In the song, Syd Barrett's lyrical subject shows a girl his bike (which he borrowed); a cloak; a homeless, aging mouse that he calls Gerald; and a clan of gingerbread men, because she "fits in with [his] world". With each repetition of the chorus, a sudden percussive noise is heard similar to the firing of two gunshots. The heavy reverb from these bangs immediately cuts out when the following verse begins. Towards the end of the song, he offers to take her into a "room of musical tunes". The final verse is followed by an instrumental section that is a piece of musique concrète: a noisy collage of oscillators, clocks, gongs, bells, a violin, and other sounds edited with tape techniques, apparently the "other room" spoken of in the song and giving the impression of the turning gears of a bicycle. The ending of the song fades out with a tape loop of geese squawking. The song was written for Barrett's then girlfriend, Jenny Spires. She is also mentioned as "Jennifer Gentle" in the song "Lucifer Sam", which is also on The Piper at the Gates of Dawn.
The song also appears on two Pink Floyd compilation albums: Relics (1971) and Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd (2001);[5] it serves as the closing track on both albums.
P-Model covered the song for their 1984 album Another Game.[6] The lyrics were adapted by bandleader Susumu Hirasawa, who focused on Japanese lyrics that sounded similar to the English version rather than a direct translation, turning it into a parodic version. It features a toy piano sound played by a Yamaha DX7.
Phish has performed this song at (to date, Nov. 2023) 42 of their shows, often with drummer Jon Fishman playing a baby blue Electrolux vacuum cleaner.[8]
The song was played by Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets in 2018.[9] "The interesting thing is how complex Syd's writing was," Mason observed. "I think we'd all agree that one of the most challenging songs is 'Bike', which has a very curious feel."[10]
