The "Skate Cycle" for Winter (1896)

A small ad from the December 24 1896 issue of Cycling Life - directed at the cycle business and not end consumers, this company is hoping dealers will sell this innovative approach to getting around in the snow and ice.

I don't think this would work well on snow - the "skate" would sink down and scrape whatever was below. Perhaps more importantly the front wheel spinning must contribute something to keeping the bike upright. And what would the steering be like? Today I rode home after about two inches of snow fell in Washington, about eight miles of snow covered bike trails. It's tiring because of the need to stay balanced as the wheels encounter hardened snow. This looks like it would be much worse.

Bicycle Christmas Ad (1896)

An ad in the December 24 1896 issue of Cycling Life.



I don't understand what this ad is trying to show specifically. Yes, this woman is pleased to have received a bicycle as a gift, but why is it hanging from the ceiling? Is that what it is hanging from? It seems a little odd.

You can see clearly the mesh added to the chain guard and rear fender to keep skirts out of the chain and the rear wheel.

Because Cycling Life is a magazine for "the trade" rather than consumers, it didn't feature too many themed ads of this sort. Below an image of Santa riding a bike taken from a larger ad for E.C. Stearns & Co. of Syracuse.



Full page version of above ad from the December 24, 1896 issue of Cycling Life.

Bicycles Sales in the U.S. South (1896)

A letter to the editor in the December 24 1896 issue of Cycling Life.



The open racism reflected in this "communication" is appalling.

The special want in bicycles for southern states is the subject of the communication given below:

To The Editor— That there is still room at the top in bicycles is particularly true for us in the south, where the color line pevades [sic] everything. If some maker would only make a machine listing at $150 and held at that price so as to keep it strictly at that figure, we, for one firm in the south, would make it our ne plus ultra wheel. Just as the theaters are now empty so far as white people are concerned at all ordinary shows, and crowded even at $2 a seat on special occasions when there will be no people of color in the house, there is every chance that the best classes will soon stop riding bicycles because the negroes are taking to them in great numbers. We claim that the success of the machine which has been sold here considerably higher than a hundred dollars is due to the necessity of providing a mount which the negroes cannot reach financially, and to nothing else.
What we want, however, is a machine of superb finish, distinctive appearance and inflexible price.

Jos. Labadie, Jr., Sec'y,
The Galveston Cycle Co., Inc.
Galveston, Tex., Dec. 16.

$150 for a bicycle was a very high price in those days - the price range I have seen was from somewhere under 50 dollars for lower end models to 100 dollars for top models.