1 00:00:15,370 --> 00:00:22,890 Speaker 1: Pushkin. Hello, Tim Harford here, and there'll be a brand 2 00:00:23,010 --> 00:00:26,370 Speaker 1: new episode of Cautionary Tales next week, as per our 3 00:00:26,490 --> 00:00:29,530 Speaker 1: usual schedule. But this week I want to talk about 4 00:00:29,570 --> 00:00:33,050 Speaker 1: something a bit different, well, about all kinds of different things, 5 00:00:33,050 --> 00:00:35,810 Speaker 1: because the conversation you're about to hear is full of 6 00:00:35,850 --> 00:00:39,370 Speaker 1: the most delectable digressions. We talk about the invention of 7 00:00:39,370 --> 00:00:42,610 Speaker 1: the bicycle, why some inventions fail, which Cassidy and the 8 00:00:42,650 --> 00:00:46,130 Speaker 1: Sun Dance Kid, the emancipation of women, the Great stock Market, 9 00:00:46,170 --> 00:00:50,690 Speaker 1: bicycle bubble, and the four possessions that define any successful household. 10 00:00:51,250 --> 00:00:55,410 Speaker 1: Who's we well? Me? Tim Harford, host of Cautionary Tales 11 00:00:55,450 --> 00:00:57,730 Speaker 1: in my alter ego, is the author of a book 12 00:00:58,090 --> 00:01:03,170 Speaker 1: Fifty Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy. And Dallas Campbell, 13 00:01:03,370 --> 00:01:08,250 Speaker 1: the host of Patented History of Inventions. Patented is a 14 00:01:08,290 --> 00:01:12,010 Speaker 1: wonderful podcast from the History Hit Network. Every few days 15 00:01:12,010 --> 00:01:16,450 Speaker 1: there's a delightful, lighthearted, yet knowledgeable conversation about an invention, 16 00:01:16,810 --> 00:01:19,890 Speaker 1: anything from the satellite to the pyramid. I recommend you 17 00:01:19,970 --> 00:01:21,930 Speaker 1: check it out while you wait for next week's episode 18 00:01:21,970 --> 00:01:25,370 Speaker 1: of Cautionary Tales. And until then, here's me and Dallas 19 00:01:25,410 --> 00:01:36,490 Speaker 1: Campbell talking about the bicycle and so much more. Hello, 20 00:01:36,610 --> 00:01:40,370 Speaker 1: I'm Dallas Campbell. Welcome to Patented podcast, all about the 21 00:01:40,450 --> 00:01:44,210 Speaker 1: history of inventions from History Hit. Today on the show, 22 00:01:44,290 --> 00:01:48,050 Speaker 1: we are talking about the Humble bicycle. Invented in the 23 00:01:48,090 --> 00:01:52,970 Speaker 1: mid eighteen hundreds, bikes have had enduring popularity, promising freedom 24 00:01:53,010 --> 00:01:56,490 Speaker 1: and mobility at a low price. Point two hundred years later, 25 00:01:56,690 --> 00:01:59,690 Speaker 1: the basic design and function of the bike remains pretty 26 00:01:59,770 --> 00:02:03,570 Speaker 1: much the same. They're still powered by sweats e bikes 27 00:02:03,610 --> 00:02:08,290 Speaker 1: excluded obviously, They're still made up of wheels, frames, pedals, chains, gears, 28 00:02:08,770 --> 00:02:10,930 Speaker 1: psyche close are still exposed to the traffic and the 29 00:02:11,010 --> 00:02:14,250 Speaker 1: elements in contrast to say, the comfort of the car, 30 00:02:14,450 --> 00:02:17,850 Speaker 1: and they still come with the potential for freedom and 31 00:02:17,970 --> 00:02:20,690 Speaker 1: mobility and excitement. And we saw this clearly in the 32 00:02:20,690 --> 00:02:23,570 Speaker 1: pandemic when supply was unable to keep up with demand 33 00:02:23,610 --> 00:02:26,770 Speaker 1: for bicycles. People wanted to move around safely and quickly, 34 00:02:27,090 --> 00:02:29,850 Speaker 1: and the Humble bike was the easy answer. And for 35 00:02:29,890 --> 00:02:32,090 Speaker 1: those of us like me living in cities and towns, 36 00:02:32,450 --> 00:02:35,970 Speaker 1: it's impossible to ignore the boom in bike sharing apps, 37 00:02:36,010 --> 00:02:40,290 Speaker 1: which only seems to be growing. Research from Statista suggests 38 00:02:40,330 --> 00:02:43,330 Speaker 1: that in twenty twenty, the bike sharing app market was 39 00:02:43,450 --> 00:02:47,290 Speaker 1: estimated to be worth three point three billion crikey, and 40 00:02:47,370 --> 00:02:50,770 Speaker 1: by twenty twenty six it'll reach over thirteen point seven billion. 41 00:02:51,290 --> 00:02:54,170 Speaker 1: These apps make bikes an even more visible feature in 42 00:02:54,170 --> 00:02:56,410 Speaker 1: our day to day lives. If you live in the city, 43 00:02:56,410 --> 00:02:57,930 Speaker 1: you'll know what it's like. You see banks of them 44 00:02:57,970 --> 00:03:01,930 Speaker 1: parked absolutely everywhere. They also lower the barrier to entry 45 00:03:01,970 --> 00:03:04,690 Speaker 1: to people cycling even further, so they're a really interesting 46 00:03:04,690 --> 00:03:07,610 Speaker 1: phenomenon these days. You don't even need to own a 47 00:03:07,690 --> 00:03:10,770 Speaker 1: cycle to be a cyclist. Today on the show, I'm 48 00:03:10,850 --> 00:03:13,730 Speaker 1: joined by the wonderful Tim Harford, host of the podcast 49 00:03:14,010 --> 00:03:18,210 Speaker 1: Cautionary Tales and the BBC's fifty Objects That Defined the 50 00:03:18,250 --> 00:03:21,410 Speaker 1: Modern Economy. Today, we are going back to the origins 51 00:03:21,450 --> 00:03:24,930 Speaker 1: of the bicycle and to explore how they've remained steadfast 52 00:03:24,970 --> 00:03:34,210 Speaker 1: in their utility in an ever changing world. Tim Harford, 53 00:03:34,250 --> 00:03:35,610 Speaker 1: Welcome to the show. It's love you to have you. 54 00:03:35,810 --> 00:03:38,410 Speaker 1: That's pleasure to be here. I absolutely love your podcast 55 00:03:38,530 --> 00:03:41,730 Speaker 1: Cautionary Tales, which I've been listening to a lot recently, 56 00:03:41,850 --> 00:03:43,690 Speaker 1: and of course every time I listen to an episode 57 00:03:43,730 --> 00:03:46,850 Speaker 1: of I'm going to ask him about that. Well, yeah, 58 00:03:46,930 --> 00:03:49,410 Speaker 1: Nancy Chance, I know, I know, but I've got too 59 00:03:49,410 --> 00:03:51,730 Speaker 1: many ideas like fizzing around, and because I'm an idiot 60 00:03:51,770 --> 00:03:53,850 Speaker 1: and I haven't actually landed any of these ideas in 61 00:03:53,890 --> 00:03:55,490 Speaker 1: a way that any of them are going to make sense. 62 00:03:55,530 --> 00:03:57,250 Speaker 1: We're going to talk about bicycles and we'll get onto 63 00:03:57,290 --> 00:03:59,650 Speaker 1: invention stories in a minute, but by just listen to 64 00:03:59,690 --> 00:04:03,090 Speaker 1: your episode about Clive Sinclair and the C five. There's 65 00:04:03,130 --> 00:04:05,250 Speaker 1: a thing that you mentioned in that particular episode which 66 00:04:05,250 --> 00:04:07,050 Speaker 1: I think is so interesting, and it's this idea of 67 00:04:07,090 --> 00:04:11,170 Speaker 1: adjacent possibilities, this idea of in the world of innovation 68 00:04:11,210 --> 00:04:14,170 Speaker 1: and invention a little bit like evolutionary biology, there are 69 00:04:14,210 --> 00:04:17,530 Speaker 1: all kinds of possibilities, and in these rooms of possibilities, 70 00:04:17,530 --> 00:04:19,090 Speaker 1: there are doors that we can go through. And the 71 00:04:19,130 --> 00:04:22,010 Speaker 1: secret is you can't do big jumps in rooms far 72 00:04:22,050 --> 00:04:25,690 Speaker 1: away and sort of shadow futures. Yeah, it's very hard 73 00:04:25,690 --> 00:04:27,810 Speaker 1: to do. It's really hard to do. You don't get 74 00:04:27,810 --> 00:04:29,970 Speaker 1: you well, you know in evolutionary biology, of course, well 75 00:04:30,010 --> 00:04:31,210 Speaker 1: we know that, but it kind of works in the 76 00:04:31,290 --> 00:04:34,930 Speaker 1: innovation and Clive Sinclair, I know I'm digressing. We haven't 77 00:04:34,930 --> 00:04:37,410 Speaker 1: even started yet, but I'm already onto a digression. Was 78 00:04:37,450 --> 00:04:40,090 Speaker 1: a kind of victim of looking too far ahead. For 79 00:04:40,170 --> 00:04:43,290 Speaker 1: doors in future possibilities that were not quite ready yet. 80 00:04:43,330 --> 00:04:46,010 Speaker 1: He was indeed, and I don't regards Clive Sinclair as 81 00:04:46,010 --> 00:04:48,210 Speaker 1: a digression from the bicycle at all, because I think 82 00:04:48,290 --> 00:04:52,610 Speaker 1: one of the problems he faced was he was distracted 83 00:04:52,730 --> 00:04:56,090 Speaker 1: by bicycle regulations. So we should talk about that at 84 00:04:56,130 --> 00:04:59,330 Speaker 1: some stage, but before we do the adjacent possible You've 85 00:04:59,330 --> 00:05:01,770 Speaker 1: already discussed it on the show before Met Ridley talks 86 00:05:01,770 --> 00:05:04,570 Speaker 1: about it. It's an influential idea in certain circles, but 87 00:05:04,610 --> 00:05:08,690 Speaker 1: I think it's really informative comes from evolutionary biology. As 88 00:05:08,690 --> 00:05:12,450 Speaker 1: you say, they're just certain things that you can't do 89 00:05:12,770 --> 00:05:15,570 Speaker 1: even if you have the idea, because all of the 90 00:05:15,610 --> 00:05:20,970 Speaker 1: supporting infrastructure just isn't there. And Sir Clive Sinclair, for 91 00:05:21,010 --> 00:05:24,450 Speaker 1: those who don't know, made his money in pocket calculators 92 00:05:24,770 --> 00:05:28,050 Speaker 1: and then dramatically increased his money, being one of the 93 00:05:28,090 --> 00:05:31,370 Speaker 1: most successful computer entrepreneurs the world had ever seen in 94 00:05:31,410 --> 00:05:34,010 Speaker 1: the nineteen eighties, and then lost almost all of it 95 00:05:34,210 --> 00:05:37,450 Speaker 1: making this ridiculous