Bike vs. Cycle — What's the Difference?

By Tayyaba Rehman & Maham Liaqat — Updated on May 16, 2024

Bike is a colloquial term for a bicycle or motorcycle, while cycle is a broader term that includes any vehicle with wheels that one can pedal, like bicycles and tricycles.

Difference Between Bike and Cycle

Key Differences

Bike typically refers to a bicycle, a two-wheeled vehicle powered by pedaling, or a motorcycle, a motor-powered two-wheeled vehicle. Cycle is a more general term encompassing any pedal-powered vehicle, including bicycles, tricycles, and unicycles.

A bike is often used in casual conversation and is commonly associated with both recreational and commuting activities. Cycle, however, is a more formal term used in technical and broader contexts, encompassing a wider range of pedal-powered vehicles.

In sports and fitness contexts, bike usually denotes bicycles used for racing, mountain biking, or commuting. On the other hand, cycle can refer to various types of cycling activities, including using stationary cycles for indoor training.

The term bike is widely recognized and used in both everyday language and specific subcultures like motorcycling and cycling enthusiasts. Whereas cycle might be used in academic, technical, or formal discussions, highlighting the broader category of vehicles it covers.

Comparison Chart

Definition

Typically a bicycle or motorcycle

Any pedal-powered vehicle, including bicycles

Common Usage

Casual and recreational contexts

Formal and technical contexts

Scope

Narrow, often specific to bicycles or motorcycles

Broad, includes bicycles, tricycles, unicycles

Sports Context

Refers to bicycles used in various sports

Encompasses different types of cycling activities

Language Context

Informal and everyday language

Formal and academic discussions

Compare with Definitions

Bike

A pedal-powered two-wheeled vehicle (bicycle).

She rode her bike to the park.

Cycle

Used in technical and formal contexts.

The study focused on the benefits of different cycles.

Bike

Informal term for a bicycle.

Let's go for a bike ride.

Cycle

Refers to different types of cycling activities.

Indoor cycle classes are very popular.

Bike

Used in cycling sports contexts.

The bike race was thrilling.

Cycle

An interval of time during which a characteristic, often regularly repeated event or sequence of events occurs

Sunspots increase and decrease in intensity in an 11-year cycle.

Bike

Commonly associated with both recreation and commuting.

He commutes to work on his bike every day.

Cycle

A single complete execution of a periodically repeated phenomenon

A year constitutes a cycle of the seasons.

Bike

A bicycle or motorcycle

I'm going by bike

My friends and I would ride our bikes

A bike ride

Cycle

A periodically repeated sequence of events

The cycle of birth, growth, and death.

A cycle of reprisal and retaliation.

Bike

A nest or swarm of bees, wasps, or hornets

They swarmed over him like a bike of wasps

Cycle

The orbit of a celestial body.

Bike

Ride a bicycle or motorcycle

Danny bikes to the park and back every day

Cycle

A long period of time; an age.

Bike

A bicycle.

Cycle

The aggregate of traditional poems or stories organized around a central theme or hero

The Arthurian cycle.

Bike

A motorcycle.

Cycle

A series of poems or songs on the same theme

Schubert's song cycles.

Bike

A motorbike.

Cycle

A bicycle, motorcycle, or similar vehicle.

Bike

To ride a bike.

Cycle

(Botany) A circular or whorled arrangement of flower parts such as those of petals or sepals.

Bike

Clipping of bicycle

Cycle

(Baseball) The achievement of hitting a single, double, triple, and home run in a single game.

Bike

Clipping of motorbike

Cycle

To occur in or pass through a cycle.

Bike

Ellipsis of village bike

Cycle

To move in or as if in a cycle.

Bike

A hive of bees, or a nest of wasps, hornets, or ants.

Cycle

To ride a bicycle, motorcycle, or similar vehicle.

Bike

A crowd of people.

Cycle

To use in or put through a cycle

Cycled the heavily soiled laundry twice.

Cycling the recruits through eight weeks of basic training.

Bike

(intransitive) To ride a bike.

I biked so much yesterday that I'm very sore today.

Cycle

An interval of space or time in which one set of events or phenomena is completed.

The cycle of the seasons, or of the year

Bike

(intransitive) To travel by bike.

It was such a nice day I decided to bike to the store, though it's far enough I usually take my car.

Cycle

A complete rotation of anything.

Bike

(transitive) To transport by bicycle.

I biked them the letters.

Cycle

A process that returns to its beginning and then repeats itself in the same sequence.

Electoral cycle

Menstrual cycle

News cycle

Bike

A nest of wild bees, wasps, or ants; a swarm.

Cycle

The members of the sequence formed by such a process.

Bike

A motor vehicle with two wheels and a strong frame

Cycle

(music) In musical set theory, an interval cycle is the set of pitch classes resulting from repeatedly applying the same interval class to the starting pitch class.

The interval cycle C4 consists of the pitch classes 0, 4 and 8; when starting on E, it is realised as the pitches E, G# and C.

Bike

A wheeled vehicle that has two wheels and is moved by foot pedals

Cycle

A series of poems, songs or other works of art, typically longer than a trilogy.

The "Ring of the Nibelung" is a cycle of four operas by Richard Wagner.

Bike

Ride a bicycle

Cycle

A programme on a washing machine, dishwasher, or other such device.

Put the washing in on a warm cycle.

The spin cycle

Bike

A motor-powered two-wheeled vehicle (motorcycle).

He loves riding his bike on weekends.

Cycle

A pedal-powered vehicle, such as a unicycle, bicycle, or tricycle, or a motorized vehicle that has either two or three wheels.

