. Listening to their concerns, the zeitgeist of cycling began to reveal itself. While bicycles began in earnest as a modern answer to human mobility, they evolved into a segmented, exclusionary recreational vehicle, intimidating anyone who would want to reunite with a childhood past time or an enjoyable and stress relieving activity. There are a plethora of reasons as to why bicycles fall almost exclusively into a recreational activity. The affordability of cars and the never ending miles of roadways certainly helped replace the reliance on the bicycle as transportation. Cities where folks live within a 3 mile radius of most anything they need for entertainment, groceries, etc are hardly safe for navigating by bike. As the nation developed into a car only form of transportation, bicycles developed into higher priced recreational luxuries for the weekend warrior or amateur racing enthusiasts. It’s a niche that bicycles have found hard to shake.
Biking or Cycling?
Which brings me to the question posed by the title of the blog post: Is there a difference between biking and cycling? The short answer is no. They both identify the same activity: riding a bicycle. But if you unpack the language a bit, there is a difference in connotation especially to those outside the cycling community and who may want to find a way into it. Around here, when folks want to go for a ride amongst friends, they’ll say ‘Let’s go ride bikes” like many of us did when we were kids. In fact, if you didn’t grow up in a household of racers, you may have never heard the word cycling used in place of biking. For most folks, biking connotes riding a bicycle somewhere for fun or enjoyment with whatever clothes or shoes you’re already wearing and biking only for a few city blocks or on a paved trail that you enjoy. But whatever you’re doing it most likely doesn’t involve PR’s, pelotons, all day in the saddle rides. That’s where cycling comes in. Most people who take part in cycle club rides and other cycling focused events are perhaps looking for PRs or longer rides while riding in lycra kits and specialized shoes with no particular destination in mind. They get as much enjoyment out of the ride as those leisurely biking around their neighborhood.
Two Sides, Same Coin
But the challenge for bicycles as a whole, in my opinion, is to fade the line between these two worlds. To recreate itself as two sides of the same coin sharing the same space. The biking folks of the world can find the joy of riding longer miles, faster bikes, etc and the cycling folks can find the utility of biking as nice solution for hitting local restaurants, trails, grocery runs etc. If bike culture is such that those who took a lifelong hiatus feel unworthy to approach the inner sanctum of the bike shop because they see only the latest and greatest road bike/gravel bike/mtb etc hanging in the window or when they approach the display aisles, it will be hard to grow the culture of bicycling beyond the recreational space it occupies. There is a much broader space bicycles can and should occupy in the world of mobility at large especially in denser areas of population for neighborhood utility. Bike riding can grow into cycling and vice versa. Both terms represent the fun of riding a bicycle because they meet customers where they are. The Covid Boom for bikes won’t last forever but the impact of getting so many people on bikes can. We’re hoping more bike shops are offering weekly bike rides for those who want to ride bikes as well as for cyclists. Casting a broad net to support and capture both cultures of the bike world can help ensure that the silver lining from the Covid era doesn’t shrink back and focus solely on the cyclists of the industry but bike riders as well.