By Stan Purdum
As both a cyclist and a wordsmith, I read with interest the reader comments below Jim Langley’s recent RBR column “Can You Help David in His Quest for a New ‘Analog’ Bike.” In that piece, Jim was seeking reader recommendations for a new bike with specs that would fulfill the precise wish list longtime RBR reader David wanted for his next two wheeler. In his correspondence with Jim, David said he hoped “to have another decade or so of riding analog bikes” (italics added), and Jim repeated “analog” his column’s headline.
The readers responded with many thoughtful suggestions, but “analog” ended up being a subtopic among those responses. In fact, the very first respondent asked, “What’s an analog bike?”
Jim thanked the reader for the question and went on to admit that he himself wasn’t certain about the term. “My best guess is that it means a bike that doesn’t have electrical shifting and possibly a bike with no electronic devices at all, such as watt meters, computers and so on,” Jim said. “I think it’s used for ebikes also ….” Jim then invited readers to weigh in on the word’s meaning, since that term “seems to be coming up regularly now,” he said.
Jim is correct that it’s not easy to hold analog to one definition. I recently saw the term used in a headline of a bicycle article to refer to an “old school” training metric that the author was recommending.
In any case, in response to Jim’s invitation, I pitched my two cents into the comments section, saying, “I understand ‘analog’ to refer to a regular bike, as opposed to an ebike.” Jim thanked me for my response, and he has since given me permission to quote him and his respondents here, regarding the analog subtopic.
I don’t know who first grabbed “analog” as a term to distinguish regular bikes from ebikes, but as someone who writes almost weekly about various aspects of bicycling and bicycles, I was quick to adopt the term, so as to avoid having to keep saying “regular bikes” in every sentence that also referenced ebikes.
(Quick writing lesson: Written material reads better if the writer doesn’t repeat words in the same sentence, or if possible, in the same paragraph. Exceptions include “invisible” words, such as a, and, the, some prepositions, some pronouns and nouns that have no or few synonyms. For example, which of the following sentences reads smoother for you?
- She lived in a huge house with a huge lawn on the outskirts of a huge city.
- She lived in a mansion with an expansive lawn on the outskirts of a metropolis.)
Thus, I was glad to incorporate analog into my synonym quiver for non-ebikes. The first couple of times I used that word, I also used “digital bike” as an alternative for ebike, but after a reader challenged me by pointing out the actual definition of digital, I decided he was right and discontinued that usage — though given how the meanings of words change through use and misuse over time, “digital bike” may become a suitable substitute for ebike in the future.
But back to the responses to Jim’s column, I especially liked the entry from a reader named Walt: “An analog bike is indeed your classic bicycle. It’s the epitome of mechanical simplicity, propelled solely by human effort — no batteries, no motors. This change in nomenclature comes with the rise of electric bikes or ‘e-bikes.’ As these high-tech rides grow in popularity, we needed a term to differentiate them from the traditional, human-powered bicycles. Hence, the term ‘analog bike’ entered our cycling lexicon.”
I also liked the suggestion from R Freeman: “In the grand cycling tradition of naming things for what they aren’t, may I suggest ‘unplugged’” — and Freeman, whom I’m guessing was thinking of such names as “clipless” pedals, followed his or her statement with a winking emoticon.
The only response I want to push back on is one from John, and here, my reaction is both from my identity as an ebike rider and as a scribe. John was responding to my definition of analog, and said, “A simpler and more accurate definition is: Has a motor attached to pedals=moped. No motor=bicycle. Giving the definition of a moped a free pass by calling them a ‘bicycle’ only obfuscates the reality. They’re profoundly different machines.”
In fact, while “moped” is a portmanteau of “motor” and “pedal,” those mopeds that have pedals (and not all do) can be used to start the engine, but they are not intended for continuous pedaling for propulsion.
While some ebikes have throttles that allow them to be powered along by the motor, that drains the battery quickly. Most road cyclists who switch to ebikes either get bikes with no throttle or, if the bike has one, don’t use it. Without a throttle, ebikes are assist steeds; the motor only helps when the cyclist is pedaling.
Therefore, it would be inaccurate to call a moped a bicycle, and I for one would not give a moped a free pass to be called an ebike, since those too are “profoundly different machines.” Assist-only ebikes and analog bikes, however, are kissing cousins.
By the way, here are a couple more terms currently in use to distinguish regular bikes from ebikes: “traditional bikes” and “acoustic bikes.” I’ve also seen “human-powered bikes” used to refer to non-electric bikes, which deserves a B+ for effort, but it’s misleading. Assist-only ebikes are human-powered as well, in concert with the ebike motor. We could say, “human-powered only” in place of “analog bike,” but that feels clumsy.
