Pojo reviewers commented on this card back on February 22, 2002. The apparant default
"No Review Today" for PokePop at the time summed up this card, in my opinion, but let's see if maybe it was too far ahead of its time 11 years ago.
Bicycle--formally Mail From Bill--now lives in a format where you can draw more and search more with less trade off. Juniper, N, and Bianca enable you to draw up to at least 6 (Juniper goes to 7) with the restriction that you cannot use anymmore Supporter cards that turn. From there, you play Hammers, Balls, Catcher, Rare Candy, Tools, and many more. It can be really easy to go from hand size 7 to hand size 1 in mid-turn, so on paper Bicycle looks pretty good. Its predessessor was around at a time where the massive draw we see now was paired with effects like
"you cannot play anymore t/s/s cards this turn." Drawing Mail From Bill was useless after playing a card like Professor Elm which had that t/s/s denial effect. Playing a card like Bicycle after Professor Juniper seems do-able. But
DOES IT REALLY DO THAT?!
We need to consider the review from 11 years ago,
"Draw up to 4? Normally in a game of pokemon, don't you have 4+ cards in your hand? I think so...".
For Mail From Bill, it sat in the shoe box during a time in Modified where hand sizes were generally big (the original review hints at greater than 4 at normal). It was also overshadowed by other cards, like Misty's Wrath and Professor Elm. Our Modified now enables you with big hands that can be easily reduced to smaller ones AND that is the difference.
Back when this card was Mail From Bill, there were playable tools like there are now, various cards with similar effects as the Balls there are now, a version of Pokemon Catcher, cards that shrink your hand, and playable Stadium cards like there are now. However, the current Modified allows those cards to flow together a lot easier. That's why you can go from hand size 7 to hand size 1 mid-turn. With Ultra Ball and now Dowsing Machine, it is easier to dump cards right out of your hand. Although discarding in such a way did exist when this card was Mail From Bill (Misty's Tears, Rocket's Sneak Attack, Secret Mission and Mary for net -1), those methods were not as efficient.
In this format, you can Skyla for Bicycle to get a partial recovery of your diminished hand size too where you would have had to hope to draw into it back in its first incarnation. Yes, there are times you will get stuck with Energy cards you cannot play and Supporters you can't use so I do not think this card is an instant 4 per deck to chain Bicycle. It is more like a 1 or 2 per deck for those cases you can Skyla for it when you don't draw Juniper instead or when you decide not to discard it when playing Ultra Ball
.
In conclusion for this review, in this format, you'll be hearing more "You CAN use this item here."