Editing Bicycle (section)

===Economic implications===
[[File:Columbia Bicycles 1886 Advertisement.svg|left|thumb|upright|[[Columbia Bicycles]] advertisement from 1886]]

[[Bicycle industry|Bicycle manufacturing]] proved to be a training ground for other industries and led to the development of advanced metalworking techniques, both for the frames themselves and for special components such as [[ball bearing]]s, [[washer (mechanical)|washers]], and sprockets. These techniques later enabled skilled metalworkers and mechanics to develop the components used in early automobiles and aircraft.

[[Wright brothers|Wilbur and Orville Wright]], a pair of businessmen, ran the [[Wright Cycle Company]] which designed, manufactured and sold their bicycles during the [[bike boom]] of the 1890s.<ref name="WDL">{{cite web |url=http://www.wdl.org/en/item/11373/ |title = Wilbur Wright Working in the Bicycle Shop |website = [[World Digital Library]] |date = 1897 |access-date = 22 July 2013 }}</ref>

They also served to teach the industrial models later adopted, including mechanization and [[mass production]] (later copied and adopted by [[Ford Motor Company|Ford]] and [[General Motors]]),{{sfn|Norcliffe|2001|p=23}}{{sfn|Norcliffe|2001|p=106}}{{sfn|Norcliffe|2001|p=108}} vertical integration{{sfn|Norcliffe|2001|p=106}} (also later copied and adopted by Ford), aggressive advertising{{sfn|Norcliffe|2001|pp=142–47}} (as much as 10% of all advertising in U.S. periodicals in 1898 was by bicycle makers),{{sfn|Norcliffe|2001|p=145}} lobbying for better roads (which had the side benefit of acting as advertising, and of improving sales by providing more places to ride),{{sfn|Norcliffe|2001|p=108}} all first practiced by Pope.{{sfn|Norcliffe|2001|p=108}} In addition, bicycle makers adopted the annual model change{{sfn|Norcliffe|2001|p=23}}<ref>Babaian, Sharon. ''The Most Benevolent Machine: A Historical Assessment of Cycles in Canada'' (Ottawa: National Museum of Science and Technology, 1998), p. 97.</ref> (later derided as [[planned obsolescence]], and usually credited to General Motors), which proved very successful.<ref>Babaian, p. 98.</ref>

Early bicycles were an example of [[conspicuous consumption]], being adopted by the fashionable elites.{{sfn|Norcliffe|2001|p=8}}{{sfn|Norcliffe|2001|p=12}}{{sfn|Norcliffe|2001|p=14}}{{sfn|Norcliffe|2001|p=23}}{{sfn|Norcliffe|2001|pp=147–48}}{{sfn|Norcliffe|2001|pp=187–88}}{{sfn|Norcliffe|2001|p=208}}{{sfn|Norcliffe|2001|pp=243–45}} In addition, by serving as a platform for accessories, which could ultimately cost more than the bicycle itself, it paved the way for the likes of the [[Barbie doll]].{{sfn|Norcliffe|2001|p=23}}{{sfn|Norcliffe|2001|p=121}}{{sfn|Norcliffe|2001|p=123}}

Bicycles helped create, or enhance, new kinds of businesses, such as bicycle messengers,{{sfn|Norcliffe|2001|p=212}} traveling seamstresses,{{sfn|Norcliffe|2001|p=214}} riding academies,{{sfn|Norcliffe|2001|p=131}} and racing rinks.{{sfn|Norcliffe|2001|p=30}}{{sfn|Norcliffe|2001|p=131}} Their board tracks were later adapted to early [[motorcycle racing|motorcycle]] and [[automobile racing]]. There were a variety of new inventions, such as [[spoke]] tighteners,{{sfn|Norcliffe|2001|p=125}} and specialized lights,{{sfn|Norcliffe|2001|p=123}}{{sfn|Norcliffe|2001|p=125}} socks and shoes,{{sfn|Norcliffe|2001|pp=125–26}} and even cameras, such as the [[Eastman Kodak|Eastman Company]]'s Poco.{{sfn|Norcliffe|2001|p=238}} Probably the best known and most widely used of these inventions, adopted well beyond cycling, is Charles Bennett's Bike Web, which came to be called the [[jock strap]].{{sfn|Norcliffe|2001|p=128}}

[[File:Person mit fahrrad feb07.jpg|thumb|upright|A man uses a bicycle to carry goods in [[Ouagadougou]], Burkina Faso.]]
They also presaged a move away from public transit{{sfn|Norcliffe|2001|pp=214–15}} that would explode with the introduction of the automobile.

J. K. Starley's company became the Rover Cycle Company Ltd. in the late 1890s, and then renamed the [[Rover Company]] when it started making cars. [[Morris Motors]] Limited (in [[Oxford]]) and [[Škoda Auto|Škoda]] also began in the bicycle business, as did the [[Wright brothers]].<ref>
{{cite web
| title = The Wrights' bicycle shop
| year = 2007
|url=http://www.nasm.si.edu/Wrightbrothers/who/1893/shop.cfm
| access-date = 5 February 2007
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070125080218/http://www.nasm.si.edu/wrightbrothers/who/1893/shop.cfm
| archive-date = 25 January 2007
| url-status = dead
}}</ref> Alistair Craig, whose company eventually emerged to become the engine manufacturers [[Ailsa Craig Engines|Ailsa Craig]], also started from manufacturing bicycles, in Glasgow in March 1885.

In general, U.S. and European cycle manufacturers used to assemble cycles from their own frames and components made by other companies, although very large companies (such as Raleigh) used to make almost every part of a bicycle (including bottom brackets, axles, etc.) In recent years, those bicycle makers have greatly changed their methods of production. Now, almost none of them produce their own frames.

Many newer or smaller companies only design and market their products; the actual production is done by Asian companies. For example, some 60% of the world's bicycles are now being made in China. Despite this shift in production, as nations such as China and India become more wealthy, their own use of bicycles has declined due to the increasing affordability of cars and motorcycles.<ref>
{{Cite news|author=Francois Bougo|date=26 May 2010|title=Beijing looks to revitalise bicycle culture|publisher=Agence France-Presse|url=https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iQeSSys_rKGJ7ve4u1ZsVyIA_LmQ|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100531125628/https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iQeSSys_rKGJ7ve4u1ZsVyIA_LmQ|archive-date=31 May 2010}}</ref> One of the major reasons for the proliferation of Chinese-made bicycles in foreign markets is the lower cost of labor in China.<ref>[[The Economist]], 15 February 2003</ref>

In line with the European financial crisis of that time, in 2011 the number of bicycle sales in Italy (1.75&nbsp;million) passed the number of new car sales.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19801599 |title=Italian bicycle sales 'surpass those of cars' |date=2 October 2012 |work=[[BBC News]]}}</ref>