Bicycling, Motorcycling, Rhetoric, and Space draws from cultural studies, rhetorical theory, and political philosophy to examine bicycling and motorcycling as serious forms of communication and even thought. By analyzing how everyday movements function in modern and postmodern contexts, Hunter H. Fine is able to determine the social meanings behind human powered and motorized forms of cycling. Through the lenses of sophistic rhetoric and poststructuralist theory, the author uncovers how such mobilities inform our thoughts and interactions. Throughout history, this informing process has promoted specific ways of thinking that have resulted in moments of protest, conquest, awareness, and transgression, which all involve a cycling rhetoric. This book contributes to various academic fields within the liberal arts and humanities while further establishing bicycling and motorcycling as important social, theoretical, and political areas of inquiry. Scholars of rhetoric, communication studies, cultural studies, and philosophy will find this book of particular interest.

An Alternative History of Bicycles and Motorcycles: Two-Wheeled Transportation and Material Culture accounts for the nineteenth-century creation and development of two-wheeled vehicles, both human-powered and motorized. Specifically, the book focuses on the period from 1885 (which saw the appearance, simultaneously, of the Safety bicycle and the Einspur, the first motorcycle) to 1920, while exploring implications for later bicycling and motorcycling. We argue that invention of these vehicles, rather than the product of gifted individuals, should be seen as the consequence of a number of historical, economic, cultural and political forces that intersect so unpredictably that the notion of a genius inventor is reductive. The common evolutionary model of development from the bicycle to the motorcycle oversimplifies both the technology and its origins. Stripping the vehicles of all their material and cultural associations, such a model fails to advance our understanding of the devices, their creators, and their riders. Taking a contemporary vehicle and tracing its lineage creates a false sense of evolutionary necessity in its creation, and fails to account for the many possible developmental paths that were, for whatever reason, abandoned. By contrast, our book adopts a material culture approach, a form of inquiry that stresses the connections between artifacts and social relations. We consider not simply the bicycle and motorcycle as material objects but focus also on the complex socio-political and economic convergences that produced the materials, materials that in turn themselves shaped the vehicles’ appearance, function, and adoption by riders.

A hybrid machine--powered at times by steam, electricity or internal combustion--the motorcycle in its infancy was an innovation to help bicycle racers go faster. As motor age technology advanced, the quest for greater speed at the velodrome peaked, with riders reaching speeds up to 100 kph on bikes and trikes without brakes, suspensions or gear boxes. This book chronicles the individuals and events at the turn of the 20th century that led to the development of motor-powered two-wheelers.

In the late 19th century, bicyling and motoring offered new ways for a hardy minority to travel. Escaping from the 'tyranny' of the train timetables, these entrepreneurs were able to promote private mobility when the road, technology and infrastructure were unequal to the task. With a moribund network out of town, poor roadside accommodation and few services, how could road traction persist and ultimately thrive? Drawing on a wealth of primary sources, including magazines, newspapers and advice books on stable management, this book explores the emergence and development of bicycling and automobility in Britain, with a focus on the racing driver-cum-entrepreneur SF Edge (1868-1940) and his network. Craig Horner considers the motivations, prejudices and cultures of those who promoted and consumed road traction, providing new insights into social class, leisure, sport and tourism in Britain. In addition, he places early British bicycling and automobility in an international context, providing fruitful comparisons with the movements in France, Germany and the United States. The Emergence of Bicycling and Automobility in Britain is an excellent resource for scholars and students interested in mobility studies, social and cultural history, and the history of technology.