vehicle called the C five, which is 96 00:05:37,570 --> 00:05:41,050 Speaker 1: impossible to describe. It's like it's like riding around in 97 00:05:41,130 --> 00:05:45,410 Speaker 1: a giant white stiletto with roller skates or something. Just 98 00:05:45,810 --> 00:05:49,370 Speaker 1: an absurd vehicle. You must have wanted one. We must 99 00:05:49,410 --> 00:05:51,290 Speaker 1: be roughly the same age, because I remember when they 100 00:05:51,290 --> 00:05:53,570 Speaker 1: came out and I'm like, oh my god, this is 101 00:05:53,610 --> 00:05:55,890 Speaker 1: the future, and it was like I must have And 102 00:05:55,930 --> 00:05:58,330 Speaker 1: of course I didn't get one. Yeah, to a twelve 103 00:05:58,410 --> 00:06:01,090 Speaker 1: year old boy, it seemed incredible. My goodness. I didn't 104 00:06:01,130 --> 00:06:02,890 Speaker 1: realize they didn't work at the time. It's only now 105 00:06:02,890 --> 00:06:05,610 Speaker 1: I realized they were not very good. Yes, and I 106 00:06:05,650 --> 00:06:07,770 Speaker 1: mean the main problem, I think was the batteries. There 107 00:06:07,770 --> 00:06:09,850 Speaker 1: were lots of different problems, but the fundamental problem with 108 00:06:09,850 --> 00:06:14,290 Speaker 1: the batteries. Batteries were very heavy, were expensive, didn't take 109 00:06:14,330 --> 00:06:17,010 Speaker 1: you very far, and didn't work in the cold. So 110 00:06:17,010 --> 00:06:20,250 Speaker 1: that was a problem, particularly since Sir Clive chose to 111 00:06:20,370 --> 00:06:26,610 Speaker 1: unveil this invention in Dannary. I think we wrote the 112 00:06:27,090 --> 00:06:30,290 Speaker 1: London roads are covered in slush and the batteries are 113 00:06:30,290 --> 00:06:32,130 Speaker 1: conking out, and they just didn't realize that was going 114 00:06:32,170 --> 00:06:34,410 Speaker 1: to be an issue. But what makes me feel for 115 00:06:34,450 --> 00:06:38,850 Speaker 1: Sir Clive is when you hear his vision for electric vehicles, 116 00:06:39,090 --> 00:06:41,410 Speaker 1: and also when you hear his vision for computers, you 117 00:06:41,450 --> 00:06:44,450 Speaker 1: realize the guy was absolutely right in both respects, and 118 00:06:44,570 --> 00:06:47,690 Speaker 1: he saw he saw Google coming, he saw Siri coming, 119 00:06:48,290 --> 00:06:50,850 Speaker 1: he saw Tesla coming, He saw it all coming. He 120 00:06:50,970 --> 00:06:54,330 Speaker 1: tried to make it happen. And with his computers such 121 00:06:54,330 --> 00:06:56,650 Speaker 1: as the Zenlex eighty one and the ZX Spectrum, he 122 00:06:57,130 --> 00:07:00,370 Speaker 1: know he was able to make this important incremental step 123 00:07:00,410 --> 00:07:02,930 Speaker 1: and make a great product. But with the C five, 124 00:07:03,490 --> 00:07:07,330 Speaker 1: this proto electric car just wasn't good enough, and yeah, 125 00:07:07,530 --> 00:07:09,610 Speaker 1: left him a laughing stock, which is a great shame. 126 00:07:09,850 --> 00:07:12,570 Speaker 1: It really is, it really is. Yeah, what are the 127 00:07:12,570 --> 00:07:16,050 Speaker 1: people who tweeted their happy memories of playing with Sir 128 00:07:16,130 --> 00:07:20,290 Speaker 1: Clive's computers? Was Elon Musk? Elon Musk loved Sir Clive's computers. 129 00:07:20,650 --> 00:07:23,450 Speaker 1: Of course, Elon Musk is a man who likes Sir Clive. 130 00:07:24,170 --> 00:07:26,810 Speaker 1: Made his money in tech and then you know, as 131 00:07:26,850 --> 00:07:29,330 Speaker 1: in you know, computing and software, and it was it 132 00:07:29,410 --> 00:07:31,610 Speaker 1: was a PayPal and then took that money and like 133 00:07:31,770 --> 00:07:34,770 Speaker 1: Sir Clive, had this vision of an electric future. But 134 00:07:34,930 --> 00:07:38,290 Speaker 1: unlike Sir Clive, instead of embarrassing himself and losing almost everything, 135 00:07:38,290 --> 00:07:40,010 Speaker 1: he became the richest man in the world. And that 136 00:07:40,490 --> 00:07:42,850 Speaker 1: is the difference. I don't think it's at any difference 137 00:07:42,890 --> 00:07:45,410 Speaker 1: in their talents. It's a difference in whether they had 138 00:07:45,450 --> 00:07:47,930 Speaker 1: the adjacent possible on their side or not. I mean 139 00:07:47,970 --> 00:07:50,010 Speaker 1: Craikey though, I mean Elon Musk nearly went bust a 140 00:07:50,050 --> 00:07:52,530 Speaker 1: few times. I think in the beginnings of SpaceX it 141 00:07:52,610 --> 00:07:55,650 Speaker 1: was a kind of coin flip whether whether it was 142 00:07:55,690 --> 00:07:58,050 Speaker 1: going to go bust or not. And you're absolutely right. 143 00:07:58,050 --> 00:08:00,650 Speaker 1: I just think in his house with all these doors, 144 00:08:00,650 --> 00:08:03,530 Speaker 1: these adjacent DAWs, he was just lucky that the doors 145 00:08:03,530 --> 00:08:06,770 Speaker 1: were a little bit closer to him. But yeah, I think, well, 146 00:08:06,890 --> 00:08:09,370 Speaker 1: we're going to have a revisionist view of Clive Sinclair soon, 147 00:08:09,610 --> 00:08:12,090 Speaker 1: I hope. I hope we kind of remember him fondly 148 00:08:12,130 --> 00:08:13,410 Speaker 1: because I know he had a kind of quite a 149 00:08:13,490 --> 00:08:16,370 Speaker 1: chaotic life towards the end, which you kind of go 150 00:08:16,370 --> 00:08:18,370 Speaker 1: into detail a little bit in your podcast about. You know, 151 00:08:18,370 --> 00:08:20,330 Speaker 1: he became a poker player, which I thought was quite 152 00:08:20,410 --> 00:08:22,610 Speaker 1: I remember watching Late Night Poker and the nineties actually, 153 00:08:22,770 --> 00:08:24,490 Speaker 1: and all these amazing people were on, like people like 154 00:08:24,530 --> 00:08:27,250 Speaker 1: Clive Sinclair. Who knew that Clive Sinclair became like a 155 00:08:27,290 --> 00:08:31,010 Speaker 1: poker champion. Yeah, there's your problem. He was into poker 156 00:08:31,090 --> 00:08:34,010 Speaker 1: before it was cool as well. He was just like 157 00:08:34,170 --> 00:08:38,250 Speaker 1: massively ahead, massively ahead of everything actually, and it's weird. 158 00:08:38,250 --> 00:08:39,850 Speaker 1: Now I live in central London. I walk out the 159 00:08:39,890 --> 00:08:43,170 Speaker 1: door now and the pavement is littered with electric bikes. 160 00:08:43,330 --> 00:08:44,930 Speaker 1: And again, one of the things you talk about, this 161 00:08:44,970 --> 00:08:47,090 Speaker 1: idea of the shared economy, thanks to the Internet, of course, 162 00:08:47,130 --> 00:08:49,530 Speaker 1: which didn't exist when Clive Sinclair was doing the C five. 163 00:08:49,810 --> 00:08:51,530 Speaker 1: The Internet, the fact that we can have apps that 164 00:08:51,610 --> 00:08:53,650 Speaker 1: let us take bikes and ride them around and then 165 00:08:53,730 --> 00:08:56,130 Speaker 1: dump them, and that was a pretty fundamental door to 166 00:08:56,170 --> 00:08:58,850 Speaker 1: go through. So I was quite struck. I was rereading 167 00:08:59,010 --> 00:09:02,370 Speaker 1: a piece I did for the BBC maybe three years ago, 168 00:09:02,530 --> 00:09:05,170 Speaker 1: and it became part of my book The Next Fifty 169 00:09:05,170 --> 00:09:07,450 Speaker 1: Things That Made the Modern Economy, and I speculate on 170 00:09:07,490 --> 00:09:09,970 Speaker 1: the future of bikes and I point out that they 171 00:09:09,970 --> 00:09:12,730 Speaker 1: seem to have a very bright future. But interestingly, to me, 172 00:09:12,970 --> 00:09:15,050 Speaker 1: I think I missed the big picture. So I was 173 00:09:15,090 --> 00:09:18,290 Speaker 1: pointing out, oh yeah, with apps and with sort of 174 00:09:18,290 --> 00:09:21,130 Speaker 1: sharing economy technologies, you could just have these bikes lying 175 00:09:21,170 --> 00:09:23,890 Speaker 1: around and you can rent one and cycle it for 176 00:09:23,930 --> 00:09:25,810 Speaker 1: a couple of miles and then just leave it. And 177 00:09:25,850 --> 00:09:27,610 Speaker 1: by the way, the roads will be cleaner and safer 178 00:09:27,650 --> 00:09:30,970 Speaker 1: because they'll be electric cars and they'll probably be self driving. 179 00:09:31,250 --> 00:09:34,330 Speaker 1: But what I missed was now obvious and just a 180 00:09:34,330 --> 00:09:37,690 Speaker 1: few years later obvious fact that they'll take the battery 181 00:09:37,730 --> 00:09:41,650 Speaker 1: technology from electric cars and they'll stick the batteries in 182 00:09:41,730 --> 00:09:45,250 Speaker 1: bikes and indeed in scooters and even you know, I 183 00:09:45,290 --> 00:09:48,490 Speaker 1: think maybe twenty eighteen, maybe even twenty nineteen, I was 184 00:09:48,530 --> 00:09:51,130 Speaker 1: writing this that wasn't obvious, and suddenly it's like, of 185 00:09:51,130 --> 00:09:53,130 Speaker 1: course that's what's going to happ thought, so these things 186 00:09:53,130 --> 00:09:57,330 Speaker 1: can be can be hard to predict. Yeah. Wow, the bicycle, 187 00:09:57,370 --> 00:09:59,410 Speaker 1: it's so interesting. It is such a symbol, really, the 188 00:09:59,450 --> 00:10:01,970 Speaker 1: bicycle in lots of ways. It's the simplicity I think 189 00:10:02,010 --> 00:10:04,330 Speaker 1: we'd like about it that makes it so interesting. It's 190 00:10:04,330 --> 00:10:06,490 Speaker 1: a symbol of the future. It's a symbol about change. 