to push my bike

Support Christian (UK)

I support B. Is this an AE/BE difference? We say "push" a bike.

I push my bike and walk my dog. Curiously, googling reveals that a number of my fellow citizens also walk the bike. Who would have thunk! (I guess pushing your dog is also permitted on occasion.)

@qwerty - Yes, indeed! Especially if he/she consistently tries taking over your favorite chair :-) (Don't have a dog, but did have a cat and had to give her the occassional small nudge).

I got a flat tire on the way so I had to walk my bike home.
"Walk the bike", yelled the crossing guard.

I can't imagine using "push" here. It sound wrong to me.
I don't own a dog and never have, but I've been an avid bike rider my whole life.

sounds

Is it then perhaps a regional difference? I've always pushed my bike.

For me, pushing my bike is something I would do

In http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/safer_cycling_leaf... heißt es etwa: "Use special cycle lanes or paths wherever possible.
In traffic if you are not sure what to do - get your
bike onto the pavement and push your bike."

Okay, let's try this again - oops!

For me, pushing my bike is something I would do particularly if I had a flat tire or mechanical failure. There would be some effort involved.

Walking my bike is what the officials want me to do. In La Mirada (California) there are signs at most signals instructing cyclists to "dismount and walk bicycles across the intersection". I find it totally absurd as an adult to think that I'm supposed to get off and walk across the intersection for my safety. I might also walk my bike if my friend is on foot and I want to stay with him/her.

That sounds exhausting, Carly. ;-) I don't know, maybe it is regional, but until just now, I would have thought "pushing a bike" was a Germanism. I'm from the Midwest.
"Pushing" a bike sounds to me like either giving it a shove or standing behind the bicycle and pushing it in front of me. Both are pretty unusual.

AHA! That might explain things - this law didn't exist when I was growing.

At least one of the writers of Friends (which I believe to be a US sitcom) must have been familiar with "walking a bike", and apparently none of the actors objected to using the phrase. I realise that a TV series is probably not the most reliable source, but it's where I first came across the phrase... :)

@wpr
I guess, you are right in one respect. As an admonition to not ride the bike, "walk the bike!" is correct and "push the bike!" would be odd. But if I do it out of my own volition, I still find "pushing my bike" more natural.

B., I can only speak for AE.

How weird! I've never come across "walking a bike" until now. I'd have said "pushing a bike". Perhaps it's an age thing rather than an AE/BE thing!

Where are you from, qwerty? (I am of course talking about bicycles, not motorcycles.)

@qwerty
Washington, DC. (Yes, I'm talking about bicycles as well; motorcycles lack one essential element for stability -- a third wheel.)

I, being over 50, would naturally have said "push my bike" rather than "walk my bike". Maybe it is age related.

One thing is certain, though; if it's uphill, it's definitely "push"!

@Anne gb - Hello !

Tonight's the first time I've ever heard of "walking" a bike, too - sounds quite odd to my AE ears :-)

@Robert
Hi! So you think it's us old people who feel the effort and therefore tend to push our bikes rather than leisurely walking them (as in walking one's dog)?

I would walk my bike uphill too, Robert. Maybe push.
To me, I would make the distinction that "pushing" is something you do with your arms, "walking" is done with the feet. This corresponds to my description in #13. So when you "walk" your bike, it's (primarily)your feet that are propelling the bike forward, your arms are just used to stabilize it.

Maybe it's just me, but that's how I have always understood and used the words. Where are you from again, Carly?

OK - I first pushed my bike at age 4, and am now 52 - if I had one, I'd be pushing it still :-)

@qwerty: Well, that could be the reason;-). In BE at least, a bike used to be called a push bike to distinguish it from a motorbike. My grandfather (who fought in the 1914-1918 war) certainly had a push bike.

@wpr - I'm a "military brat" - lived in both North and South Carolina, Missouri, Alaska and California - mother from New Jersey, father NC.

Well, maybe it's a difference then between the active cycling afficianados, like wpr, and the ex-cyclists, like Carly and me. If I had a bike, it would probably have only 3 gears and a basket on the front:-)).

