I have an issue in general with scifi totally ignoring the existence of bicycles, but star trek is particularly fun to think about since in so many situations beaming down in an away team with electric mountain bicycles would be incredibly useful in a basic utilitarian sense. Like shuttles, bicycles could be treated as disposable if needed, you can always replicate more right?
You also don’t need to build up any infrastructure on a planet for bicycles to function as transit system for huge amounts of people. A starship could arrive into a humanitarian aid situation, quickly adjust a bicycle blueprint for whatever bipedal humanoid lived on the planet, replicate a metric sh*&ton of alien bicycles and beam them down to the planet on mass. It wouldn’t require longterm maintenance, lengthy training of local aliens on how to use, or return visits to resupply complex parts. A starship could drop bicycles, spare parts and maintenance gear and then leave and the citizens of that planet would be able to benefit from that for… decades? Even more? I am sure the instruction manuals would get super long with all the alien languages though…
Even if bicycles weren’t being used as tools or transportation in a far future like star trek, there is no reason humans would stop wanting to bicycle recreationally or for exercise. Also you could go on crazy mountain biking rides on the holodeck right? I can’t see how people wouldn’t be doing that all the time along with skiing, surfing and other sports that are scary but exhilarating. Further, I think it is likely most bipedal aliens would have discovered bicycles at some point along the development into advanced technological civilizations. It would be really weird if only humans discovered them.
TNG in particular is egregious for not having bicycles since the NCC-1701 is so cavernous that unless you always used the turbolifts you probably are going to need a bicycle to get anywhere quickly…
What do yall think? Should star trek have more bicycles?
Spock casually flies up a mountain using hoverboots in one of the movies. Why this isn’t standard issue on away missions is beyond me. They don’t need bicycles, they can fly.
There’s no point asking questions like this. Star Trek has routinely featured technology that is so powerful that it’s world-breaking, and then promptly ignored it. The greatest modern example is the spore drive from discovery, but TNG has several as well.
Well the whole franchise has issues with away mission equipment. They just beam down in their pajama uniforms, when they carry a phaser and a tricorder it’s already a lot.
Yup and then they constantly seem to end up embarrassed by the lack of preparation. Any EDC nerd would have more useful tools for an away mission compared to the average Star Trek explorer.
I never thought of that before, but I agree. Also, now all I can imagine is Riker walking up behind a bicycle and just effortlessly gliding onto the seat, swinging his leg gracefully.
Riker would be so good at Transition 1 if he did a triathlon.
They’re scientists that are exploring. You can’t see the forest for the trees when you’re barreling down a trail at 15-30kmh. You’re going to see a lot more hiking methodically through kilometers of new alien landscape than you would on a bike. If they want more range or speed they can shuttle, transport, or send a drone. When I explore a new city these days, I take a smart device and a wallet wearing my contemporary version space PJs, jeans and a T-shirt; either walking, ubering, or public transporting where I need to go. I’d miss a lot of interesting stuff by biking because my focus would be on biking, and less on the landscape around me.
I can’t go very fast even on my (small/cheap) ebike and have definitely noticed (even with not-the-best-eyesight) plants/animals, flooding, nearby infrastructure/locations, smells etc. on the trail. I wouldn’t say 15kmh is “barreling” and is my average comfortable speed. Slowing down or stopping to walking around a bit is also incredibly easy (and a thing already you stop to rest/drink/eat anyways), but you can still make up for lost time if needed.
In the context of a show, I could see a lot of angles to this. From somebody remembering something they briefly saw to 1 person in a group investigating something (staying behind, rushing ahead, taking a sample etc), also successfully evading chases and camp-y rock ambushes.
Personally I’d also say that biking long distances just seems easier than walking/hiking. Maybe mechanical advantage (esp. w/derailleur) or the speed, maybe health issues, or maybe there’s just something about the feel of it that’s boring/taxing to me. I can’t imagine walking 20 km but is something I’ve done a few times on my weak ebike.
Interesting, for me unless I am riding a road bike with a really heads down sitting posture, I find leisurely bicycling around to be a fantastic way to see explore a place and notice things (as long as the place is bike friendly… which in the US…). Far more than getting around by car.
Although you are using it and pronouncing it correctly, the correct spelling for the phrase meaning “in a whole bunch” is “en masse” because it’s stolen from French.
I never had good enough balance or left-right coordination to learn to ride a bike, so I don’t miss them. But it would add an element.
You can’t steal something that was forced on by a conqueror.
The Norman invasion was a thousand years ago. I think it’s time we forgave the French.
The Expanse is the only sci-fi franchise I know that has bicycles. They’re the perfect means of transportation in a post-apocalyptic world, no need for fuel except for food that you need anyway.
Wheeled transit when flight or hovering is so easy is just plain clumsy.
There’s not a lot of cars either, outside of episodes set in the past.
I mean once you have flight/hovering vehicles than practically the only transportation that doesn’t make obsolete is a bicycle for transporting someone a mile or two daily from their spaceship to a residence or wherever.
How is using a bicycle clumsy? I mean I get if people don’t like bicycles but honestly a bicycle is just fun to cruise around on, they are the opposite of clumsy.
I agree, in my utopian future it’s possible to leisurely bike everywhere. Why hurry anywhere in a post-scarcity society when you can cruise around and take in the scenery?
It would be a matter of public health policy that people had some kind of access to a short, physical commute to whatever place they worked/spent their day at, right? That is at least how I rationalize why they just don’t teleport people everywhere. They COULD technically teleport everywhere all the time… but the mental and physical health consequences to not getting some kind of mild daily exercise like bicycling are too intense (also having some kind of short, stress free commute helps one get into the mindset of work anyways).
It needs relatively flat terrain. Even mountain bikes need trails. Off the trail they’re not fun to ride, though a wash will do in a pinch.
Bicycles don’t necessarily need flat terrain, especially with electric bikes that have futuristic insanely efficient batteries.
Yes bicycles do best on trails but anywhere that has humanoids is going to have trails. Anywhere that has any kind of large animal is going to probably have some degree of path system as well. I don’t think it’s that big of an issue compared to any other kind of ground vehicle.
You sound like someone who has never ridden a bike through broken terrain.
I’ll argue that the “flat” used by the comment above might be better taken on a more granular level. You can go up and down mountains just fine so long as there are no logs, large rocks, pits, or gullies that are in the way.
I was doing some D&D world building a while back and wanted to really dive into transportation of people/goods and found the same problem. Tenser’s Floating Disk is a very low level wizard spell that basically does away with all but the heaviest ships and carts.
It’s the same for the trek universe. They have personal transportation methods that mean there’s literally zero need for a bicycle for anything other than recreation.
Hell, Lower Decks opens with Mariner pushing around a hover cart full of stuff. It’s literally the cold open of the entire series.
If you can have a hover cart like that, then why bother with a bike? Need to move stuff to a remote area? Get the hover cart, you don’t need to cut a trail, just go over the obstacles. And that’s if the transporter doesn’t work if the first place to beam the people and equipment to a nearby area.
