May is often observed as National Bike Month, and we think we know why this month was chosen. It’s because May is the month when the weather really starts to get nice, making it perfect for biking. It doesn’t matter if you’re riding your bike around the block, at your local park, or across the country; this is the month to do it.

It’s also the month to look for a new bike if yours is too broken down to be of use to you. We would like to add that you can observe this month even if you don’t own a bike.

There are plenty of bike rental places across the country, or you can borrow one from a friend. Just don’t wait. The world is waiting for you, and you can see a good portion of it by jumping on a bike and going. We’ll see you on the road!

Fun Facts About Bikes

We wanted to come up with some cool and fun facts about bicycles, so we did a little bit of research and searched the Internet. What we found was a treasure trove of facts that we couldn’t wait to share with you in this article. With that being said, we don’t have room to list all of them, so we decided to list the ones we found the most intriguing below.

• The first bicycles were known as velocipedes before they became known as bicycles.
• Originally, bikes were invented in France, but the modern design was refined in England.
• Currently, there are around 1 billion bikes in use in the world.
• Half of the world’s bicycles are used in China.
• It’s estimated that there are 100 million bikes in the U.S., 40 million in Brazil, and 20 million in France.
• Every year, about 100 million bicycles are manufactured.
• The Tour de France was established in 1903 and is the most famous bicycle race in the world.
• Maintaining bicycles is 20 times cheaper than maintaining cars.
• Nine out of ten bicycle trips are under 10 miles.
• From 1990 to 2009, the number of bicycle trips nearly doubled from 1.8 billion to 4 billion.
• Children who bike are 48% less likely to become overweight as adults.
• It’s been estimated that 42% of households around the world own at least one bike.
• Approximately 2% of car crash deaths in the U.S. are bicyclists.
• Approximately 21% of men who suffered head injuries in crashes were wearing helmets.

The History of National Bike Month

This observance month has been around for quite a while, but it will probably surprise you just how long it’s been around. According to our research, this month was first created in 1956 by the League of American Bicyclists and has been observed every year ever since.