The recipe for bikeshare was born in Lyon (France) in 2005, in a particularly favorable context which made it possible to offer numerous and almost free public bicycles. A new price standard has thus appeared. The considerable success that followed led hundreds of cities around the world to imitate the Lyon recipe, including Barcelona, Paris (with worldwide repercussions), London, New York, etc. However, the proliferation of bikeshare only very marginally explains the rise of cycling during the 2000-2010s. Because this growth was already very clear everywhere before the arrival of bikeshare. Then bikeshare only had a clear impact on cycling in a few rare cities (Lyon, Paris and Barcelona) and moreover, this impact remained temporary. Because bikeshare are especially popular among the occasional cyclists. The return of cycling in large cities is first due to more coherent journey policies based on traffic calming. Bikeshare can only ever be a backup solution, as the potential of the bicycle is so great. Above all, they are only a palliative (a workaround solution) by not addressing the root causes of cyclists’ problems: access to a bicycle, repair and secure parking. The modal shift from cars to public bicycles is also minimal. Finally, the economic model of bikeshare has perverse effects. The low cost of public bicycles for users discourages them from having their own bicycles and the very high cost of public bicycles for communities, due to the “costs of sharing” (a variety of organizational costs), prevents them from devoting themselves to more effective measures. In other words, the opportunity cost of public bicycles is particularly high.