191 00:10:06,570 --> 00:10:09,570 Speaker 1: It's a symbol about you know, emancipation. It's a symbol 192 00:10:09,570 --> 00:10:11,770 Speaker 1: about freedom and equality. All these different things I think 193 00:10:11,810 --> 00:10:14,250 Speaker 1: make it really really interesting. One of my favorite films 194 00:10:14,610 --> 00:10:16,770 Speaker 1: is Butch Cassidy in The Sundance Kids, which you will 195 00:10:16,810 --> 00:10:19,850 Speaker 1: have seen. I'm hoping, yeah, please say yes. YEA A 196 00:10:19,890 --> 00:10:21,730 Speaker 1: long time ago, A long time ago. Okay, So you 197 00:10:21,770 --> 00:10:23,810 Speaker 1: think of it. It's a Western. It's a Western, you know. 198 00:10:23,810 --> 00:10:26,010 Speaker 1: It's Paul Newman and Robert Redford, and it's a kind 199 00:10:26,010 --> 00:10:28,250 Speaker 1: of comedy buddy movie, but it's very much a film 200 00:10:28,290 --> 00:10:31,330 Speaker 1: about transition, about change, and it's about the end of 201 00:10:31,330 --> 00:10:33,810 Speaker 1: one era and the beginning of another era. You know, 202 00:10:33,890 --> 00:10:35,730 Speaker 1: here are two bank robbers on the make, and their 203 00:10:35,770 --> 00:10:38,530 Speaker 1: whole lives collapse because the world is changing around them 204 00:10:38,530 --> 00:10:40,570 Speaker 1: and they don't have the ability to change. And eventually 205 00:10:40,610 --> 00:10:42,890 Speaker 1: it ends, and there's the famous ending where they get shot, 206 00:10:42,890 --> 00:10:44,690 Speaker 1: and that's how it ends. But there's a scene in 207 00:10:44,690 --> 00:10:47,330 Speaker 1: about the bicycle and they're standing in a square in 208 00:10:47,370 --> 00:10:50,050 Speaker 1: a sort of western town and there's a bicycle salesman. 209 00:10:50,090 --> 00:10:51,850 Speaker 1: He says, welcome to the future, and he holds up 210 00:10:51,850 --> 00:10:54,410 Speaker 1: this brand new thing and it's eighteen ninety something and 211 00:10:54,450 --> 00:10:56,810 Speaker 1: he's extolling the virtues of the bicycle, how wonderful it is, 212 00:10:56,850 --> 00:10:58,250 Speaker 1: and the horse is dead and this is going to 213 00:10:58,330 --> 00:11:00,130 Speaker 1: be the new thing. And then there's the weird scene 214 00:11:00,130 --> 00:11:02,370 Speaker 1: with Katherine Ross and Paul Newman on the bicycle with 215 00:11:02,490 --> 00:11:04,930 Speaker 1: the rain drobs keep falling on my head and they 216 00:11:04,970 --> 00:11:07,290 Speaker 1: do all the bicycle stunts and at the end they 217 00:11:07,290 --> 00:11:09,730 Speaker 1: crash the bicycle and all Newman rosed in the bin. 218 00:11:09,810 --> 00:11:12,890 Speaker 1: So the future is all yours. You lousy bicycle and 219 00:11:12,930 --> 00:11:15,850 Speaker 1: it's just a weird, incongruous scene that shouldn't really be 220 00:11:15,890 --> 00:11:17,410 Speaker 1: there in the middle of the Western But it's about 221 00:11:17,410 --> 00:11:19,650 Speaker 1: the bicycle, and it's about future, and it's the invention 222 00:11:19,650 --> 00:11:21,810 Speaker 1: of the bicycle and how Paul Newman can't adapt to 223 00:11:21,850 --> 00:11:24,610 Speaker 1: it and then his whole life unravels from there. So 224 00:11:24,650 --> 00:11:26,970 Speaker 1: it does this. I don't know, it's interesting symbol. I 225 00:11:26,970 --> 00:11:29,890 Speaker 1: think of lots of different things. It is and it's 226 00:11:29,970 --> 00:11:33,130 Speaker 1: sorry that was a complete no. No, it's lovely and yes, 227 00:11:33,130 --> 00:11:36,650 Speaker 1: the bicycle's moment was there in the late nineteenth century. 228 00:11:36,970 --> 00:11:42,970 Speaker 1: It's intriguing how long it existed in a proto form 229 00:11:43,010 --> 00:11:47,330 Speaker 1: that was pretty useless, and then how rapidly it became modern. Well, 230 00:11:47,410 --> 00:11:49,730 Speaker 1: let's start at the beginning of the bicycles. How do 231 00:11:49,770 --> 00:11:51,890 Speaker 1: we even define a bicycle? Is it like the two 232 00:11:51,930 --> 00:11:55,010 Speaker 1: wheelness of it? Yeah, well, I suppose it's two wheels, 233 00:11:55,050 --> 00:11:58,010 Speaker 1: so it's a two wheeled, nonpowered device. I suppose it's 234 00:11:58,050 --> 00:12:00,370 Speaker 1: how you describe it. So you can make a case 235 00:12:00,410 --> 00:12:09,090 Speaker 1: that bicycle number one was demonstrated around eighteen seventeen, eighteen eighteen, 236 00:12:09,530 --> 00:12:12,330 Speaker 1: I forget the exact date. There was a gentleman called 237 00:12:12,410 --> 00:12:15,970 Speaker 1: Carl von Dress in what we would now call Germany, 238 00:12:16,410 --> 00:12:20,610 Speaker 1: and he had been working on a wooden horse. Effectively, 239 00:12:20,610 --> 00:12:23,570 Speaker 1: he'd been working on a cheaper alternative to the horse. 240 00:12:24,010 --> 00:12:25,930 Speaker 1: And the reason he'd been doing that is because there'd 241 00:12:25,970 --> 00:12:29,290 Speaker 1: been several bad harvests. The price of oats had risen, 242 00:12:30,210 --> 00:12:32,410 Speaker 1: and it was expensive to keep a horse. Well, it 243 00:12:32,450 --> 00:12:34,010 Speaker 1: had always been expensive to keep a horse, but it 244 00:12:34,010 --> 00:12:36,330 Speaker 1: was getting even more expensive to keep a horse, and 245 00:12:36,370 --> 00:12:40,250 Speaker 1: so he was quietly working away on a device that 246 00:12:40,330 --> 00:12:43,690 Speaker 1: wouldn't need to be fed with oats. In eighteen fifteen, 247 00:12:43,930 --> 00:12:48,210 Speaker 1: there was a catastrophic explosion in what we would now 248 00:12:48,250 --> 00:12:53,090 Speaker 1: call Indonesia of Mount Tambora changed the world's weather dramatically 249 00:12:53,290 --> 00:12:56,810 Speaker 1: for several years. Eighteen sixteen in Europe became known as 250 00:12:56,850 --> 00:12:58,650 Speaker 1: the Year without Summer. Nobody knew it was anything to 251 00:12:58,690 --> 00:13:01,410 Speaker 1: do with a volcano, but it was. Crops failed. There 252 00:13:01,490 --> 00:13:06,210 Speaker 1: was widespread starvation. It was absolutely catastrophic. One of the 253 00:13:06,290 --> 00:13:10,490 Speaker 1: things that was invented was Frankenstein. Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein 254 00:13:10,610 --> 00:13:13,810 Speaker 1: that summer. But another thing that was invented, and there 255 00:13:13,810 --> 00:13:15,730 Speaker 1: were several inventions, but another thing was invented in the 256 00:13:15,730 --> 00:13:19,690 Speaker 1: shadow of this Year Without Summer was was Carl Drace's velocipede, 257 00:13:19,810 --> 00:13:22,290 Speaker 1: or is sometimes called a dracn There were no pedals 258 00:13:22,370 --> 00:13:23,770 Speaker 1: or anything on this is it. It's just to kind 259 00:13:23,770 --> 00:13:26,730 Speaker 1: of describe a velocipy, just so we've got an image 260 00:13:26,730 --> 00:13:30,570 Speaker 1: of it. There were no no pedal. Now you're complaining 261 00:13:30,690 --> 00:13:33,730 Speaker 1: here about their details. No pedals, Yes, sure, okay, who 262 00:13:33,810 --> 00:13:36,330 Speaker 1: needs pedals? But no, you're right, So this is one 263 00:13:36,370 --> 00:13:38,210 Speaker 1: of the reasons. One of the reasons it was limited 264 00:13:38,530 --> 00:13:40,650 Speaker 1: was you didn't have very good roads, and one of 265 00:13:40,690 --> 00:13:42,570 Speaker 1: the reasons it was limited was you didn't have pedals, 266 00:13:42,570 --> 00:13:45,170 Speaker 1: so you effectively it looked a bit like a modern bike, 267 00:13:45,690 --> 00:13:48,290 Speaker 1: and then you realized that, you know, it had handlebars 268 00:13:48,330 --> 00:13:51,610 Speaker 1: with some steering, and it had a crossbar and two 269 00:13:52,170 --> 00:13:54,530 Speaker 1: wheels and a saddle, and you sat on the saddle, 270 00:13:55,050 --> 00:13:57,250 Speaker 1: but your legs would drape on either side of the 271 00:13:57,250 --> 00:13:59,250 Speaker 1: bike and your feet would touch the ground and you'll 272 00:13:59,330 --> 00:14:04,770 Speaker 1: just propel yourself for these long loping strides. So it's 273 00:14:05,010 --> 00:14:08,490 Speaker 1: dramatically inferior to what we now regard as a bicycle. 274 00:14:09,090 --> 00:14:11,450 Speaker 1: There was a bit of a fad for them. They 275 00:14:11,490 --> 00:14:15,130 Speaker 1: were sometimes called dandy horses, so for about six months 276 00:14:15,210 --> 00:14:17,250 Speaker 1: people would be charging around the streets of London on 277 00:14:17,290 --> 00:14:20,490 Speaker 1: these things. Everybody thought they were ridiculous, and they very 278 00:14:20,610 --> 00:14:23,530 Speaker 1: rapidly went out of fashion. Hebsters of the time would 279 00:14:23,530 --> 00:14:25,770 Speaker 1: have been yeah, yeah, but these things didn't have breaks 280 00:14:25,850 --> 00:14:28,450 Speaker 1: as well as not having pedals, and so yeah, they 281 00:14:28,450 --> 00:14:31,930 Speaker 1: weren't really very good and they just sort of disappeared 282 00:14:32,010 --> 00:14:35,410 Speaker 1: for decades, and it takes a while for an improved 283 00:14:35,490 --> 00:14:38,570 Speaker 1: version to be delivered. The next stage in the bicycle's 284 00:14:38,570 --> 00:14:41,770 Speaker 1: evolution is the penny farthing. Penny farthing is something we 285 00:14:42,050 --> 00:14:46,330 Speaker 1: I think regard as this sort of very quaint Victorian thing, 286 00:14:46,730 --> 00:14:49,570 Speaker 1: and we imagine somebody we know with a top hat 287 00:14:49,690 --> 00:14:52,210 Speaker 1: or a bowler hat and a four piece suit and 288 00:14:52,290 --> 00:14:54,610 Speaker 1: a pocket watch on a gold chain and all that, 289 00:14:54,730 --> 00:14:56,810 Speaker 1: you know, a monocle and all this sort of stuff. 