Words often abbreviate to their stressed syllables, and occasionally any hard sounds that aren’t strictly stressed also follow through. In bicycle these are the “bi” and the hard second c.
Bi(cy)c(le)
The spelling “bike” is unambiguous* for those sounds, so it’s the one that stuck.
* Well, relatively. If you’re confusedly expecting, say, Greek, you might pronounce those vowels differently.
Words often abbreviate to their stressed syllables, and occasionally any hard sounds that aren’t strictly stressed also follow through. In bicycle these are the “bi” and the hard second c.
Bi(cy)c(le)
The spelling “bike” is unambiguous* for those sounds, so it’s the one that stuck.
* Well, relatively. If you’re confusedly expecting, say, Greek, you might pronounce those vowels differently.