Bicycle Capital Bubble

Bicycle capital bubble is the 1895-1897 financial frenzy described in No.199 自行车 200年. The source says London and Wall Street chased companies with bicycle or cycle labels, while assets such as Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Company were packaged, promoted, and listed during a short period of rapidly rising expectations.

The episode does not treat the bubble as harmless. It says saturation, price war, and bankruptcy followed quickly. But it also makes the bicycle bubble a case for Productive Bubble Spillovers because tubing, bearings, tires, precision parts, repair knowledge, and trained operators remained useful after investor enthusiasm collapsed.

Key Claims

• A real product breakthrough can still produce a financial bubble if capital markets extrapolate too aggressively.
• Bubble financing can accelerate capacity and competition before demand is durable enough to support it.
• Industrial learning and investor returns can diverge: companies may fail while usable skills and components persist.

Connections

• John Boyd Dunlop / 约翰·博伊德·邓禄普 and Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Company — tire-business context.
• Productive Bubble Spillovers — broader post-bust capacity frame.
• Bicycle Industrial Spillovers and Technology Installation Cycle — industrial and cycle analogies.