[mattw]

I note that the Samajwadi Party in India use a bicycle as their political symbol (pic below). Thye use symbols in part due to illiteracy rates.

I’m interested – can anyone source the design of the cycle?

As I see it, it is clearly a man’s bike, but with sit up and beg handlebars and a parcel rack, The symbol is vintage 1992.

There are other parties that have used a cicycle symbol.

(Pic below).

Topic

[biking59boomer]

Certainly a long history of

Certainly a long history of being used for political action. Suffregettes used them as did other politicians. There’s a cycling club that’s part of the Labour movement called the National Clarion Cycle club https://clarioncc.org/

 

 

[chrisonabike]

There are lots of more “UK

There are now a few more “UK-cycling-friendly” options in this niche – that’s bikes with “everything included” and/or “low maintenance” but without the extra-durable frame designed to carry another human just in case or live outside in the often-damp Dutch climate for a decade.

Each to their own (e.g. views here and here).  On a “utility bike” I currently want a dynamo (magneto) and built-in lights, brakes that are “good enough” and I don’t need to faff with too often, a drivetrain which doesn’t get corroded / gunked rapidly by the Edinburgh environment, full mudguards and a rack.

A full Dutch bike would have some kind of built-in lock these days, but in the UK I’ll likely be wanting to choose my own for the foreseeable future…

Nice-to-haves: I’ve come to appreciate hub gears and (latest) a belt-drive – no black and gunky cogs / chain any more!  And sometimes it’s nice just to shift down at the lights without having to pick the back of a loaded bike up.

At the “missing things” end there are things like the Boardman Urb / Genesis Day One – basically “hybrid or even drop bar commuter but with a hub gear”.  Moving on to things with mudguards / track lights there’s stuff from Cube and Trek do a series in the FX Equipped / District Equipped (either deraillieur or hub gear available).

[momove]

Ooh, those Workcycles do look
Ooh, those Workcycles do look good!

I commute on a hybrid which made sense at the time I bought it but after visiting some friends that moved to Copenhagen, I fell in love with the profoundly practical bikes they have there and how they use them.

Don’t know if they’d work as well with the infra and drivers we have in London though.

I did see a nice looking bike on one ride to work which seemed (when I looked it up later) to have everything I was after – hub gears, drum brakes, dynamo lighting, front+rear rack, chain case, full length mudguards – but the name – BEG, as in “sit up and beg”. Maybe they’re trying to own a disparaging term but I can’t get around my dislike for the name.

[mattw]

One that I found interesting

One that I found interesting (via AI) was that allegedly the SDLP in NI used one as their symbol from 1970 to 2003.

I have seen no proof of that.

[mattw]

Yes – when I created the

Yes – when I created the thread I could not get the symbol to upload, and I always have a problem finding a new thread I post here for a few hours or a day.

Thanks.

[hawkinspeter]

ktache wrote:

I think you need to add pics in the comments, HP has figured out how to add them in the main body, but the comments thing seems easier.

Yeah, using the Browse and Upload buttons with a comment is easier, but it does only allow one image per comment and no control over where it appears.

To add an image to a post, you first need to upload the picture so that it’s visible over the internet (e.g. upload to Imgur.com).

Then get the https link to the image and surround it with “img” tags in square brackets. Here’s an example with spaces included so that you can see what I mean:

[ img ] https://i.imgur.com/owzpuaM.jpeg [ / img ]

And here’s what it looks like without the spaces:

[hawkinspeter]

I had a little look for other

I had a little look for other parties that have used bikes as their “election symbol”:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jammu_and_Kashmir_National_Panthers_Party

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telugu_Desam_Party

 

[chrisonabike]

If you don’t mind heavy but

If you don’t mind heavy (in road.cc terms) but want “sturdy and reliable” there are a wealth of “English Roadster” / “City Bike” / “Dutch bike” options (new-fangled).  Some quite fancy (up to the EAPC things that Royal Dutch Gazelle now seem to be pushing – though they still have non-powered models).

If I hadn’t got my last “trekking bike but low maintenance” (a slightly older alloy Cube Travel Exc) I would probably have gone for a Workcycles Secret Service (perhaps step-through?).  Or the nearest Batavus model maybe.

Canti brakes – OK, Sturmey-Archer hub drum brake OK (as long as you set it up properly), rod brakes – not for me.

[momove]

That bike looks amazing – I’d
That bike looks amazing – I’d love one!

Not so sure about the rod brakes though. I assume there’s a reason we don’t use those these days.

[chrisonabike]

As symbols go, the Flying

As symbols go, the Flying Pigeon one probably should be more well-known – the old stat was that more of them had been made than any other model of vehicle (!)

Although reviews are mixed e.g. this musing.  I’ve never tried one, closest I came was one in the corner of a shop; someone else’s.  Looked like it had been beefed up and had some extra sturdy rack fittings.  Possibly for carrying tank parts for the PLA –  or maybe that’s just how they are IRL?

[chrisonabike]

The one here?

The one here?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samajwadi_Party#/media/File:Samajwadi_Party.png

Looks pretty “generic bicycle” to me?

EDIT more on them and (the struggle over who could use) the symbol from the Beeb from some years back.

Or the Wall Street Journal.

[ktache]

I think you need to add pics

I think you need to add pics in the comments, HP has figured out how to add them in the main body, but the comments thing seems easier.

[Author]

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