290 00:14:56,930 --> 00:15:00,530 Speaker 1: Actually they were speed machines, and the reason the front 291 00:15:00,570 --> 00:15:03,330 Speaker 1: wheel was so big was not as some kind of 292 00:15:03,370 --> 00:15:06,530 Speaker 1: fashionable affectation. It was because that was the way to 293 00:15:06,610 --> 00:15:10,090 Speaker 1: get speed, because without gearing, as you push the pedals, 294 00:15:10,330 --> 00:15:12,290 Speaker 1: you don't go very fast, so you need to make 295 00:15:12,290 --> 00:15:14,610 Speaker 1: the wheel bigger and bigger and bigger. At that point, 296 00:15:14,730 --> 00:15:16,810 Speaker 1: or the particularly must have had chains, but not no 297 00:15:16,850 --> 00:15:19,210 Speaker 1: one had invented a bicycle chain yet, which is the 298 00:15:19,250 --> 00:15:22,690 Speaker 1: solution to the big wheel. Yes, gearing, gearing and chains. Yes, 299 00:15:22,810 --> 00:15:24,930 Speaker 1: now that's as an interesting point. I'm not sure exactly 300 00:15:24,930 --> 00:15:28,450 Speaker 1: when the bicycle chain itself was perfected, but there's a 301 00:15:28,490 --> 00:15:33,410 Speaker 1: general story in bicycle manufacture of trying to make interchangeable 302 00:15:33,450 --> 00:15:37,890 Speaker 1: parts that work cheaply. And the interchangeability is important because 303 00:15:37,890 --> 00:15:39,730 Speaker 1: it means that you know something fails, you can just 304 00:15:39,890 --> 00:15:43,090 Speaker 1: buy a replacement part and fix it. And interchangeable parts 305 00:15:43,210 --> 00:15:46,370 Speaker 1: was not a new idea, so the military had perfected 306 00:15:46,370 --> 00:15:48,650 Speaker 1: this idea of interchangeable parts. You want a musket where 307 00:15:48,770 --> 00:15:51,090 Speaker 1: if something goes wrong with a musket you just grab 308 00:15:51,130 --> 00:15:54,290 Speaker 1: another part of the musket and grab a spare and 309 00:15:54,370 --> 00:15:56,730 Speaker 1: fit the spare on the battlefield and it doesn't require 310 00:15:56,970 --> 00:16:00,810 Speaker 1: days and days of handcrafted smithing. So that idea had 311 00:16:00,810 --> 00:16:03,850 Speaker 1: been around since the time of the French Revolution got 312 00:16:03,850 --> 00:16:05,690 Speaker 1: slightly got lost in the noise of the French Revolution. 313 00:16:05,690 --> 00:16:09,410 Speaker 1: But there's this famous demonstration that Thomas Jefferson witnesses in 314 00:16:09,490 --> 00:16:13,970 Speaker 1: Paris of a French gunsmith taking apart ten muskets in 315 00:16:14,010 --> 00:16:16,730 Speaker 1: front of an audience and just throwing all the parts 316 00:16:16,730 --> 00:16:18,730 Speaker 1: in the box and just randomly mixing all the parts 317 00:16:18,730 --> 00:16:21,290 Speaker 1: and then taking random parts out of the box, reassembling 318 00:16:21,330 --> 00:16:23,530 Speaker 1: them into a musket and showing that the musket works. 319 00:16:23,730 --> 00:16:27,570 Speaker 1: And that blew Thomas Jefferson's mind. It was incredible. But 320 00:16:27,690 --> 00:16:30,970 Speaker 1: that was really high end military technology. So that what 321 00:16:31,130 --> 00:16:34,170 Speaker 1: commercialized it and made it available to the everyday citizen 322 00:16:34,450 --> 00:16:37,290 Speaker 1: was bicycle manufacturer. So one of the problems that bicycle 323 00:16:37,290 --> 00:16:39,970 Speaker 1: manufacturers are tried to solve is can I make say, 324 00:16:40,130 --> 00:16:43,210 Speaker 1: links to a chain, or can I make cogs, or 325 00:16:43,290 --> 00:16:46,050 Speaker 1: can I make the spokes of a wheel in a 326 00:16:46,130 --> 00:16:49,370 Speaker 1: standard way that they're all interchangeable in a way that's 327 00:16:49,370 --> 00:16:52,730 Speaker 1: not super expensive. And they achieved that, and that then 328 00:16:52,850 --> 00:16:56,050 Speaker 1: paves the way for setting other small inventions such as 329 00:16:56,090 --> 00:16:58,450 Speaker 1: the motor car. It paves the way for Henry Ford's 330 00:16:58,570 --> 00:17:01,490 Speaker 1: assembly line. That's really interesting. You can James Burke ourselves 331 00:17:01,610 --> 00:17:03,770 Speaker 1: from in connections from the bicycle to the motor car. 332 00:17:03,810 --> 00:17:06,490 Speaker 1: I think it was Rover as well. Was that obviously 333 00:17:06,490 --> 00:17:09,450 Speaker 1: made cars in the UK they were making bicycles. Yeah. 334 00:17:09,650 --> 00:17:12,330 Speaker 1: Rover Word were the first British manufacturers of what became 335 00:17:12,370 --> 00:17:16,010 Speaker 1: known as the safety bicycle, and then Rover, as older 336 00:17:16,050 --> 00:17:18,610 Speaker 1: listeners will know them, became very big players in the 337 00:17:18,610 --> 00:17:20,970 Speaker 1: British motor car industry. And of course you've got the 338 00:17:21,010 --> 00:17:23,450 Speaker 1: Right Brothers who were bicycle mechanics who built the plane. 339 00:17:23,490 --> 00:17:25,170 Speaker 1: So you can go all the way to the plane 340 00:17:25,170 --> 00:17:28,210 Speaker 1: if you really want to make the connections. Yeah, the 341 00:17:28,290 --> 00:17:30,850 Speaker 1: Right Brothers is another great story of innovation. Of course, 342 00:17:30,850 --> 00:17:32,810 Speaker 1: the Right Brothers were not the first in flight, but 343 00:17:32,850 --> 00:17:37,290 Speaker 1: they were arguably the first in controlled flights because they realized, actually, 344 00:17:37,330 --> 00:17:40,370 Speaker 1: the mechanics are flying a pitch rolland yre, which they 345 00:17:40,570 --> 00:17:44,130 Speaker 1: evolved from their work with bicycles. You know. Yeah, that's 346 00:17:44,130 --> 00:17:45,890 Speaker 1: how it sort of how it sort of came to be. 347 00:17:46,010 --> 00:17:47,890 Speaker 1: Can we just pause on Penny Farthings from because I'm 348 00:17:47,930 --> 00:17:49,930 Speaker 1: really interested in the Penny farthing? Yes, because as a 349 00:17:49,970 --> 00:17:52,050 Speaker 1: sort of design solution that okay, before we have chains, 350 00:17:52,050 --> 00:17:54,370 Speaker 1: before we are breaks. The way in order to get speed, 351 00:17:54,410 --> 00:17:56,890 Speaker 1: and you say they're racing machines is to have a 352 00:17:57,050 --> 00:18:00,250 Speaker 1: giant front wheel. They are such peculiar objects. Who was 353 00:18:00,330 --> 00:18:03,210 Speaker 1: making them and why were they making them? Was it like, okay, 354 00:18:03,250 --> 00:18:05,050 Speaker 1: we've got the sort of dandy horse thing which has 355 00:18:05,050 --> 00:18:06,650 Speaker 1: become a bit of a novelty. We're now going to 356 00:18:06,770 --> 00:18:09,050 Speaker 1: race them, we know, because that's what humans like to 357 00:18:09,210 --> 00:18:12,530 Speaker 1: We'd like to turn everything into sport or art. We'll 358 00:18:12,570 --> 00:18:19,530 Speaker 1: be back after this short break. Tim Halford here, you're 359 00:18:19,530 --> 00:18:22,410 Speaker 1: listening to a conversation between me and Dallas Campbell from 360 00:18:22,490 --> 00:18:26,290 Speaker 1: the Patented podcast. Cautionary Tales will be back next week 361 00:18:26,530 --> 00:18:35,330 Speaker 1: and Patented will be back after this brief message. And 362 00:18:35,490 --> 00:18:47,010 Speaker 1: now back to Patented with me Tim Halford and Dallas Campbell. Yeah. Yes, 363 00:18:47,130 --> 00:18:49,130 Speaker 1: and it's a fearless young gentleman of the people who 364 00:18:49,130 --> 00:18:51,410 Speaker 1: are riding them. And actually I need to let me 365 00:18:51,450 --> 00:18:54,170 Speaker 1: just read you a nice quotation from the next fifty 366 00:18:54,170 --> 00:18:56,930 Speaker 1: Things that Made the Modern Economy, if I may advertise 367 00:18:56,930 --> 00:18:58,530 Speaker 1: my own book for a second. I just love this. 368 00:18:58,730 --> 00:19:00,970 Speaker 1: So that you've got these five foot wheels, you're on 369 00:19:01,010 --> 00:19:03,970 Speaker 1: top of this five foot wheel, you've got massive potholes 370 00:19:04,010 --> 00:19:07,930 Speaker 1: because these are mid nineteenth century roads, bone shaking suspension. 371 00:19:08,250 --> 00:19:10,650 Speaker 1: You'd hit this pot hole and you'd just be pitched forward. 