The Perfect Cycling Family? An Exploratory Analysis of Depictions of Family Cycling

This is an exploratory analysis of 100 ‘family cycling’ images sourced from Google UK’s Image search. No depicted riders presented clearly visible disabilities, and images of larger bodies were rare. Most riders were white. The cycling family was usually portrayed as ‘nuclear’, comprising one man, one woman, and one to three children. Motor vehicles or pedestrians were rarely shown sharing space with people cycling; however, no images showed separated cycling infrastructure. These findings suggest a need to diversify images of ‘family cycling’ in relation to disability, body size, family structure and ethnicity, and including images of newer, separated cycling infrastructure.