Do Amish Ride Bikes? Yes. No. Maybe...

The Sticky Bottle Team is headquartered smack dab in the middle of the Mid-Atlantic, USA.  The region offers Philadelphia, the Poconos, all of Delaware, Baltimore and the Eastern Shore, D.C., New Jersey and Pennsylvania as far west as the Susquehanna River.  Or so we have decided.  The SBT crew wanders the region (and other regions—stay tuned for a San Francisco treat) on the roads, in the shops and in the saddle.  

One of the best areas to check out from above the handle bars is Lancaster County, Pa.  The county has a vast network of intertwining roads all snaking through farmland most without any real traffic.   Occasionally the rider will have to pass a horse and buggy piloted by our Amish friends and it is a fun thing to pass a horse (specifically, a Tennessee walking horse, the choice for the Amish buggy driver) and get an up-close and personal view (and smell) of our equine road-share partner.

Look Ma!  No derailleur!

When not in a buggy (closed buggies are for married couples and families, open-top are for “courting” and unmarried Amish) Amish can be seen walking or pushing a scooter.  Depending on the location and “ordnung” Amish can sometimes be seen riding bicycles.  Ordnung is the German word for order and the ordnung is a set of rules by which a group of Amish attached to a church live.  The ordnung is set by a group of male church elders.  Some ordnungs are more conservative than others.  The rules by which the bicycle is deemed acceptable is set by the elders and spelled out in the ordnung.  

The Amish elders judge things in society based on their “worldliness.”  If something is deemed to be worldly then it’s seen as prideful and pride is viewed by the Amish as something that comes before God.  The Amish have a term for this: “Galassenheit.” Some ordnungs have decided that the bicycle is worldy and to be seen riding one would be an overt sign of pride.  What makes the bicycle worldy?  In a simple term: technology.  What makes a bicycle a technological advancement: the derailleur.  The derailleur is simply a gear and combined with the moving cranks and chain it creates a technology the Amish have decided is advanced.  

The first derailleurs were invented in the 1800s but were not widely known until Frenchmen Paul de Vivie perfected a two speed variation in 1905 that allowed him to climb the alpine passes near his home.  The technology advanced even further and the first derailleurs to be used in the Tour de France debuted in 1937.  Later the Simplex Manufacturing Corporation (see “To Kick or Not to Kick” posting) developed a cable that allowed riders to shift the derailleur.

 

The issue of Amish on bikes comes down to the derailleur.  Some conservative ornungs view it as worldy and technological, others do not.  Typically, if an Amish person is riding a bike it will be without gears and shift levers.  We hope to see you riding in Amish country, but please be discreet when shifting.

Visit our website at www.stickybottleteam.net.  We have posted a new video and a new ShopSpy visit.  We also have some Random Thoughts about the cycling scene in Philadelphia.