372 00:19:10,770 --> 00:19:14,690 Speaker 1: And one gentleman says, as you pitched forward, you'd encounter 373 00:19:14,810 --> 00:19:18,970 Speaker 1: a nice straight iron handlebar close across your waist to 374 00:19:19,090 --> 00:19:21,850 Speaker 1: imprison your legs and make it quite certain that it 375 00:19:21,890 --> 00:19:24,890 Speaker 1: should be your face that first reach the surface of 376 00:19:24,930 --> 00:19:30,050 Speaker 1: this unyielding planet, so not quintearted unyielding planet. That's great, 377 00:19:30,330 --> 00:19:33,490 Speaker 1: simpler times, tim, You see, we didn't worry about safety 378 00:19:33,530 --> 00:19:34,930 Speaker 1: and this kind of thing. Have you ever been on 379 00:19:34,930 --> 00:19:37,770 Speaker 1: a penny farthing? They are absolutely lethal for exactly the 380 00:19:37,850 --> 00:19:40,090 Speaker 1: reason you just read out. I have a friend who 381 00:19:40,330 --> 00:19:42,810 Speaker 1: raises penny farthings still and she owns a couple of 382 00:19:42,810 --> 00:19:46,330 Speaker 1: penny farthings. My friend cats hallo cats, but she raises them, 383 00:19:46,330 --> 00:19:49,970 Speaker 1: and they're just terrifying. They're just unbelievable. Yes, I can 384 00:19:49,970 --> 00:19:52,450 Speaker 1: believe it, having not so very long ago a couple 385 00:19:52,490 --> 00:19:55,610 Speaker 1: of years ago, fallen off a regular bicycle because the 386 00:19:55,690 --> 00:19:59,410 Speaker 1: chain failed it's an importance and maintenance and hit the 387 00:19:59,410 --> 00:20:02,570 Speaker 1: tarmac face first. Yeah, there was. It wasn't a joke, 388 00:20:02,650 --> 00:20:05,090 Speaker 1: and I wouldn't have wanted to be falling any further 389 00:20:05,130 --> 00:20:07,530 Speaker 1: than I already did, so yeah, I can only imagine 390 00:20:07,570 --> 00:20:10,090 Speaker 1: really what it is like to fall from that yet 391 00:20:10,210 --> 00:20:13,330 Speaker 1: and just to smack into the tarmac, So there was 392 00:20:13,370 --> 00:20:15,330 Speaker 1: still really I mean, they were just for racing, the 393 00:20:15,330 --> 00:20:17,290 Speaker 1: penny farth is that people weren't sort of riding around 394 00:20:17,290 --> 00:20:19,570 Speaker 1: on them particularly to get from A to B. As 395 00:20:19,570 --> 00:20:21,250 Speaker 1: I sort of I mentioned at the beginning, we talked 396 00:20:21,250 --> 00:20:24,210 Speaker 1: about emancipation and about how you know, suddenly the bicycle 397 00:20:24,330 --> 00:20:27,930 Speaker 1: can help low wage people get around cheaply, and or 398 00:20:27,970 --> 00:20:29,930 Speaker 1: we can talk about the emancipation of women as well, 399 00:20:29,970 --> 00:20:32,730 Speaker 1: I think. But the penny farthing was not that. Yes, no, 400 00:20:32,810 --> 00:20:35,410 Speaker 1: it's it was a huge, huge factor in the emancipation 401 00:20:35,410 --> 00:20:37,810 Speaker 1: of women, and cat Cat will be able to tell 402 00:20:37,850 --> 00:20:39,770 Speaker 1: you much more about that than I will. But I 403 00:20:39,810 --> 00:20:42,290 Speaker 1: think it was the safety bicycle rather than the penny 404 00:20:42,290 --> 00:20:45,410 Speaker 1: farthing that really opened it up to the masses, and 405 00:20:45,570 --> 00:20:49,850 Speaker 1: that this wasn't this rather daring, foolhardy thing, but it was. 406 00:20:50,010 --> 00:20:52,090 Speaker 1: It was such a simple, practical What do we mean 407 00:20:52,090 --> 00:20:55,330 Speaker 1: by the safety bicycle? But what defines the safety bicycle good? 408 00:20:55,370 --> 00:20:57,490 Speaker 1: What defines the safety bicycle is you're not you're not 409 00:20:57,570 --> 00:21:01,970 Speaker 1: sort of five foot that the seat seat is. Yeah, 410 00:21:02,290 --> 00:21:04,970 Speaker 1: you're not going to kill yourself automatically. So it's much 411 00:21:05,010 --> 00:21:07,530 Speaker 1: more like the shape of the original the losspede, where 412 00:21:07,530 --> 00:21:10,210 Speaker 1: your your feet can touch the out. Obviously, it really 413 00:21:10,250 --> 00:21:12,290 Speaker 1: helps if you can put your feet down when you 414 00:21:12,290 --> 00:21:15,090 Speaker 1: get into any trouble. The bicycle is safer, but the 415 00:21:15,170 --> 00:21:18,330 Speaker 1: reason that the bicycle went from the shape of the velocipied, 416 00:21:18,410 --> 00:21:21,570 Speaker 1: which looks modern, up to this crazy penny farthing shape 417 00:21:21,570 --> 00:21:23,690 Speaker 1: and then back down. It brings the saddle back down 418 00:21:24,490 --> 00:21:27,810 Speaker 1: to a height of say three feet a meter. What 419 00:21:27,970 --> 00:21:30,250 Speaker 1: makes that possible is gearing. So you've got the gears, 420 00:21:30,530 --> 00:21:32,690 Speaker 1: you've got the chains, and then you can travel at 421 00:21:32,690 --> 00:21:35,970 Speaker 1: a reasonable speed by peddling. The velocipy didn't have pedals, 422 00:21:35,970 --> 00:21:39,970 Speaker 1: The pennyfathing didn't have gears. Safety bicycle has pedals and 423 00:21:40,050 --> 00:21:42,450 Speaker 1: gears and can travel at a reasonable speed while also 424 00:21:42,490 --> 00:21:45,730 Speaker 1: traveling at a reasonable height. Now, at the same time, 425 00:21:46,050 --> 00:21:50,530 Speaker 1: you've got manufacturing improvements which are making the bikes lighter 426 00:21:50,570 --> 00:21:53,890 Speaker 1: and stronger. You have the diamond frame very quickly comes along, 427 00:21:53,890 --> 00:21:56,730 Speaker 1: which is a very simple, strong way to support the 428 00:21:56,730 --> 00:21:59,370 Speaker 1: structure of the bicycle, and you can make it lighter again. 429 00:21:59,890 --> 00:22:03,970 Speaker 1: You have pneumatic tires. Dunlop comes along with pneumatic tires, 430 00:22:04,090 --> 00:22:06,730 Speaker 1: and suddenly the ride is much smoother. And this is 431 00:22:06,770 --> 00:22:09,290 Speaker 1: all happening within the space of a decade at the 432 00:22:09,370 --> 00:22:11,290 Speaker 1: end of the nineteenth centuries, so it's very dramatic. I 433 00:22:11,410 --> 00:22:13,890 Speaker 1: did all these innovations, Was it all the same people 434 00:22:13,930 --> 00:22:16,090 Speaker 1: who came up with these innovations. Whoever was making these 435 00:22:16,130 --> 00:22:18,690 Speaker 1: bicycles say, oh, this person is making pneumatic ties or 436 00:22:18,730 --> 00:22:21,850 Speaker 1: this person is understands gearing, and I'm just trying to 437 00:22:22,250 --> 00:22:24,970 Speaker 1: how all these little pieces came together. So my understanding. 438 00:22:25,130 --> 00:22:28,010 Speaker 1: So I'm a dilettante of innovations, So I can't tell 439 00:22:28,010 --> 00:22:30,770 Speaker 1: you every detail about thee to meet, about how the 440 00:22:31,450 --> 00:22:34,330 Speaker 1: bike was invented, but my impression, distinct impression, is that 441 00:22:34,370 --> 00:22:36,570 Speaker 1: these are at about the same time from different people. 442 00:22:37,130 --> 00:22:39,090 Speaker 1: So you've got manufacturers trying to get to the cold 443 00:22:39,090 --> 00:22:41,930 Speaker 1: pressing of steel. You've got the invention of the chain, 444 00:22:41,970 --> 00:22:43,490 Speaker 1: you've got the invention of the gear, you've got the 445 00:22:43,490 --> 00:22:45,450 Speaker 1: invention of the pneumatic tire. And it's not the same people, 446 00:22:45,490 --> 00:22:48,450 Speaker 1: but they're all very rapidly, Lots and lots of different 447 00:22:48,490 --> 00:22:52,290 Speaker 1: bicycle companies appearing and taking advantage of these innovations, and 448 00:22:52,450 --> 00:22:56,330 Speaker 1: suddenly the bike is everywhere, and you've got these social implications, 449 00:22:56,330 --> 00:23:02,410 Speaker 1: so women wearing trousers cycling around without outraged chaperones. But 450 00:23:02,530 --> 00:23:06,250 Speaker 1: you also have financial implications. So there's a bicycle bubble 451 00:23:06,930 --> 00:23:12,610 Speaker 1: in Birmingham, May, main Midlands city in the UK, in 452 00:23:12,650 --> 00:23:15,410 Speaker 1: the eighteen nineties, loads and loads of bicycle companies set 453 00:23:15,490 --> 00:23:18,250 Speaker 1: up in Birmingham. The most successful of them and the 454 00:23:18,290 --> 00:23:21,010 Speaker 1: one that really starts the bubble, has the right to 455 00:23:21,170 --> 00:23:24,930 Speaker 1: use Dunlop technology, so you've got the Dunlop tires. This 456 00:23:25,010 --> 00:23:27,690 Speaker 1: is a company that's got real potential because everyone wants 457 00:23:27,690 --> 00:23:29,690 Speaker 1: a bike and these guys have got the best technology. 458 00:23:30,010 --> 00:23:31,970 Speaker 1: But there's a bit of a sort of bubble in speculation. 459 00:23:32,050 --> 00:23:34,050 Speaker 1: People see the shares of this company go up and 460 00:23:34,130 --> 00:23:36,890 Speaker 1: up and up. There's a little bit of financial chicanery, 461 00:23:37,290 --> 00:23:40,450 Speaker 1: verging on fraud, and then suddenly everybody else is setting 462 00:23:40,530 --> 00:23:42,850 Speaker 1: up a bicycle company. So some of these bicycle companies 463 00:23:43,410 --> 00:23:45,610 Speaker 1: never made a bike, and I think almost certainly never 464 00:23:45,650 --> 00:23:48,650 Speaker 1: intended to make a bike. That the whole purpose of 465 00:23:48,690 --> 00:23:51,370 Speaker 1: the company was to be able to sell some shares 466 00:23:51,370 --> 00:23:53,370 Speaker 1: to people who want to own shares in a bicycle company, 467 00:23:53,370 --> 00:23:55,770 Speaker 1: and the people who created the bicycle company get out 468 00:23:55,810 --> 00:23:59,010 Speaker 1: of it. So as you get stuff like is probably 469 00:23:59,050 --> 00:24:01,130 Speaker 1: now illegal and certainly should have been illegal at the time, 470 00:24:01,170 --> 00:24:02,770 Speaker 1: but people seem to get away with it. So you'd 471 00:24:02,770 --> 00:24:05,770 Speaker 1: set up two companies, one of which would order twenty 472 00:24:05,770 --> 00:24:08,890 Speaker 1: thousand bicycles from the other company and then launched his company. 