Classic book of early cycling

The American bicycler: a manual for the observer, the learner, ... predates the "safety bicycle" and describes bicycles with the oversize front wheel and the tiny back wheel as the state-of-the-art. (The so-called "ordinary.") Published in 1879.

The weight of roadsters varies between thirty-five
and sixty pounds, and of racers between twenty and
thirty-five pounds. The diameter of front wheel
ranges from forty to sixty inches, —forty-eight, fifty,
fifty-two, and fifty-four inches being the most com-
mon sizes ; and the wheel is chosen to fit the rider
as pantaloons arc, —according to length of leg, &c.
The whole is made in form and finish, lines and pro-
portions, with a view to comely appearance as well
as utility, and, when mounted by an accomplished
rider, is remarkably handsome.

Sixty pounds! Wow ~
From HathiTrust - digitized by Google at the University of Michigan.