A spoke card, or spokecard, is a

card Card or The Card may refer to: Common uses * Plastic cards of various types: **Bank card **Credit card **Debit card **Payment card * Playing card, used in games * Printed circuit board, or card * Greeting card, given on special occasions Arts an ...

placed in the spokes of a

bicycle wheel A bicycle wheel is a wheel, most commonly a wire wheel, designed for a bicycle. A pair is often called a wheelset, especially in the context of ready built "off the shelf" performance-oriented wheels. Bicycle wheels are typically designed ...

. They lie parallel to the entire wheel. Most spoke cards are laminated. Throughout the 20th century,

playing cards A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a Pap ...

were placed in such a way as to make a

noise Noise is sound, chiefly unwanted, unintentional, or harmful sound considered unpleasant, loud, or disruptive to mental or hearing faculties. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrat ...

as the card flaps against the spokes; however, there is no evidence that these were called "spoke cards."

Origins

One origin of the spoke card was laminated cards inserted in spokes with numbers used to identify competitors in competitive races held by

bicycle messenger Bicycle messengers (also known as bike or cycle couriers) are people who work for courier companies (also known as messenger companies) carrying and delivering items by bicycle. Bicycle messengers are most often found in the central business dist ...

s, in official competitions and in unofficial

alleycat races An alleycat race is an unsanctioned Bicycle racing, bicycle race. Alley cats almost always take place in cities, and are often organized by bicycle messengers. The informality of the organization is matched by the emphasis on taking part, rather ...

Tarot Tarot (, first known as ''trionfi (cards), trionfi'' and later as ''tarocchi'' or ''tarocks'') is a set of playing cards used in tarot games and in fortune-telling or divination. From at least the mid-15th century, the tarot was used to play t ...

cards with the racers number written on them were used initially, but nowadays cards are often custom printed. Another influence was the practice of placing

playing card A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a f ...

s found on the street in bicycle spokes in a game known in 1990s San Francisco as Spokepoker.

Uses

The spoke card is wedged between the spokes of the wheel at the point where they cross each other. Although the spoke card is hard to read while the bicycle is in motion, it provides a cheap way to label them in the absence of a proper race number plaque under the top tube, and is less likely to attract the attention of the authorities than a number on the rider's back. Maps for social bicycle rides have been printed on spokecards for the riders' reference. Many messengers retain spoke cards after the event, accumulating several on the wheel. Other city riders sometimes fix spoke cards to their wheels as an affectation of messenger culture. Many times participants of large group rides, such as those organized by groups like the Midnight Ridazz or

Critical Mass In nuclear engineering, critical mass is the minimum mass of the fissile material needed for a sustained nuclear chain reaction in a particular setup. The critical mass of a fissionable material depends upon its nuclear properties (specific ...

receive spoke cards and affix them to their spokes. Spoke cards have evolved to serve such diverse functions as

memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects such as home ...

s for fallen messengers, as

artwork A work of art, artwork, art piece, piece of art or art object is an artistic creation of aesthetic value. Except for "work of art", which may be used of any work regarded as art in its widest sense, including works from literature ...

, and as political

placard A placard is a notice installed in a public place, like a small :wikt:card, card, Signage, sign, or :wikt:plaque, plaque. It can be attached to or hung from a vehicle or building to indicate information about the vehicle operator or contents of a ...

s in bike messenger association elections, and even in the

2008 United States presidential election Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 4, 2008. The Democratic ticket of Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, and Joe Biden, the senior senator from Delaware, defeated the Republican ticket of John Mc ...

. Author Amy Walker advocates using spoke cards as advertising fliers, however, this can be controversial since many cyclists do not appreciate strangers touching their bicycles, and spoke cards end up easily as litter on the streets. Bike Index, a bike registration service, provides instructions for printing spoke cards with QR codes that contain information about the particular bicycle and its registration."Spoke cards."
''Bike Index'' (retrieved February 16, 2014)

References

{{Reflist

External links

Gallery of spoke cards
Cycling equipment Paper products Visual arts genres DIY culture Trading cards Playing cards