473 00:24:08,890 --> 00:24:10,650 Speaker 1: That's says, well, we've got this order of twenty thousand 474 00:24:10,650 --> 00:24:13,090 Speaker 1: bikes from this other company, so demand is strong for 475 00:24:13,130 --> 00:24:15,650 Speaker 1: our product. People would buy the shares and then the 476 00:24:16,290 --> 00:24:19,610 Speaker 1: founders of these companies would just quietly disappear. And this 477 00:24:19,690 --> 00:24:23,530 Speaker 1: was all happening in the eighteen ninety six eighteen ninety seven, Okay, 478 00:24:23,690 --> 00:24:27,090 Speaker 1: very dramatic boom and bust. And there was a railroad 479 00:24:27,170 --> 00:24:30,170 Speaker 1: mania earlier on in the Victorian era. We have the 480 00:24:30,210 --> 00:24:32,570 Speaker 1: dot com bubble. I mean, as so often there's a 481 00:24:32,570 --> 00:24:35,530 Speaker 1: real technology, there's real progress, there really is something to 482 00:24:35,530 --> 00:24:39,370 Speaker 1: be excited about, but then the bubble mentality takes over 483 00:24:40,170 --> 00:24:42,130 Speaker 1: and a lot of people lose a lot of money, 484 00:24:42,410 --> 00:24:45,770 Speaker 1: even though there is something really important underneath the surface, 485 00:24:46,210 --> 00:24:48,450 Speaker 1: the bubble just takes over for a while. Okay, So 486 00:24:48,490 --> 00:24:51,330 Speaker 1: we've got this interesting sort of financial dynamic going on 487 00:24:51,450 --> 00:24:53,530 Speaker 1: with a sort of bicycle bubble beginning of the twenty 488 00:24:53,530 --> 00:24:56,290 Speaker 1: seventy Just talking through how the bicycle sort of change 489 00:24:56,410 --> 00:24:59,370 Speaker 1: things socially, I'm so interested in that. You know, what 490 00:24:59,450 --> 00:25:01,770 Speaker 1: it meant for people everyday people, what it meant for women, 491 00:25:02,130 --> 00:25:06,210 Speaker 1: and how bicycles kind of became objects of desire. Steve Jones, 492 00:25:06,250 --> 00:25:10,730 Speaker 1: the geneticist, once quipped, I think plausibly, although without proof, 493 00:25:11,170 --> 00:25:15,770 Speaker 1: that the bicycle was a dramatic shock to the genetic 494 00:25:15,850 --> 00:25:20,250 Speaker 1: mix of Western society, because it moved us from a 495 00:25:20,290 --> 00:25:23,490 Speaker 1: situation where all the marriages were within a particular village 496 00:25:23,730 --> 00:25:25,890 Speaker 1: to a situation where young men could go accorting the 497 00:25:26,370 --> 00:25:28,090 Speaker 1: cycle and they could go to the next valley. They 498 00:25:28,130 --> 00:25:30,690 Speaker 1: go to the next village, and suddenly there's much more 499 00:25:30,850 --> 00:25:34,890 Speaker 1: genetic mixing enabled by the bicycle. Now, as I said, 500 00:25:34,890 --> 00:25:36,650 Speaker 1: I don't think he has any direct evidence for this, 501 00:25:36,690 --> 00:25:40,330 Speaker 1: but it seems very plausible and nice makes sense. It's 502 00:25:40,370 --> 00:25:42,290 Speaker 1: a lovely idea. But this is what Carl dre I'm 503 00:25:42,290 --> 00:25:44,450 Speaker 1: not sure Carl Drece was particularly thinking about that, but 504 00:25:44,530 --> 00:25:47,290 Speaker 1: he was thinking when he first invented his wooden horse. 505 00:25:47,490 --> 00:25:51,370 Speaker 1: He was thinking of this democratizing technology. Only rich people 506 00:25:51,410 --> 00:25:54,090 Speaker 1: can afford a horse, but anybody can afford a bike. 507 00:25:54,250 --> 00:25:56,210 Speaker 1: And when you think about it, that's still true, and 508 00:25:56,290 --> 00:25:59,650 Speaker 1: the bike is still the democratic technology that I mean. 509 00:25:59,650 --> 00:26:01,610 Speaker 1: Not everybody in the world can afford a bike, but 510 00:26:01,730 --> 00:26:04,770 Speaker 1: a huge number of people can, far far more than 511 00:26:04,850 --> 00:26:07,690 Speaker 1: can afford a car. And it provides that freedom. So 512 00:26:07,730 --> 00:26:10,930 Speaker 1: the first obvious instance of this example of this was 513 00:26:11,170 --> 00:26:14,490 Speaker 1: freedom for women in western societies in the UK and 514 00:26:14,530 --> 00:26:17,410 Speaker 1: the US in the late nineteenth century. I mean, one 515 00:26:17,610 --> 00:26:20,570 Speaker 1: feminist campaigner said towards the end of her life that 516 00:26:20,570 --> 00:26:22,490 Speaker 1: it was the bicycle had done more than anything else 517 00:26:22,530 --> 00:26:27,410 Speaker 1: to emancipate women. Susan B. Anthony made this comment because 518 00:26:27,570 --> 00:26:30,130 Speaker 1: suddenly you could just get on your bike and you 519 00:26:30,210 --> 00:26:33,090 Speaker 1: could be free, and you didn't have to have a chaperone, 520 00:26:33,090 --> 00:26:35,370 Speaker 1: you didn't have to have someone with you. There's this 521 00:26:35,490 --> 00:26:39,210 Speaker 1: lovely vignette in Margaret Gurov's book about the History of 522 00:26:39,210 --> 00:26:42,730 Speaker 1: the bicycle where she talks about Angeline Allen riding around 523 00:26:42,770 --> 00:26:45,770 Speaker 1: the streets and I think it was Boston wearing trousers 524 00:26:46,010 --> 00:26:49,250 Speaker 1: in the eighteen nineties, and the newspapers gets a newspaper 525 00:26:49,290 --> 00:26:52,450 Speaker 1: story about this, like she wore trousers was the headline, 526 00:26:52,650 --> 00:26:55,010 Speaker 1: and they added that she was young, pretty and divorced. 527 00:26:55,410 --> 00:26:58,650 Speaker 1: But the interesting thing was that she nobody was fussed 528 00:26:58,650 --> 00:27:01,050 Speaker 1: about the fact that she was by herself on a 529 00:27:01,130 --> 00:27:04,610 Speaker 1: bicycle that was by then completely accepted. It was what 530 00:27:04,730 --> 00:27:07,010 Speaker 1: she was wearing while she was doing it, not what 531 00:27:07,130 --> 00:27:09,970 Speaker 1: she was doing, and I think hints this idea of 532 00:27:10,010 --> 00:27:13,050 Speaker 1: the bike providing freedom for young women, and the much 533 00:27:13,090 --> 00:27:16,610 Speaker 1: more recent work shows, for example, the benefits to schoolgirls 534 00:27:16,610 --> 00:27:20,090 Speaker 1: in India of having access to a bike. Lebron James 535 00:27:20,090 --> 00:27:24,050 Speaker 1: basketball star, he's funded a school and every people at 536 00:27:24,050 --> 00:27:27,210 Speaker 1: the school gets a free bike. And Lebron has spoken 537 00:27:27,250 --> 00:27:29,570 Speaker 1: about how when he was a boy and he and 538 00:27:29,610 --> 00:27:31,490 Speaker 1: his friends were on their bikes, they felt like they 539 00:27:31,530 --> 00:27:34,410 Speaker 1: had wings, they were free. So it is this hugely 540 00:27:34,410 --> 00:27:37,930 Speaker 1: emancipating technology for the poor, for women, for the young. 541 00:27:38,290 --> 00:27:40,970 Speaker 1: It always was and it still is today. It's really 542 00:27:40,970 --> 00:27:43,450 Speaker 1: interesting actually because as well as this of innovation of 543 00:27:43,490 --> 00:27:45,930 Speaker 1: the bicycle itself, I mentioned my friend kat Young Nichol 544 00:27:45,970 --> 00:27:48,290 Speaker 1: who's done all this research looking all these Victorian patents 545 00:27:48,290 --> 00:27:50,770 Speaker 1: of Victorian cycle were I'm holding up her book now 546 00:27:50,850 --> 00:27:54,090 Speaker 1: it's called Bicycles, Bicycles and blooms. But actually, you know, 547 00:27:54,250 --> 00:27:57,770 Speaker 1: women were inventing or innovating with some of different materials 548 00:27:57,810 --> 00:27:59,810 Speaker 1: and also sort of skirts with pulleys and things that 549 00:27:59,810 --> 00:28:01,530 Speaker 1: you could pull so your skirt would come up so 550 00:28:01,530 --> 00:28:03,690 Speaker 1: you could get over the crossbar. And it's really interesting 551 00:28:03,730 --> 00:28:07,090 Speaker 1: how these these sort of really peculiar but wonderful patents 552 00:28:07,130 --> 00:28:10,450 Speaker 1: have evolved alongside the bicycle in order to make it rideable, 553 00:28:10,570 --> 00:28:13,250 Speaker 1: particularly for women. It's really I love this idea. That's 554 00:28:13,290 --> 00:28:16,690 Speaker 1: obviously the solution. Not lower the crossbar, not where some 555 00:28:16,770 --> 00:28:19,730 Speaker 1: trousers skirt pull is. But yeah, I mean this is 556 00:28:19,810 --> 00:28:22,410 Speaker 1: this is the way humans think. It's it's terrific. Actually 557 00:28:22,490 --> 00:28:24,850 Speaker 1: social mobility. That's really interesting. I remember, you know, in 558 00:28:24,890 --> 00:28:27,690 Speaker 1: the nineteen eighties, I can't remember who it was, the 559 00:28:27,770 --> 00:28:31,410 Speaker 1: bicycle became this great symbol of fatierism when Norman Tebbitt, 560 00:28:31,530 --> 00:28:35,170 Speaker 1: it was Norman Tebitt, Yeah, Norman Tabot's get on your bike. Yeah, 561 00:28:35,210 --> 00:28:38,770 Speaker 1: what he actually said he was talking about his father, 562 00:28:39,210 --> 00:28:41,490 Speaker 1: and he was saying that when his father was struggling 563 00:28:41,530 --> 00:28:44,210 Speaker 1: to find work, he got on his bike and cycled 564 00:28:44,210 --> 00:28:47,570 Speaker 1: around until he found work. So implicitly he was telling 565 00:28:47,570 --> 00:28:50,530 Speaker 1: everybody else be like my dad and get on your bike. 566 00:28:50,610 --> 00:28:53,930 Speaker 1: But yeah, that was the idea. And obviously people have 567 00:28:54,010 --> 00:28:56,730 Speaker 1: their feelings about how easy it was to find work 568 00:28:56,770 --> 00:28:59,330 Speaker 1: when Norman Tebbitt was a cabinet minister. But I think 569 00:28:59,370 --> 00:29:03,610 Speaker 1: the point, the underlying point is that it does expand possibilities. 