Cycle

(baseball) A single, a double, a triple, and a home run hit by the same player in the same game.

Jones hit for the cycle in the game.

Cycle

(graph theory) A closed walk or path, with or without repeated vertices allowed.

Cycle

A chain whose boundary is zero.

Cycle

An imaginary circle or orbit in the heavens; one of the celestial spheres.

Cycle

An age; a long period of time.

Cycle

An orderly list for a given time; a calendar.

Cycle

(botany) One entire round in a circle or a spire.

Cycle

(weaponry) A discharge of a taser.

Cycle

(aviation) One take-off and landing of an aircraft, referring to a pressurisation cycle which places stresses on the fuselage.

Cycle

To ride a bicycle or other cycle.

Cycle

To go through a cycle or to put through a cycle.

Cycle

(electronics) To turn power off and back on

Avoid cycling the device unnecessarily.

Cycle

(ice hockey) To maintain a team's possession of the puck in the offensive zone by handling and passing the puck in a loop from the boards near the goal up the side boards and passing to back to the boards near the goal

They have their cycling game going tonight.

Cycle

An imaginary circle or orbit in the heavens; one of the celestial spheres.

Cycle

An interval of time in which a certain succession of events or phenomena is completed, and then returns again and again, uniformly and continually in the same order; a periodical space of time marked by the recurrence of something peculiar; as, the cycle of the seasons, or of the year.

Wages . . . bear a full proportion . . . to the medium of provision during the last bad cycle of twenty years.

Cycle

An age; a long period of time.

Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay.

Cycle

An orderly list for a given time; a calendar.

We . . . present our gardeners with a complete cycle of what is requisite to be done throughout every month of the year.

Cycle

The circle of subjects connected with the exploits of the hero or heroes of some particular period which have served as a popular theme for poetry, as the legend of Arthur and the knights of the Round Table, and that of Charlemagne and his paladins.

Cycle

One entire round in a circle or a spire; as, a cycle or set of leaves.

Cycle

A bicycle or tricycle, or other light velocipede.

Cycle

A motorcycle.

Cycle

A series of operations in which heat is imparted to (or taken away from) a working substance which by its expansion gives up a part of its internal energy in the form of mechanical work (or being compressed increases its internal energy) and is again brought back to its original state.

Cycle

A complete positive and negative, or forward and reverse, action of any periodic process, such as a vibration, an electric field oscillation, or a current alternation; one period.

Cycle

To pass through a cycle{2} of changes; to recur in cycles.

Cycle

To ride a bicycle, tricycle, or other form of cycle.

Cycle

To cause to pass through a cycle{2}.

Cycle

An interval during which a recurring sequence of events occurs;

The neverending cycle of the seasons

Cycle

A series of poems or songs on the same theme;

Schubert's song cycles

Cycle

A periodically repeated sequence of events;

A cycle of reprisal and retaliation

Cycle

The unit of frequency; one Hertz has a periodic interval of one second

Cycle

A single complete execution of a periodically repeated phenomenon;

A year constitutes a cycle of the seasons

Cycle

A wheeled vehicle that has two wheels and is moved by foot pedals

Cycle

Cause to go through a recurring sequence;

Cycle thge laundry in this washing program

Cycle

Pass through a cycle;

This machine automatically cycles

Cycle

Ride a motorcycle

Cycle

Ride a bicycle

Cycle

Recur in repeating sequences

Cycle

Any pedal-powered vehicle, including bicycles.

He learned to ride a cycle when he was five.

Cycle

A broader term encompassing various types of pedal vehicles.

The children enjoyed riding their cycles in the park.

Cycle

Includes bicycles, tricycles, and unicycles.

She prefers a tricycle for better balance.

Common Curiosities

Which term is more common in everyday language?

Bike is more common in everyday language.

Can bike refer to a motorcycle?

Yes, bike can refer to both bicycles and motorcycles.

Does cycle only refer to bicycles?

No, cycle includes bicycles, tricycles, and unicycles.

What is the main difference between a bike and a cycle?

Bike usually refers to bicycles or motorcycles, while cycle is a broader term that includes any pedal-powered vehicle.

Are tricycles included under bike?

Typically, no. Bike generally refers to two-wheeled vehicles.

Does cycle include stationary bikes?

Yes, cycle can refer to stationary bikes used in indoor training.

Does bike refer to pedal-powered vehicles only?

No, bike can also refer to motor-powered two-wheeled vehicles.

Is cycle a more formal term than bike?

Yes, cycle is often used in more formal or technical contexts.

Are the terms bike and cycle interchangeable?

In some contexts, they can be used interchangeably, but cycle is broader and more formal.

Can bike be used in sports contexts?

Yes, bike is often used in sports contexts, especially cycling sports.

Is cycle used in academic discussions?

Yes, cycle is used in academic and technical discussions.

Can the term cycle refer to a cycling activity?

Yes, cycle can refer to different types of cycling activities.

Is bike a colloquial term?

Yes, bike is a more colloquial and casual term.

Do cyclists use the term bike or cycle more frequently?

Cyclists often use both terms, but bike is more common in casual conversation.

Is bike used to refer to children's pedal vehicles?

Yes, bike can refer to children's bicycles.

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Author Spotlight

Written by

Tayyaba Rehman

Tayyaba Rehman is a distinguished writer, currently serving as a primary contributor to askdifference.com. As a researcher in semantics and etymology, Tayyaba's passion for the complexity of languages and their distinctions has found a perfect home on the platform. Tayyaba delves into the intricacies of language, distinguishing between commonly confused words and phrases, thereby providing clarity for readers worldwide.