Present Day Use
Utility bicycles are principally used for short-distance commuting, running errands, shopping, leisure or for transporting goods or merchandise. Utility bikes may also be seen in postal service, in war, and for employee transportation inside large workplaces (factories, warehouses, airports, movie studio lots, etc.). In some countries, entire fleets of utility bicycles may be operated or administered by local or national government agencies as part of a public bike sharing programme.
Utility bicycles often feature a step-through frame so they can be easily mounted, single speed, or with internal hub gearing, and drum brakes to reduce the need for maintenance, mudguards to keep the rider's clothing clean, a chain guard to prevent skirts or loose trousers from being caught in the chain, a skirt guard to prevent a long skirt catching in the rear brakes, a center stand kickstand so it can be parked easily, and a basket or pannier rack to carry personal possessions or shopping bags.
In Singapore, and sometimes Malaysia, old utility bicycles are often seen with the windshields and engine covers of 125 cc (7.6 cu in) motorbikes and painted in highly attractive colors. Although virtually none have a real engine attached for them, most of them are used for decoration only. Many choose this type of bicycle due to the low price (relatively) and availability.
Read more about this topic: Utility Bicycle
Famous quotes containing the words present day, present and/or day:
“The East knew and to the present day knows only that One is Free; the Greek and the Roman world, that some are free; the German World knows that All are free. The first political form therefore which we observe in History, is Despotism, the second Democracy and Aristocracy, the third, Monarchy.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)
“We are made happy when reason can discover no occasion for it. The memory of some past moments is more persuasive than the experience of present ones. There have been visions of such breadth and brightness that these motes were invisible in their light.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Soon silence will have passed into legend. Man has turned his back on silence. Day after day he invents machines and devices that increase noise and distract humanity from the essence of life, contemplation, meditation.... Tooting, howling, screeching, booming, crashing, whistling, grinding, and trilling bolster his ego. His anxiety subsides. His inhuman void spreads monstrously like a gray vegetation.”
—Jean Arp (1887–1948)