570 00:29:03,850 --> 00:29:06,690 Speaker 1: You can search in a larger job market, you can search, 571 00:29:06,730 --> 00:29:09,370 Speaker 1: as Steve Jones implied, you can say which in a 572 00:29:09,490 --> 00:29:13,530 Speaker 1: larger marriage market, you can roam more widely, you're freer, 573 00:29:13,970 --> 00:29:15,530 Speaker 1: and it's cheap, and you could do all this with 574 00:29:15,570 --> 00:29:18,810 Speaker 1: a car. But the bike is incredibly cheap. Yeah, just 575 00:29:18,850 --> 00:29:20,850 Speaker 1: while we're on the subject of the eighties and Steve 576 00:29:20,930 --> 00:29:24,690 Speaker 1: Jones and Gene Pools, the rally bike in the nineteen 577 00:29:24,730 --> 00:29:27,450 Speaker 1: seventies and the nineteen eighties became this great badge of 578 00:29:28,010 --> 00:29:30,370 Speaker 1: It was almost like the peacock's feather, Like what bike 579 00:29:30,450 --> 00:29:32,250 Speaker 1: did you have when you were growing up in the 580 00:29:32,290 --> 00:29:34,050 Speaker 1: nineteen eighties in the UK, Like if you had a 581 00:29:34,130 --> 00:29:36,530 Speaker 1: rally chopper. I always thought that was the sort of 582 00:29:36,610 --> 00:29:38,650 Speaker 1: and I was never allowed a rally chopper. There was 583 00:29:38,650 --> 00:29:40,450 Speaker 1: a kind of great currency as a kid growing up 584 00:29:40,450 --> 00:29:42,730 Speaker 1: at the UK about what bike you had. I had 585 00:29:42,730 --> 00:29:46,290 Speaker 1: a Tomahawk. Chopper was like the great bike, but didn't 586 00:29:46,290 --> 00:29:49,450 Speaker 1: didn't have the gears. Yeah, the Chopper had had three gears. 587 00:29:49,490 --> 00:29:51,810 Speaker 1: I think the Tomahawk didn't. Yeah, that's right. The Tomahawk 588 00:29:51,810 --> 00:29:53,250 Speaker 1: was the smaller version. The Chopper of course had the 589 00:29:53,290 --> 00:29:55,010 Speaker 1: gear stick in the middle, which was the thing you 590 00:29:55,050 --> 00:29:57,850 Speaker 1: wanted in the banana seat I had a Commando, which 591 00:29:57,890 --> 00:30:00,170 Speaker 1: was the junior version of the Grifter. Actually know the 592 00:30:00,170 --> 00:30:03,250 Speaker 1: Boxer was the junior anyway. Sorry, but yes, the conversation 593 00:30:03,250 --> 00:30:05,570 Speaker 1: we're having here sounds very parochial, but in fact this 594 00:30:05,650 --> 00:30:07,770 Speaker 1: is this is really universal. So you've got this very 595 00:30:07,850 --> 00:30:10,530 Speaker 1: famous Italian movie, I think from the nineteen fifties, the 596 00:30:10,570 --> 00:30:14,970 Speaker 1: Bicycle Thief, of course, and then there is a Chinese 597 00:30:15,010 --> 00:30:18,810 Speaker 1: remake called Beijing Bicycle I think maybe the late eighties, 598 00:30:18,890 --> 00:30:21,930 Speaker 1: maybe the nineties, But in both cases this is about 599 00:30:22,010 --> 00:30:25,010 Speaker 1: somebody's bicycle being stolen, and the bicycle is such an 600 00:30:25,050 --> 00:30:28,450 Speaker 1: important possession, and why the thief stole the bike, and 601 00:30:28,610 --> 00:30:31,050 Speaker 1: how the owner desperately tries to get the bike back, 602 00:30:31,690 --> 00:30:35,690 Speaker 1: and it's the bike as this symbol of mobility and 603 00:30:35,770 --> 00:30:39,010 Speaker 1: this prized possession. And in fact, in China in the 604 00:30:39,090 --> 00:30:41,770 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy nineteen eighties, people would talk about this is 605 00:30:41,890 --> 00:30:46,090 Speaker 1: deeply communist China, incredibly poor. People talked about the four possessions, 606 00:30:46,290 --> 00:30:48,650 Speaker 1: the four possessions that you could have as a household, 607 00:30:48,650 --> 00:30:51,570 Speaker 1: that every household aspired to have, and they were the 608 00:30:51,570 --> 00:30:55,810 Speaker 1: sewing machine, the radio, a wristwatch, and a bicycle. And 609 00:30:56,250 --> 00:30:58,050 Speaker 1: if you had all four of those, you had the 610 00:30:58,090 --> 00:31:02,010 Speaker 1: four possessions, then you had made it materially speaking, what 611 00:31:02,090 --> 00:31:05,010 Speaker 1: are the four possessions? Now? The iPhone probably still the 612 00:31:05,050 --> 00:31:08,050 Speaker 1: bicycle for me anyway, I suppose it depends where you live. 613 00:31:08,210 --> 00:31:11,250 Speaker 1: I wonder I think still the bicycle. That I think 614 00:31:11,290 --> 00:31:13,330 Speaker 1: is a really interesting point because we think of the 615 00:31:13,370 --> 00:31:17,010 Speaker 1: bicycle as a transitional technology. So you had the horse, 616 00:31:17,210 --> 00:31:20,010 Speaker 1: then along comes the bike, and it's cheaper and better, 617 00:31:20,330 --> 00:31:22,290 Speaker 1: and it paves the way for the car, and then 618 00:31:22,290 --> 00:31:24,370 Speaker 1: you have the car, and then once you can afford 619 00:31:24,450 --> 00:31:27,050 Speaker 1: the car, you don't need the bike anymore. And that's 620 00:31:27,050 --> 00:31:30,010 Speaker 1: true for individuals, and it's true for societies. That's the 621 00:31:30,010 --> 00:31:33,450 Speaker 1: way we think, and it's completely wrong, and you can 622 00:31:33,530 --> 00:31:37,050 Speaker 1: see that in the data. So David Eggerton's wonderful book 623 00:31:37,090 --> 00:31:38,970 Speaker 1: The Shock of the Old makes this point that in 624 00:31:39,010 --> 00:31:42,730 Speaker 1: the nineteen fifties and sixties, global production of bicycles and 625 00:31:42,810 --> 00:31:45,490 Speaker 1: global production of cars was about the same. You have 626 00:31:45,570 --> 00:31:48,530 Speaker 1: about the same number of cars made as bicycles around 627 00:31:48,570 --> 00:31:50,930 Speaker 1: the world. But then as you get into the seventies, 628 00:31:50,930 --> 00:31:55,170 Speaker 1: the eighties, the nineties, bicycles leave cars in the dust. 629 00:31:55,530 --> 00:31:58,370 Speaker 1: More and more production of bicycles, production of cars increases, 630 00:31:58,450 --> 00:32:02,370 Speaker 1: production of bicycles increases much more. This incredibly practical thing. 631 00:32:02,490 --> 00:32:05,090 Speaker 1: They're practical in very poor countries, they're practical in very 632 00:32:05,170 --> 00:32:07,930 Speaker 1: rich countries. I have two bicycles. I've got the bike 633 00:32:07,970 --> 00:32:09,530 Speaker 1: in the shed and I've got the fold in Brompton 634 00:32:09,570 --> 00:32:11,930 Speaker 1: that can take on the train. I use the bicycle 635 00:32:12,010 --> 00:32:14,130 Speaker 1: much more than I use the car, even leaving aside 636 00:32:14,170 --> 00:32:17,850 Speaker 1: environmental concerns or the price of fuel. The bike it's 637 00:32:17,890 --> 00:32:22,570 Speaker 1: incredibly practical technology and it's always been used no matter 638 00:32:22,570 --> 00:32:24,410 Speaker 1: how much competition there was for the car. And I 639 00:32:24,450 --> 00:32:26,890 Speaker 1: think that tells us something fundamental about technologies, that it's 640 00:32:26,890 --> 00:32:29,250 Speaker 1: not just a case of you have this technology, then 641 00:32:29,250 --> 00:32:31,330 Speaker 1: a better technology comes and then you get rid of 642 00:32:31,330 --> 00:32:33,770 Speaker 1: the old technology. That's rarely how it works, and it's 643 00:32:33,770 --> 00:32:36,690 Speaker 1: certainly not how it's worked with transport, and the bike 644 00:32:36,810 --> 00:32:38,850 Speaker 1: is a great example of that. We mentioned right at 645 00:32:38,890 --> 00:32:40,690 Speaker 1: the beginning. We sort of talked about Clive Sinclaire and 646 00:32:40,690 --> 00:32:45,330 Speaker 1: we talked about batteries and shared economies and bicycles. Now, 647 00:32:45,490 --> 00:32:48,490 Speaker 1: what about the next decade, maybe two decades, where are 648 00:32:48,490 --> 00:32:50,170 Speaker 1: we going to be with a bike? So a couple 649 00:32:50,170 --> 00:32:55,490 Speaker 1: of obvious things that have appeared. One is battery power. 650 00:32:56,050 --> 00:32:58,890 Speaker 1: So the idea that you can recharge a battery on 651 00:32:58,930 --> 00:33:01,650 Speaker 1: a bike when you break, get a little bit of 652 00:33:01,650 --> 00:33:03,490 Speaker 1: extra juice and use that to help you get up 653 00:33:03,490 --> 00:33:05,810 Speaker 1: a hill. Personally, I don't see the point of it myself, 654 00:33:05,850 --> 00:33:07,370 Speaker 1: but then i'm you know, I'm fit and I'm a 655 00:33:07,450 --> 00:33:10,330 Speaker 1: keen cyclist. I'd like to peddle up hill. But lots 656 00:33:10,410 --> 00:33:12,650 Speaker 1: lots of people find that really useful and it really 657 00:33:12,650 --> 00:33:14,810 Speaker 1: struck with the first time I was cycling up a 658 00:33:14,810 --> 00:33:17,690 Speaker 1: steep hill in Oxford and it's the only one we 659 00:33:17,730 --> 00:33:21,530 Speaker 1: have in this site, it's going to say, which we've 660 00:33:21,530 --> 00:33:24,650 Speaker 1: only gone. There's one Headington Hill, there's one it's quite steep, 661 00:33:24,730 --> 00:33:27,170 Speaker 1: but we've only got the one. As I was laboring 662 00:33:27,210 --> 00:33:30,850 Speaker 1: up this hill, enjoying the workout, a lady who I 663 00:33:30,890 --> 00:33:33,890 Speaker 1: think was at least fifteen years older than me, definitely 664 00:33:33,930 --> 00:33:36,730 Speaker 1: passed for time and age, just in a sit up 665 00:33:36,730 --> 00:33:40,570 Speaker 1: and beg bike just absolutely effortlessly cycled past me, seeming 666 00:33:40,570 --> 00:33:44,010 Speaker 1: to exert no energy at all. Right, And the first 667 00:33:44,050 --> 00:33:47,410 Speaker 1: thing I thought was, goodness me, she's she's so fit, 668 00:33:47,690 --> 00:33:50,210 Speaker 1: And then I realized, oh, it's an electric bike, and 669 00:33:50,250 --> 00:33:52,130 Speaker 1: it's the first time i'd seen one now of course, 670 00:33:52,210 --> 00:33:55,530 Speaker 1: absolutely everywhere. It was two three years ago, it's quite recent. 