Bin gerade über eine interessante (und kurze, 7 Seiten) Arbeit aus techniksoziologischer Sicht (genauer SCOT) zu diesem Thema gestoßen, allerdings ohne Überraschungen. Witzigerweise aus Pakistan und leider nicht open access (So manche Unibibliothek dürfte allerdings onlinezugang haben):
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0306312714560640?journalCode=sssb
Reviving a ghost in the history of technology: The social construction of the recumbent bicycle (2014)
Hassaan Ahmed,
Omer Masood Qureshi,
Abid Ali Khan
S. 132: "Before 1933, alternatives to the safety were presented from time to time, but they
mostly failed to turn the heads of bicycle users. Part of this failure surely stems from the
fact that media derision of alternatives began right after the initial boom of the safety in
the late 1890s. For example, in 1902 The Cyclist published an extremely sarcastic review
that criticized the introduction of the first legitimate semi-recumbent by an American
named Brown:
The curiously unsuitable monstrosity in the way of a novel bicycle [is] shown in the single
existing example of Mr. Brown’s idea of the cycle of the future here illustrated ... The surprising
fact is that any man in his sober senses could believe that there was a market for this long and
heavy monstrosity at the price of a hundred dollars. (Dolnar, 8 January 1902, The Cyclist)"
S. 135: "By defining the bicycle in terms that undermined the significance of speed as a
term of interpretative flexibility, the UCI ensured that the socially relevant groups per-
ceived the design of an alternative to the safety as an imposter. As a result, Mochet was
only able to sell 800 Velocars, and the recumbent was a commercial failure (Schmitz,
1994). The recumbent did not have a chance to go through a stabilization period, and the
safety continued on with its original process of stabilization"
Die Autoren markieren die UCI-Entscheidung als den entscheidenden Punkt für die Marginalisierung des Liegerades. Die UCI hätte ihre Standardisierungsmacht genutzt, um Interessen von Industrie, Sportlern usw, gar des gesamten Safety Bicycle-Mainstreams gegen die technologische Innovation durchzusetzen.
Auch interessant dazu, noch hab ichs allerdings nicht da:
MOCHET - Minimalisme sur roues, Brüning Herman, Editions Cépaduès
Ich recherchiere i.Ü. gerade dazu, weil mich das Thema der Wiederbelebung alter Technologien (wie zB Velocar, siehe Schaeffler, Velomo usw.) in unserer innovationsfreudigen ('postmodernen') Zeit aus technikhistorischer und -soziologischer Sicht aktuell interessiert.