Isn’t semantics fun?!
Stan Purdum has ridden several long-distance bike trips, including an across-America ride recounted in his book Roll Around Heaven All Day, and a trek on U.S. 62, from Niagara Falls, New York, to El Paso, Texas, the subject of his book Playing in Traffic. Stan, a freelance writer and editor, lives in Ohio. See more at www.StanPurdum.com.
A cycling guide on a trip last year referred to an “analog” bike as a “biobike”. I prefer “analog” bike.
Using the term “Analog” to describe & differentiate a “Traditional” bicycle from an “e-bike”, is as inaccurate & almost as embarrassing as using the goofy term “Premature Stamina” to describe “Erectile Dysfunction”. Whenever I hear people seriously use incorrect – goofy terminology an unflattering image of them & where they likely live comes to mind.
My swiss friend says human powered bikes are now called “muscle bikes.”
I prefer the word “acoustic” for a non e-bike as the metaphor with guitars works better that the analog/digital metaphor with computers.
Yes, I’m also coming to see “acoustic” as a good metaphorical referent word for regular bikes
Whatever word is decided upon as the name for non-electric bikes, that word will be a retronym, a word coined to describe an existing item once a different version of it is in use. Think of landline, a term we didn’t use for a traditional telephone until the cell phone became ubiquitous.
I hadn’t known about “retronym” before your message, but it’s exactly what we are talking about. Thanks!
The problem I have with use of the word “analog” is that’s not what the word means – “a person or thing seen as comparable to another.”
I suppose the idea is that someone is contrasting an “analog” clock face with a digital clock face. The word “analog” w/r/t a clock is that the hands rotate around, analogous to the sun during the day. But an electric bike is not a “digital” bike – there are no digits.
Likewise, the “acoustic” bike label probably comes from contrasting an “acoustic” guitar to an “electric” guitar. This seems somewhat more appropriate than “analog” but still disregards the meaning of the word “acoustic.”
And, at the risk of offending the Amish, I’ve heard “Amish” bikes, suggesting a preference for simplicity over complexity, or something. (But noting that I’ve seen actual bikes designed for Amish that have no drive train, only wheels and are pushed by foot-on-ground.)
So, I haven’t yet seen a proper alternative word for “regular” bike.
We’re probably getting into the realm of a “semantic shift,” which is the evolution of a word’s meaning over time, where a word can become broader, narrower, or entirely different from its original definition. This change is often driven by how we use and adapt words in new contexts. For example, the word “awful” once meant “worthy of awe” but now means “terrible,” and “hopefully” once meant “in a hopeful manner” but through common usage, has now come also to mean “it is hoped that.”
A bicycle does not have a motor. If a motor is added it becomes a motorcycle or a motorized vehicle. any other name is just marketing. Pedal Assist is, I believe, a legitimate variant on par with a motorized wheelchair. That is to say that if you have a physical limitation that warrants the use of PA, then you use it. But if you don’t have to pedal, you are driving a motorcycle.
A friend of mine has dubbed a “regular” bike as a “Muscle” bike which I prefer over Analog bike. I think everyone would understand the difference between Muscle Bike and e-bike bike.
Cheers;
Len P.
In England, where I grew up, we referred to pedal-powered bikes as “push bikes” to distinguish them from motorbikes. I’m not sure if that’s still current usage, but it works for me. We didn’t have ebikes back then, but I think a pedal-assist ebike, without a throttle, could qualify as a push bike (especially when the battery dies…).
I would consider an analog bike to be one with no electronic devices, and to go a step further, rim brakes as opposed to disk brakes, and shift levers instead of brake lever shifters. Or maybe that should be called ‘retro’?
How about: “bike” and “E-bike” ? The difference is clear, and clarity is the hallmark of good writing.
Exactly…we have cars (vehicles), and we have electric (or hybrid) cars / vehicles. So why not just bikes and ebikes?
In Europe, I heard the term “bio bike”.
I prefer the terms, e-bike, and if it doesn’t have a motor, it’s a me-bike.
My bike is a BIKE! I’ll not be cajoled, advised, or pressured into calling it anything other than what it is. The rest of the maquinas out there can derive their own names to distinguish how they differ.
Luka Bloom called one of his songs “The Acoustic Motorbike” that talked about pedal-powered bikes. E-bikes weren’t a thing yet. It’s the first time I heard of “acoustic” used for bikes. Of course that phrase is even more confusing now.
I vote for “bike” and “e-bike” because it’s simple and requires no extra thought.
This whole thing reminds me of Bicycling! magazines attempt to force the use of the term “wired-on” tires instead of “clincher”. As somebody else mentioned, common usage will win every time.