Framing Production

The production of bicycles in Britain and the United States recently suffered severesetbacks. The renowned American Schwinn brand was downgraded to the mass market by its new ownersfollowing bankruptcy, and Britain's Raleigh came close to closure because of high debts and poorreturns, saved only by a last-minute management buyout. In both cases, market share and credibilitywere lost to newer, more innovative firms, as well as to a recentering of the global bicycleindustry in the Far East.This book reflects on such changes by setting them within a sociologicaland historical context. It focuses on the British bicycle industry in the interwar years and in the1980s and the 1990s--periods characterized by modernization of production and of industrialorganization, by changing relations among players in the industry, by new developments in laborrelations, and by changes in interactions between markets and product design. In particular, ittraces the fortunes of the Raleigh Cycle Company from its beginnings as an innovative young firm,through massive expansion of its products and markets and the assimilation of many of itscompetitors, into further innovation amid market contraction and management inertia, and finallyinto a phase of global restructuring that has transformed and reduced its role within theindustry.The book explores the complex ways in which product design, production methods, industrialorganization, and the cultures of cycling have interacted to create a succession of sociotechnicalframes for the bicycle. At the same time, on an activist level, the book promotes a participatorypolitics of bicycle technology and a less car-centered view of personal transportation.

Paul Rosen is Research Fellow in the Science and Technology Studies Unit at the University of York.