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The stereotype associated with cycling as an activity only for serious fans and requiring expensive equipment ends up deterring many potential users of bicycles as a mode of transport.
With rising fuel prices and oil supply shocks multiplying, you may be thinking – perhaps for the first time in years – about dust off the bike and start pedaling again. Maybe you’re regretting that you haven’t done it yet.
But getting back on a bike rarely comes from a single moment of willpower. Generally, it emerges from small changes that rebuild capacity over time: a revised bicycle, calmer traffic, permission to pedal slowly, use an electric bicycle or take short cycle trips.
Mass cycling did not return to cities by chance. In the Netherlands, the dominance of everyday cycling emerged after a deliberate break with car-centric transportfollowing the 1973 oil crisis. Public protests against traffic deaths and energy dependence also contributed.
Cycling became viable again not because people were persuaded to try harder, but because car use was actively restricted and people alternatives were made easier.
If we want people to return to cycling in car-centric societies, the question is not why they stopped cycling – but what would make cycling possible again.
It’s not just about motivation
People often assume that the hardest part of getting back on a bike is motivation.
But bicycles tend to cease to be used long before people decided to stop cycling. Something small went wrong and was never fixed. The bike ends up in the garage with flat tires, hidden behind boxes or hanging unused.
When this happens, cycling is no longer a choice. It seems inaccessible.
In one with people who stopped cycling in Sydney, the habit of cycling disappeared when day-to-day arrangements stopped working: storage was complicated, routes became stressful or minor mechanical problems accumulated.
People are more likely to cycle when the bicycle is stored near the front door and ready to use.
Cycling depends on a combination of physical factors, bicycles, routes, time and confidence. When any of these factors go out of balance, your ability to pedal disappears.
Abandon the idea of “real” cyclists
One of the biggest barriers encountered is the feeling of not fitting into the image of a “real” cyclist.
In Australia, this image is still strongly linked to the male sex, the wearing of a lot of Lycra clothing, the possession of a expensive bicycle and expensive cycling equipmentand high-speed cycling.
Women, older cyclists and those returning to cycling after a long period of inactivity often perceive this culture as quietly exclusive.
In reality, cycling Does not require a lot of specialized equipment for most daily routes.
In places where cycling functions as a means of daily transport – such as in much of Europe and Asia – people cycle in work clothesat calm speeds, on practical bicycles.
Likewise, electric bikes allow people with different disabilities to pedal (which suggests we should rethink some of the ways in which electric bikes have recently been demonized).
Abandoning narrow definitions of who cycling is suitable for can reopen the possibility of cycling in general.
Cycling routes may have improved
Research into the significant increase in cycling during the COVID-19 pandemic found that lockdowns offered a rare natural experience.
Many Australians started cycling again after years away because traffic has temporarily disappeared.
With fewer cars on the road, cycling felt calmer and less demanding, and confidence grew quickly. A significant investment was made in cycling infrastructure in Australian cities (although this investment is still tiny when compared to spending on automobile infrastructure).
So if you’re reluctant to cycle again for fear of being run over, it’s worth checking whether the cycle paths have improved since the last time you cycled.
Start by using a digital map to look for bike lanes separated from vehicle traffic.
Maintain your bike
A serviced bike makes all the difference.
Much of the anxiety that stops people from cycling can be greatly reduced simply by having gears that work, brakes that respond and tires that are inflated.
The investigation found that these small material adjustments can make a big difference in getting people back to cycling.
There are countless how-to videos and tutorials on YouTube about basic maintenance if a professional bike service is out of your budget.
You can also try to find a community bicycle workshop or a course offered by the city council. Some city councils also offer programs where experienced cyclists can show good cycling routes around their neighborhood or city.
These programs make maintenance affordable and also reconnect people to cycling as something common and shared, rather than something technical or elitist.
You don’t need to pedal all the time
Another factor that facilitates the use of the bicycle is allowing it to be partial and occasional. Some people start by cycle to a train station or a local coffee shop rather than committing to a full commute to work.
In interviews, people stayed on the bike longer when they allowed themselves to combine different means of transportadjust routes and change plans without feeling like they had “failed” at cycling.
Treating cycling as one option among many, rather than an “all or nothing” identity, makes it easier to get started.
Make cycling common
The Dutch experience after the oil crisis shows that society-wide changes occur when everyday conditions changeand not when individuals are encouraged to try harder.
As the world once again faces energy uncertainty, this lesson is timely.
The challenge for cities is not to convince people that cycling is good. It’s about making cycling so common that people can practice it again without having to become “cyclists” first.
