What’s the difference between a pushbike and a bicycle in British English?

35 comments

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2. They are the same.

3. Nothing

4. Nobody says bicycle.

   Everyone says bike.

   Someone who owns a motorbike might also call that just “my bike” or “the bike”.

   “Pushbike” is the sort of word my dad would say to be clear what kind of bike he meant.

5. Pushbike was created in the early 20th century to clearly differentiate between a bike and a motorbike. It was still going strong when The Mixtures wrote a whimsical song which became a minor hit https://youtu.be/3LZ9TGOGt04

6. They are the same other names include but are not limited too bike, cycle, racer, iron horse and push iron.

7. Use the term ‘push iron’ on Merseyside.

8. ha pushbike reminds me of those baby bikes with no pedals?

9. Push iron?

10. Also known as the “safety bicycle, which started to replace the “ordinary”, aka the “penny farthing” in the late 1890s.

11. Pushbike has a flat tyre

12. Both are just terms for a velocipede.

13. The spelling

14. Pushbike is the sort of thing my dad says

15. One you push and then jump on when going fast enough.

16. They’re just two different words for the same thing.

17. Exactly the same thing

18. They’re the same thing. Most just say bike, some would say bicycle.

    But I used to work with vehicle ferries and they still used the term push bike to be absolutely clear the vehicle in question was different to a motorbike.

19. Using ‘pushbike’ suggests you last rode one in the 1960s.

20. Those who refer to a motorcycle as a bike, refer to bicycles as pushbikes

21. As a former Policeman people would often approach me to report ‘the theft of my bike’. First question was always Motorbike or Pushbike ? I’ve always found Pedal Cycle and Pushbike to be interchangeable. Although I guess Pushbike is considered a bit ‘quaint’ these days.

22. I say pushbike for my solely leg-powered one, and leccybike for my electric assist bike

23. Unicycle 1 wheel (uni latin/Greek/old language for one, think uni-brow universal unit, all things that imply 1)

    Bicycle 2 wheel (bi Latin/Greek/old language for two, think bipolar bisexual biannually all things that imply 2)

    Tricycle 3 wheel (tri Latin/Greek/old language for 3, think triangle, trimester, triplets, trice all things that imply 3)

    Quad bike 4 wheel (quad Latin/Greek/old language for 4, think quadruple, quadrant, quadrangle)

24. Nothing.

25. They are the same. “Pushbike” is usually used to humorously clarify you mean “Bicycle” and mot “Motorcycle”.

26. Pushbike/bike/pushrod

27. I’m on my pushey 🚴

28. Double wheelie human powered machiney

29. m’pushhog

30. Mungo Jerry released “The Pushbike Song” – although I believe it was a cover version of an Australian band.

31. Bicycle is the neutral but slightly formal word. Pushbike is mildly disparaging/dismissive (that is, it was certainly felt as being disparaging by the (old school, racing club), cyclists I grew up among, who wouldn’t ever use the term). Some people do use it perfectly without malice as a way of disambiguating “bike”. Cyclists themselves these days tend to use the French “moto” for a motorbike as a disambiguator, from the TV captions for the Tour de France).

32. A pushbike, also called a pedal cycle or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-powered assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other.

    A bike is your mum.

33. Gangway for footcycle!

34. A push bike is the old fashioned one where you have to get your butler to push you on it. This does out after WW2 because of the shortage of household staff, so we moved towards the bicycle with the pedals. Hope this helps.

35. A shuvvy is a shuvvy!!!