Triangle riding: origin of my lifelong love for cycling

“Triangle riding”!?

“Oh!” Did that ring a bell? Were you born in between 1945 and 54?

Japan’s bicycle manufacturing history is long. It began in 1890 (Meiji 23), when Miyata Kogyo—then a gun factory—completed Japan’s first domestically produced bicycle. Unlike the common “Daruma(penny-farthing)” style, it featured a diamond frame.

Back then, both domestic and imported bikes cost over 100 yen, making them quite the luxury item (a starting salary for an elementary school teacher was 8 yen). Our predecessors seemed to love bicycles, and it appears competitions and cycling tours were already happening around that time.

Later, after unexpected wartime demand during World War I, the industry grew into a top-tier export sector before the war.

During the war, many bicycle manufacturers were forced to convert into munitions factories. After the war, they were permitted by the Allied forces to resume bicycle production, but parts procurement remained difficult, and production initially struggled to resume smoothly.

Eventually, production began to stabilize, but the bicycles made were mainly utility models. Children’s bikes were still scarce. Kids without a bike their size would hang onto the handlebars of an adult bike, wedge their feet into the front triangle, and deftly pedal the opposite side.

Yes, “triangle riding.” I was one of them. It’s one of my fond childhood memories. Since then, it became the origin of my lifelong love for cycling, spanning over half a century. I’d like to share that story alongside the evolution of the bicycle.

｢三角乗り｣!?

｢おおっ｣ ピンときた方、昭和20年代生まれですか？

日本の自転車製造の歴史は古く、1890年  (明治23年)  に、当時製銃工場だった宮田工業が、ダルマ型ではないダイヤモンド型の自転車を完成させたのが最初。輸入自転車ばかりの中での国産第一号になりました。

当時は国産品、輸入品ともに100円以上するかなりの贅沢品でしたが（小学校教員の初任給は８円）、我々の先輩も自転車が気に入ったようで、その頃から競技会やサイクリングが行われていたようです。

その後、第一次大戦時の思わぬ特需などを経て、戦前はトップクラスの輸出産業に成長。

戦時中、多くの自転車メーカーは強制され軍需工場へと転換、戦後ふたたび連合軍の許可により自転車工場へ戻るものの、部品の調達が難しく、当初は生産も思い通りにならない状態が続きました。

やがて順調に製造され始めた自転車も実用車が中心。子供用自転車などまだまだ少なく、身近に自身にあう自転車がない子供達は、大人用自転車のハンドルにぶら下がり、前三角に足を突っ込んで反対側のペダルを器用に回していました。

そう、｢三角乗り｣です。私もそんな一人。子供のころの楽しい思い出の一つです。以来、半世紀以上にわたり自転車に乗る原点となりました。その様子を自転車の変遷とともに、お伝えしたいと思います。