671 00:33:56,090 --> 00:33:58,170 Speaker 1: So the electric bikes have come from nowhere, and they're 672 00:33:58,250 --> 00:34:01,130 Speaker 1: clearly they're clearly game changes because lots of people who 673 00:34:01,210 --> 00:34:03,770 Speaker 1: wouldn't have cycled because they didn't want to get sweaty, 674 00:34:03,890 --> 00:34:06,050 Speaker 1: because they didn't feel they had the energy, because they 675 00:34:06,050 --> 00:34:08,330 Speaker 1: were frightened of the hills, they'll be out there with 676 00:34:08,330 --> 00:34:10,650 Speaker 1: the electric bikes or just because they like, because they're fun, 677 00:34:11,130 --> 00:34:13,410 Speaker 1: people like, people like to do them. And there's a 678 00:34:13,410 --> 00:34:16,650 Speaker 1: critical mass element there. There is a movement in favor 679 00:34:16,650 --> 00:34:18,490 Speaker 1: of cycling in city is called critical mass, and the 680 00:34:18,530 --> 00:34:20,490 Speaker 1: whole idea is you want more cyclist because the more 681 00:34:20,490 --> 00:34:25,090 Speaker 1: cyclists there are, the safer each individual cyclist is. So 682 00:34:25,170 --> 00:34:27,730 Speaker 1: that's coming. And then, of course the other thing is 683 00:34:27,770 --> 00:34:31,530 Speaker 1: just a general movement in many societies towards making more 684 00:34:31,570 --> 00:34:35,770 Speaker 1: space for bikes on city roads, squeezing the car, expanding 685 00:34:35,770 --> 00:34:38,970 Speaker 1: the space available for bikes, and those two things together 686 00:34:39,090 --> 00:34:42,490 Speaker 1: potentially will democratize the bike. I mean, I don't mind 687 00:34:43,170 --> 00:34:46,490 Speaker 1: sharing a road with cars. I'd rather not as a cyclist, 688 00:34:46,690 --> 00:34:49,290 Speaker 1: but it's fine, but a lot of people worry about that. 689 00:34:49,970 --> 00:34:52,370 Speaker 1: And the more space there is available for those people, 690 00:34:52,370 --> 00:34:54,330 Speaker 1: the more they'll get on the bike. And I think, 691 00:34:54,810 --> 00:34:57,890 Speaker 1: you know, with an electric bike on roads that feel safe, 692 00:34:58,530 --> 00:35:01,930 Speaker 1: the vast majority of the population in a country like 693 00:35:01,970 --> 00:35:04,010 Speaker 1: the UK is going to be able to get around 694 00:35:04,010 --> 00:35:07,170 Speaker 1: by bike, don't actually need the car because all the 695 00:35:07,250 --> 00:35:10,530 Speaker 1: journeys are you know, five miles or less. It'd be 696 00:35:10,610 --> 00:35:12,130 Speaker 1: very interesting to see whether we get there. I don't 697 00:35:12,130 --> 00:35:14,370 Speaker 1: know that we will. I've made many forecasts that have 698 00:35:14,410 --> 00:35:17,410 Speaker 1: been proved wrong within months, let alone years, but that 699 00:35:17,490 --> 00:35:20,410 Speaker 1: seems to be an interesting possibility. It's interesting that Clive 700 00:35:20,490 --> 00:35:23,170 Speaker 1: Sinclair's electric bicycle, basically the C five, was sort of 701 00:35:23,170 --> 00:35:25,970 Speaker 1: an electric recumbent electric bicycle, which wasn't really a bicycle. 702 00:35:26,290 --> 00:35:29,090 Speaker 1: We've kind of we're sort of there. I wish Clive 703 00:35:29,170 --> 00:35:31,730 Speaker 1: Sinclair was around to see this now, because he'd go, oh, 704 00:35:31,850 --> 00:35:36,810 Speaker 1: that's what I should have done. The irony ears very 705 00:35:36,850 --> 00:35:39,050 Speaker 1: early in his career, before he had any money. He 706 00:35:39,130 --> 00:35:43,770 Speaker 1: was experimenting with battery enhanced scooters. So he was and 707 00:35:43,810 --> 00:35:45,770 Speaker 1: then and now of course they're everywhere. You know, you 708 00:35:45,810 --> 00:35:49,490 Speaker 1: can't can't cross the street without being hit by Don't 709 00:35:49,530 --> 00:35:52,130 Speaker 1: get me start. Don't get me started. I'm always going 710 00:35:52,170 --> 00:35:54,610 Speaker 1: to run over these things, that these things are not 711 00:35:54,770 --> 00:35:57,410 Speaker 1: as obvious as it seems. I think Sir Clive was 712 00:35:57,650 --> 00:36:02,770 Speaker 1: somewhat distracted by his vision was an electric car, and 713 00:36:02,810 --> 00:36:05,810 Speaker 1: then he was distracted by there were new regulations introduced 714 00:36:05,850 --> 00:36:11,530 Speaker 1: in the UK for electric assisted bicycles in the early eighties, 715 00:36:12,050 --> 00:36:15,050 Speaker 1: and so Clive saw them and thought, oh, my car 716 00:36:15,170 --> 00:36:18,130 Speaker 1: could my little car could qualify as an electric bike 717 00:36:18,330 --> 00:36:21,970 Speaker 1: if I just make some small modifications, basically add some pedals, 718 00:36:22,370 --> 00:36:25,090 Speaker 1: and then I wouldn't people wouldn't have to get insurance, 719 00:36:25,290 --> 00:36:29,370 Speaker 1: they wouldn't need a driving license, they don't need a helmet, 720 00:36:28,970 --> 00:36:32,970 Speaker 1: the age restrictions are more forgiving. And so he saw 721 00:36:33,010 --> 00:36:35,970 Speaker 1: this as an opportunity. But I think in hindsight it's 722 00:36:36,090 --> 00:36:38,450 Speaker 1: much he obviously always easier in hindsight. I think in 723 00:36:38,530 --> 00:36:42,330 Speaker 1: hindsight it was a distraction. It distracted him from what 724 00:36:42,490 --> 00:36:44,690 Speaker 1: is the best possible way to get a short range 725 00:36:44,730 --> 00:36:47,050 Speaker 1: electric vehicle on the road and make people feel safe 726 00:36:47,050 --> 00:36:49,730 Speaker 1: in it, And he produced this thing that you know, 727 00:36:49,850 --> 00:36:52,650 Speaker 1: wasn't really a bike, it wasn't really a car. It 728 00:36:52,690 --> 00:36:54,770 Speaker 1: wasn't really a very practical solution at all, because it's 729 00:36:54,770 --> 00:36:58,690 Speaker 1: just too close to the road. So he gets splashed 730 00:36:58,690 --> 00:37:01,730 Speaker 1: and you can't be seen. And I think had he 731 00:37:01,770 --> 00:37:04,650 Speaker 1: not been distracted by the need to try to squeeze 732 00:37:04,690 --> 00:37:06,490 Speaker 1: into that regulation and sort of feel that he was 733 00:37:06,530 --> 00:37:10,770 Speaker 1: somehow getting one over on them and rulemakers, he might 734 00:37:10,810 --> 00:37:12,890 Speaker 1: have made a better vehicle. Hard to be sure, but 735 00:37:13,010 --> 00:37:16,130 Speaker 1: that's my speculation. That's interesting. I'm lucky. I've ridden a 736 00:37:16,330 --> 00:37:18,770 Speaker 1: penny Farthing, I've ridden a Sinclair C five, and I 737 00:37:18,890 --> 00:37:21,730 Speaker 1: flew the Right Brothers nineteen o two glider, all of 738 00:37:21,730 --> 00:37:25,170 Speaker 1: which we can thank the bicycle four. Listen, thank you 739 00:37:25,210 --> 00:37:27,090 Speaker 1: so much for joining me on the show. And will 740 00:37:27,090 --> 00:37:29,130 Speaker 1: you come back on and talk about other things at 741 00:37:29,170 --> 00:37:31,610 Speaker 1: some point, because I could talk to you all day. 742 00:37:32,730 --> 00:37:35,170 Speaker 1: I would gladly, gladly do that. And if people want 743 00:37:35,210 --> 00:37:37,650 Speaker 1: to hear more about the C five, that Cautionary Tales 744 00:37:37,650 --> 00:37:40,370 Speaker 1: episode is already out, and there is one coming about 745 00:37:40,810 --> 00:37:43,330 Speaker 1: the volcano, the Year Without Summer and the invention of 746 00:37:43,370 --> 00:37:48,170 Speaker 1: the velocipede, so yeah, they'll be there. It's a fantastic podcast. 747 00:37:48,210 --> 00:37:50,570 Speaker 1: It's really really good. Oh. I enjoyed the two and 748 00:37:50,610 --> 00:37:52,010 Speaker 1: Carnoon one as well. I listened to the other to 749 00:37:52,130 --> 00:37:53,530 Speaker 1: which it's very good as well. Anyway, I'm not going 750 00:37:53,570 --> 00:37:55,490 Speaker 1: to talk about that, but yes, listen to Cautionary Tales. 751 00:37:55,850 --> 00:37:58,410 Speaker 1: Tim Harford, thank you very much, my pleasure, thank you, 752 00:38:00,890 --> 00:38:03,650 Speaker 1: thank you very much for listening to today's episode. That's 753 00:38:03,650 --> 00:38:06,250 Speaker 1: all we've got time for you today. Hope you enjoyed it. 754 00:38:06,290 --> 00:38:08,770 Speaker 1: I certainly did. We've got plenty more to come. I'm 755 00:38:08,770 --> 00:38:13,130 Speaker 1: back every Wednesday and Sunday with brand new episodes. Coming up. Next, 756 00:38:13,210 --> 00:38:14,890 Speaker 1: we're going to be talking about one of the most 757 00:38:15,170 --> 00:38:18,570 Speaker 1: iconic invention stories, the Right Brothers. One of my favorite 758 00:38:18,570 --> 00:38:23,090 Speaker 1: stories ever. Nothing defines what invention and innovation means, I 759 00:38:23,130 --> 00:38:25,850 Speaker 1: think more than that particular story and how they did 760 00:38:25,930 --> 00:38:29,250 Speaker 1: their very first controlled flight back in nineteen o three 761 00:38:29,290 --> 00:38:32,250 Speaker 1: at Kitty Hawk. If you want to hear more from Tim, 762 00:38:32,570 --> 00:38:37,130 Speaker 1: check out his Cautionary Tales podcasts. It's absolutely fantastic and 763 00:38:37,210 --> 00:38:39,170 Speaker 1: you can find that, of course, wherever you get your 764 00:38:39,170 --> 00:38:45,490 Speaker 1: podcasts from