The Encyclopedia of Disney Animated Shorts
Home
Index
Site Map
Search
Contact Us
1999 Index
Previous Page
Next Page
How to Ride a Bicycle

Release Date First television showing : June 19, 1999 (most markets)

Synopsis

Mr. Biker (a.k.a. Goofy) is seized with bicycle race fever... but unfortunately totals his bike. He goes through all the lessons of bike riding, ending once more in his race-fever craze and competing in a high-pressure BMX stadium race.

Characters

Goofy (Voice : Bill Farmer)
Hippo (unnamed)
Narrarator : Corey Burton

Television

Mickey Mouse Works : Season 1 : Episode 8
Mickey Mouse Works : Season 2 : Episode 7a
House of Mouse : "Max's Embarassing Date"

Comments

From Patrick Malone : Another Goofy "how-to" short. Let's hope this is not all their going to do with him, as this particular series has become a little formulaic. Goofy teaches the sport, gets caught up in the big race and ends up winning by happy accident at the end. Yawn ... been there, done that. The hampster bike was kind of funny, though.

From J. D. Weil : This is more like two cartoons packaged as one: The first part is, of course, how to ride a bike. Well, if anyone needed an instuction manual on how to ride a bike, it's Goofy. This is a kind of mechanical remake on "How To Ride a Horse" and it follows that same sort of logic. The second part of the cartoon is the bike race. It seems to me that this part could have been dealt with as a separate short. it would have been a lot funnier. Together, the two parts just don't add up.

From Juan F. Lara : This short didn't have anything different from what we've already seen in classic Goofy shorts. The first half consisted of how-to sketches, and the gags here were O.K. But they repeated the gag of the narrator reading off a list fast four times. I also didn't like the attempts to connect this short to "Motor Mania" ( Mr. Biker and Mr. Racer ). The second half was a Sports Goofy sketch. Jokes like the overview of the racetrack didn't work for me. With the racers going everywhere where was the finish line? Since this short had both a how-to part and a sports part it seemed interminably long.

From Tom : Good, but, the sum of it's parts was much greater then the whole. By that I mean the two halfs, not the individual gags. Both half deserved it's own short.

From Lee Suggs : The best of Goofy's classic cartoons were the How to shorts. (The greatest being the ones on driving.) This return to the form features a number of sight gags on the rules and accessories of bike riding. This part of the short is clever and amusing. We then shift (rather abruptly) to a bike race. This is typical silly Goofy action and it is all just a bit too predictable. Still this was a fun short and the beginning was a nice return the best of the classic Goofy shorts.

I have seen "How to Ride a Bicycle" and would like to
submit a comment on this short