The terminology of sports equipment- A LONG THREAD Today I saw a website had called me a trike-cyclist. Ha, I thought, what if I called Katie Archibald a bike-cyclist. FYI correct term is cyclist- which is anyone who pedals! You can add a prefix if you wish: bicyclist, tricyclist

Exceptions: Motorcyclists are motorcyclists but NOT cyclists (biker for short). People who are enjoying a pedalo excursion really fk things up for me. The key is what is in the action: pedalling. Hands or legs it doesn't matter (see 'handcyclist')

But wait I've heard those in professional cycling use other terminology. Bicycles are 'solos' to differentiate them from two rider tandem bicycles, shortened to 'tandems'. By that definition though single-rider tricycles and handcycles are all solos (but they're not called that)

Everyone knows bike is bicycle for short, right? But motorcycles can also be called bikes. Tricycle can be trike. Unicycle is not unike and handcycle is not hike! The motorized bikes on the velodrome are Derneys and nothing else...first one was built by Roger Derny #History

So what is a bike? Any two wheeled thing a person rides, with or without a motor, with or without pedals (apart from a Derney)? Answer: no. Handcycles are exclusively a three wheeled affair but are marketed and called handbikes...bikes for short. My other sport is RaceRunning...

To RaceRun I use a RaceRunner. A RaceRunner is a frame with three wheels which lets me run without faceplanting. Action is running, not pedalling. Some people call it a running bike- to my chagrin. It was invented by Danish engineer Connie Hansen and it's a fairly new invention.

Connie didn't choose to immortalize her name in her invention. She named her first one the 'Petra' after the most recent Paralympic mascot of that time (Barcelona 1992). All these men dismissed terminology altogether choosing their distinctive names instead, not Connie.

Soon, the Petra was renowned. Connie chose a new name for the overall design: RaceRunner (Connie's invention, Connie's choice including 2 capital Rs). The Petra Runner is now one model out of many in a wide range. Critically "Runner" is in the name.

But the first version of the 'bicycle' looks way more like a RaceRunner than our modern bikes. It was built by German Carl Drais. He called it a Running Machine and patented it under "velocipede" (SPEEDY FEET). It looks VERY like a RaceRunner (minus the third wheel!).

Then several people added cranks and pedals (and sometimes more wheels) to the velocipede and these new inventions were called 'Boneshakers'. You were no longer running but no one had a word for cycling so the only discernible action was bone shaking! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velocipede#Boneshaker

PS The Penny-farthing came later, some might think it was the precursor to the bike because of the terrible way Britain represents history. It wasn't invented by us but the wheels were manufactured here and so the name was based on the wheels looking like our coins...

Naming it for the action it enabled faded into obscurity because *shiny wheels*. Eventually a new name emerged still based on what it looked like- aka BICYCLE. Literal translation- 'two wheel' based on wheel number because trikes were just as common as bikes, if not more so.

Unfortunately we have lost the diversity in the cycling world, no longer are trikes as common as bikes. Two wheels are the status quo; wheel number not a popular identifier. Now bike can refer to a frame you sit on with any number of wheels. Except, wait that doesn't work at all:

Main hitch, referring to a frame as a bike collides with disability equipment. A frame you sit on with wheels is a bike but is also a wheelchair. Frames that you walk with are 'walking frames'...zimmer frames you zim with? Jokes (Zimmer Holdings manufactured them).

Disability equipment terminology is much clearer. Action it assists/name of narcissist inventor + what it is - applying it to my RaceRunner would result in 'running frame' and that totally works. The RaceRunner was invented to enable people with cerebral palsy to run, simples.

Aka: it is a piece of disability equipment, unlike the trike which was made for able-bodied people first in the 1800s, or toddlers and the balance bike in more recent years.

Running bike as the new name for a RaceRunner? Way to respect the almighty creator. Connie didn't call it a bike or even a trike (more accurately). Like me, she was a two sport athlete competing in Para-athletics and Para-cycling. She knew how confusing it would be for people.

Despite her best efforts Connie couldn't save me. The thing is I ride a tricycle- classic three wheeled thing-with pedals. I also use a RaceRunner (3 wheels, no pedals, chestplate) to run- they are two entirely different actions but boy DO THEY LOOK SIMILAR.

You can't really tell them apart by sight unless you see the person using them. One has no pedals and a chestplate. One has pedals and no chestplate.

Terminology was created (I assume) to give tired specialists a break, time in their lives away from explaining. One word for one thing. But we moved away from naming things after 'what can it do' to 'what does it remind me of'. Most people have only ever seen bikes; I'm screwed.

Maybe, if I wasn't clearly a massive pedant, if I wasn't disabled, I'd just be like "oh I run and I cycle" and save 5hrs of my life that I'll never get back. But I'm a tricyclist and a RaceRunner. The difference is not what it looks like but what it enables me to do #profound END