@Anne gb - Mine, too! And real brakes as opposed to hand brakes! I could probably even do without the gears, since I never shifted them, when I had them :-)

Flat Tire Fridays are No Fun

Being a nine-to-fiver I have come to, somewhat unnaturally, appreciate the arrival of Friday. This Friday, however, is not up to snuff. I got a flat tire on my bike and had to walk it the rest of the way to work in the rain this morning. And, this is my second flat tire this week.
http://spacing.ca/wire/?p=1030

This is not meant as certain proof, just something I found after a couple of minutes on the net.
Anne, I wouldn't call myself an afficianado, just like to ride my bike and have done quite a bit my whole life. I've taken a couple of tours (Rostock-Rügen and Rothenburg-Regensburg) and if all goes well, another one next month. ;-) My bike has 15 speeds and saddle bags.

I wonder where bike-helmut is? He's the real afficianado...

Are you walking or pushing a push-bike?

@wpr #24: I dunno. Whenever I have had to push a car, it was my legs that did the work not my arms! (Would you "walk a car" or "push a car"?)

@Robert US - Touché! LOL! Then, I would assume that we still do "push-ups," too :-)

@erl: *lol*

@wpr: Honestly, if you say so, then "walk a bike" it is. I'm perhaps a bit out of date, not having ridden a bike (or "walked/pushed" it for that matter) for the last 15 years or so. It's just fascinating how language changes...
Whatever, lie hasn't exactly given us a lot of context with "einfach so..."
Hope your next cycling tour is really great:-).

@wpr #24 again: A bit more seriously . . . Now that I have thought about it a bit more, this is the picture I have in my mind:

If you say you are walking your bike, I see you as fully erect, with one hand on the seat or perhaps lightly guiding one handlebar.

If you say you are pushing your bike, I see you as bent forward, both hands on the handlebars and exerting more effort. (It would be a similar position for pushing a car: hands on the trunk/boot lid, leaning forward and exerting effort.)

I think we have established that both terms are acceptable. It would be interesting to find out where the difference in usage lies. It isn't an AE/BE difference, since Anne GB, Carly AE, and I all would (tend to) say push. Is it, as suggested, an age thing?

FLATS HAPPEN

Sooner or later, a flat tire will happen to you. Flats are a minor inconvenience that shouldn't keep you off your bike for long.
In case of an en-route flat, sometimes the simplest solution is to walk your bike to the nearest repair shop, or put your bike on a bus...
http://www.best.bc.ca/cycle/page8.htm

I'm convinced, too, that "push a bike" is used in this context. I'm just very surprised. I don't know where and why.
That's true, Robert. Maybe, in the end, it all comes down to idiomatic usage?
Above is another, somewhat more reliable example from a Canadian site.

Where is bike_helmut when you need him?

F5: Ok, Robert, to spin this a little further, I would say, yes, that if a hill was so steep that my arms were really doing most of the work, that were was tension in my arm muscles from the work, then yes, "pushing" would be appropriate. But for most small hills, and most all other cases(flats, etc.), I would use "walk" my bike. It's opposed to "riding" it.
You can walk a bike with one hand or two, that's not important here IMO.
That's all from me. I'm turning in for the night.

Uh-oh! I've just thought of a third alternative: "wheel a bike". I'll leave it to those of you on the left of the big pond and the European night-owls to thrash it out.
OT/@Robert: Won't you be going to Germany shortly? Your Märchenstrasse-Faden has helped me in planning my own trip to Germany at the end of August. Have a great time!"/OT

@Anne gb - Just read that you, too, will be visiting Germany in August! Will you happen to be in my area (near Kassel, Göttingen)?

^

ginge das auch? Habe ich mal bei Stephen King ("The Stand") gelesen.

In front of my door "Mikes Bike Tours" starts 4 times a day a bike tour. He always yells at people:"If you get lost, I need you to stop, drop and ROLL". Maybe that's an solution to the push-walk-matter?