The Ride to Modernity: The Bicycle in Canada, 1869-1900

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

This book traces the wobbly path of the bicycle’s first 31 years in
Canada. In the 21st century, most people think of the bicycle as a
harmless and slightly quaint alternative to the car. In the 19th
century, the bicycle was seen as both a boon and a menace to society.
While some hailed it as a godsend because it provided cheap, fast,
pollution-free (compared to horses) transportation, others worried about
large groups of rowdy men roving the countryside in bicycle gangs and
the even more alarming sight of shapely ankles as skirt hemlines rose to
accommodate female riders.

Glenn Norcliffe is a professor at York University and an unabashed
bicycle enthusiast. In his introduction, he admits that this book was
written for academics but hopes that it will also appeal to a general
reading audience. Academics and serious history fans will certainly
appreciate Norcliffe’s thorough research and meticulous attention to
endnotes and bibliography. Unfortunately, some nonacademics might find
his prose somewhat dense; he discusses not just the bicycle’s
evolution but also its role in changing society. One of Norcliffe’s
main points is that inventions do not happen in isolation but come in
clusters that change society in a meaningful way. The modern bicycle,
for example, was possible only after the invention of mass-produced
steel and modern factory production methods. The development of the
bicycle, in turn, was important to subsequent 20th-century inventions
like the automobile and airplane.

Norcliffe’s ideas are thought provoking as he points out how the
bicycle did its bit in transforming Canadian society from a moribund
pre-industrial state to the ever-changing consumer-driven society we
live in today. Scores of fascinating photos are included in the text. If
you are looking for a fresh angle on late 19th-century Canadian history,
this book is one of the best in a long time.