What's a Bicycle For?

A daily mix of stories about cities, city life, and our always evolving neighborhoods and skylines. [Curbed]( THURSDAY, MAY 26 STREET VIEW [What’s a Bicycle For?]( A new book digs into our ambivalent relationship with life on two wheels. Photo: Bettmann Archive via Getty Images If you spot a man in his 50s in street clothes on a scuffed hybrid bike, dodging cars and hyperalert to compensate for everyone else’s distraction, that may be me (if he’s wearing a helmet) or (if he’s not) possibly Jody Rosen, the author of Two Wheels Good: The History and Mystery of the Bicycle. Though its subjects stay (mostly) earthbound, the book itself takes flight, zooming from the boulevards of Paris to the mountain passes of Bhutan, the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, and the sclerotic streets of Dhaka, Bangladesh, with the quick-cut insouciance of a James Bond movie. I want to talk to Rosen about how the complex cultural history he documents plays out on the streets of his native city and how New York and the bike shaped each other. It proves impossible to stay strictly local because, though the essence of this miraculously simple machine has hardly budged since the late 19th century, its social meanings have multiplied across the world. New York is one locale in a global story. “Writing this book has made me confront my own provincialism,” Rosen says. [Continue reading »]( Want more on city life, real estate, and design? [Subscribe now](for unlimited access to Curbed and everything New York. [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( The Latest [The Best Tattoo Artists in New York Technically accurate bats, fake freckles, and the best spot for same-day appointments.]( By Alice Markham-Cantor [The Look Book Goes to the Brooklyn Mirage At the season opening of the East Williamsburg venue, ravers braved heavy winds and rain to dance under a new 200-foot-wide video screen.]( By Kelsie Schrader and Jenna Milliner-Waddell [The Apartment Mayor Is the Roommate Who Never Leaves These long-term tenants can set your rent and tell you how long the buzzer’s really been broken.]( By Clio Chang [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( [Read More From Curbed]( Introducing Dinner Party, a lively new evening newsletter about everything that just happened. [Sign up]( to get it every weeknight. [GET THE NEWSLETTER]( [logo]( [facebook logo]( [instagram logo]( [twitter logo]( [unsubscribe](param=curbed) | [privacy notice]( | [update preferences]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. Was this email forwarded to you? [Sign up now]( to get this newsletter in your inbox. [View this email in your browser.]( You received this email because you have a subscription to New York. Reach the right online audience with us For advertising information on email newsletters, please contact AdOps@nymag.com Vox Media, LLC 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, 12th Floor Washington, DC 20036 Copyright © 2022, All rights reserved