Get On Your Bikes And Ride! The Greatest Songs About Cycling

With Olympic cycling on our screens, Radio X looks at the best songs about bikes and bikers.

Kraftwerk - Tour De France

The ultimate cycling track - composed in 1983 to soundtrack that year's race, Kraftwerk's Ralf Hutter is a huge cycling enthusiast.

Pink Floyd - Bike

Syd Barrett has a bike, you can ride it if you like. Psychedelic pop whimsy from the early days of the Floyd.

Queen - Bicycle Race

For the video to this track, the band hired a stadium and filled it with dozens of naked ladies on bikes. The 1970s, there.

Turin Brakes - Pain Killer

"Take the pain killer, cycle on your bicycle / Leave all this misery behind."

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Bicycle Song

"How could I forget to mention the bicycle?" asks Anthony Kiedis. Well, he's very fond of his Chopper. (IT'S A BICYCLE).

Hawkwind - Silver Machine

This space rock classic from 1972 wasn't about cosmic travel… it was about riding a racing bike. As sung by Lemmy in his pre-Motorhead days.

The Chemical Brothers - Velodrome

The official theme of the 2012 Olympics cycling events. A bit of a tribute to Kraftwerk, this one.

Shonen Knife - Cycling Is Fun

Well, it is!

Pixies - Tony's Theme

"I got a card in my spokes, I'm practising my jokes, I'm learning!"

The Smiths - This Charming Man

"Punctured bicycle on a hillside desolate…" Well, that's the end of that, then.