A bicycle was an Earth mode of transportation, consisting of two wheels, and rider-powered pedals.
An annual bicycle race, the Tour de France, was held in France starting in 1903 and continuing into the 24th century. (ST novel: Articles of the Federation)
The bicycle was among the many things Tom Paris loved about Earth's 20th century. (ST reference: Star Trek Cookbook)
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Bicycles have been featured prominently as a mode of transportation in a variety of Muppet productions and appear to be a particular favorite of Kermit the Frog.
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The first instance of Muppet biking occurred in The Muppets Valentine Show, in which Kermit rode a bicycle in the "Froggy Went A Courtin'" number until he crashed it into a fence.
Kermit next rode a bicycle in Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas. In the special's opening moments, Kermit cycles down a bumpy country lane before being blindsided by the Riverbottom Nightmare Band. A scale model bicycle was constructed for and ridden by a special marionette Kermit, created and operated by Frank Oz.[1]
In The Muppet Movie, Kermit begins the journey from his swamp to Hollywood on a Schwinn bicycle. This appears to be a full-scale bike, as opposed to the previously used puppet-sized ones. However, the same effects used in Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas were applied in the filming of this scene.
In addition to the marionette used in long shots, a Kermit hand puppet was used in close-ups, where it was operated by Jim Henson from a low-rolling dolly. The two types of shots were intercut repeatedly to enhance the illusion.
The scene of Kermit riding the bicycle is the first in the movie-within-a-movie that features a Muppet in the real world; it's a striking image that captures the audience's attention.
In 2007, director James Frawley remarked:
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Every time I show the film -- whether it's to film students at USC or UCLA or I'm going to a festival -- that's always the first question: How did Kermit ride the bicycle? And my stock answer is: I put him on a three-wheeler until he got his balance, and then I put him on the two-wheeler. [2]
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Dave Goelz gave additional behind-the-scenes insight at a 2007 screening of Emmet Otter:
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With The Muppet Movie, we had a very sophisticated bicycle rig that was a little radio-controlled car that was mounted in the bike between the front and rear wheels, and it had a mirror on it so it reflected the ground in front of the bicycle (as you saw from the camera's point of view), but it broke just before we had to shoot the bit, and so we ended up doing that with three strings from a camera crane, and there were many many takes and we ran out of time finally and never got it to work right. He was always kind of tilted on the bike -- if you look at the final take in the movie, he's not really riding a bike that's straight up and down, it's kind of tilted over to the side.
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In an interview promoting The Great Muppet Caper, Frank Oz recalled:
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It's amazing, though, you work and work on the most difficult things and people say, 'That's nice.' Then something easy will occur and it will be all anyone talks about! In the first movie it was Kermit riding a bike. It was very easy to do that. It was just a simple marionette with strings. In the same film there was that whole complicated sequence with Gonzo in the balloon, crashing into the sign and landing in the car. It took forever to film that -- and all the talk was about the bike! That's why we have a whole bicycle parade in (Caper ). [3]
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The Great Muppet Caper featured bicycle riding at the center of the musical set-piece "Couldn't We Ride." Kermit and Miss Piggy renew their courtship in a London park on rented bicycles and are soon joined by Fozzie, Gonzo, and a crowd of Happiness Hotel denizens, riding close together.
Although marionette devices continued to be used in this sequence, the process was simplified when multiple bicycles were in the same shot. Two bicycles could be connected together with a stiff rod from axle to axle, eliminating the need to hold the bicycles up and enabling them both to be pulled from in front. In shots of the whole Muppet gang, the entire mass of bicycles -- all wired together -- was pulled by a fleet of over-sized tricycles and bicycles, ridden by Brian Henson and other performers. Another innovation in this sequence was the use of radio controls to move the characters' mouths in long shots.
Just as in The Muppet Movie, bike-riding Muppets were hand puppets in close-ups. Some shots featured Kermit in the foreground as a hand puppet, with Piggy as a marionette behind him, and other such mixtures of technique.
Jim Henson explained all this in the Jim Henson Hour episode "Secrets of the Muppets," adding that the rig that allowed Kermit and Piggy to ride their bikes around in opposite circles and then come up next to each other "was so complicated that you're going to have to figure that one out for yourself."
Scooter rode a bike in two brief scenes in The Muppets Take Manhattan, once during the song "Saying Goodbye" (in a wide shot), and again when looking for Kermit (in a close-up shot).
Kermit rode bicycles in The Jim Henson Hour opening, Muppets on Wheels, and in a commercial for the Ford Hybrid. In the Ford Hybrid commercial, the bicycle was controlled by a green pole that was digitally removed later.
The Muppet Show episode 409 features a story about Kermit's bike getting stolen in the Muppet Theatre's back alley. His poor choice in parking spots would later be illustrated in a puzzle released by Milton Bradley.
Scooter and Janice also rode bicycles in one scene in Muppet*Vision 3D.
Bicycles are pedal-driven two-wheeled vehicle that appear in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories. Bunny hops can be performed on a bicycle. The player can fall off a bicycle if the player collides with enough force.
GTA San Andreas introduced the pedal bicycle to Grand Theft Auto. The player can increase the Cycling Skill of Carl Johnson through long rides on bicycles or on the stationary bike at the Gyms. The higher the skill, the less chance Carl will fall of the bicycle, the higher he can bunny-hop, and the more responsive the bicycle is.
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[[:Category:{{{Images}}}|Images]]
A man riding a bicycle appears in the Orchid Orientation film shown at Comic-Con 2007. The footage of the man appears upside-down for a very brief moment (approximately 1:43 into the film). The identity of this person is unknown. The footage appears to have been shot at the Barracks.
The same video of a man riding a bicycle appears also in the flashback of "The Man Behind the Curtain" as well in the Season 5 episode "Namaste". He appears in the beginning of DHARMA Initiative's welcome to the Island video.
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