The "Bicycle of the Future" (of 1897)

A short piece looks at the "bicycle of the future" published in the Washington DC Evening Star, August 14, 1897. I have reproduced here just parts of the article, which speculates on what will be the "radical" changes in the design of the then-named safety bicycle (essentially the same basic bike design used today). After a ten year period of introducing and perfecting this design, including the introduction of pneumatic tires, it was apparently assumed that there would continue to be innovations of similar significance.

By many it is predicted that the bicycle of the future will be a radical departure from the wheel of today. As near perfect as the wheel of today may be, it is not so perfect that improvements cannot be made in it. This has been the invariable rule of mechanics, and the bicycle can hardly prove an exception. Stimulated by the demand of the public for something better, the manufacturers will endeavor to put an article on the market to meet the popular taste. As it seems at present, there is no need for any improvement, yet there are many who are demanding something unique and novel in the line of bicycle construction, and the manufacturers find it a lucrative investment to gratify the whims of this class.

Arguably the most significant statement is at the end - the market for bicycles at the then prevailing prices was apparently satisfied, so the manufacturers were hoping that some new enhancement would allow them to sell new and (literally) improved bicycles even to persons who already had one but would feel a need to have a new one that was clearly better.

The diamond frame has been recognized as the strongest combination that could be made for bicycle construction. It has stood the test well, but now the demand is for something different. Accordingly, the triangle or pyramid, frame wheel has made its appearance. It may be several years ahead of its day, as popular fancy has not taken to that style of construction as yet. This is only one of the most prominent departures from the present style of bicycle frames. There are innumerable designs on the market, but they are either lacking in some qualities, or else do not equal the present style in weight, and are therefore objectionable to riders. No cyclist is going back to a thirty-pound wheel after having pushed a twenty-pound or twenty-two pound wheel for several years. It would be a foolish move, indeed.

"Triangle" frame design - failed to attract interest

Within the past three or four years there have been no improvements in the general design of the bicycle. The improvements that have been made are mostly in the line of detail, though In this direction some wonderful strides have been made. The number of changes in this direction are too many to mention here. The weight of the wheel has been reduced to a point undreamed of four or five years ago, until The Friction Ch. today the factor of safety Is the smallest known in mechanical construction. The tires have been wonderfully improved upon, and the matter of repair brought into the hands of all riders.

The tread has been brought down to a scientific basis. The bearings have been made as near perfect as is possible, though it is admitted by all bicycle experts there is plenty of room for improvement yet. The bearings have also been made as near dust proof as possible, while arrangements for the chain adjustment have been patented by a number of people. The cranks and sprockets have been brought down to a scientific basis also, and innumerable other smaller details have been looked after. all tending to produce the bicycle of today. If one make of wheel had all the improvements on it we would have a model bicycle, but as it is the improvements are scattered over a number of different makes and as a result no particular wheel is perfect.

Cog-based drive system to replace chain - never caught on

The article goes on to suggest that a likely place for innovation would be to replace the chain with some other kind of "chainless" drive system, although the article dismisses shaft-drive approaches (which were marketed by a number of companies and still exist today) in favor of exotic approaches like the cog-based approach shown above, even as it admits that this system has some drawbacks.

Somewhat oddly, on this same page in the next column over from where this article appears, in a collection of short items called "Cycling Chat", a Professor Carpenter from Cornell University is quoted saying, "no better power conveyor can be found than the chain that is today in use on the bicycle" - he discounts the greater efficiency from chainless systems.

(The next post takes a further look at the "bicycle of the future" as described in 1901.)

Bike Train Commuting?

Voice of America decides to report on a bike commuter innovation in L.A.

Voice of America, the "official external broadcast institution" of the United States, has an article (along with the video, above) about a way to make car-centric Los Angeles better for bicycle commuters.

To make cycling safer, some bicyclists in Los Angeles, who live and work near each other, are commuting together in what's called a “bike train.”

“You’re a big enough group that cars don’t have the same behaviors as if you are just one person," said Nona Varnado, who co-founded L.A. Bike Trains. "And you’re also with an experienced cyclist.”

L.A. Bike Trains launched in May 2013 and the number of participants and routes around the city has been growing.

“We specifically design each route so we avoid problem intersections,” Varnado said.

This has been going on since May 2013; it is described more fully on the L.A. Biketrain site.

"DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES - When it comes to riding a bicycle, especially on city streets, the rule of safety in numbers applies. A group of cyclists pedaling at the same pace is simply more visible to car drivers. There’s another plus about riding in a group: It’s more fun.

I understand the concept but I think this is arguably a misapplication of the idea that there is "safety in numbers" with urban cycling. As cycling grows in a particular city or area, motorists get used to seeing more cyclists and interacting with them more successfully (that is, less dangerously for the cyclists). It appears there is some kind of threshold for this - it doesn't happen until you get enough cyclists out on the streets as a presence. The "bike trains" may be more people out riding (which is good) but it also presents motorists with something on the roads that they almost certainly don't like and won't know how to interact with, bicycles in a group - so that aspect seems more problematic. The statement, "cars don't have the same behaviors as if you are just one person" seems correct from my experience, but in the wrong way - motorists here seem much more inclined to get really annoyed with a group of cyclists riding in some way that they don't like than with just one. They can almost always easily figure out how to get around one.

Another problem from my personal perspective is that bicycle commuting is a delightfully independent activity, and to be part of a "bike train" you have to be on a schedule that syncs with the train's and so on. Perhaps I come at bicycle commuting all wrong, but being part of an organized "train" would take away much of the appeal.

On the other hand, whatever works? Sure.


This sort of group ride looks more pleasant and functional than trying to manage a commute as part of a group

Two Wheels North: Bicycling the West Coast in 1909 - Book Review

Two Wheels North: Bicycling the West Coast in 1909 by Evelyn McDaniel Gibb

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I have a blog about cycling history and although my main interest is the 1890s, this book about two young men traveling up the west coast from Santa Rosa California to Seattle to visit the Alaska-Yukon Exposition in 1909 was both enjoyable to read and informative in its providing some sense of the obstacles to this kind of long distance cycling at that time.

The text is a first-person narrative written by the daughter of one of the two men, based on her father's description of the trip as well as post cards sent both home and to a newspaper that published updates about their travels. This historian's blog post gives a good summary of the book's contents.

As someone interested in cycling history, I was pleased to read a book that included enough description of the bicycle-related aspects of their trip. For example, they paid to have someone weld racks much like those used to hold panniers on cycles today to their bike frames in order to carry some of their baggage - although generally they traveled very light. One understands quickly why their trip was considered so unusual - the road conditions were varied but often very poor, and they ended up walking about 200 of the 1,000 miles they traveled (measured by an odometer fixed to one of the bikes). While there were macadam roads in some towns, most roads were dirt or gravel (which might be rolled gravel which was better but often not) and "corduroy" log roads and even a road made from corn stalks. Long distance travel in this part of the world was supported at this time by the railroads, not the road system.

At first it seemed surprising that they felt pressed for time when they had six weeks to go only 1,000 miles, but this was not a bike trip where there were any 100 mile days, given the road conditions in particular. In addition, they stopped from time to time to take on day jobs to earn more money to continue their trip, since they left with only about five dollars cash - apparently at this time it was generally not a problem to find such work.

One might wonder about the attraction of the Alaska-Yukon Exposition for two fellows in California - apparently the publicity across the U.S. was very well organized, and it was expected to include what would then have been exotic exhibits from Hawaii, Japan, and Alaska (among others). The site of the exhibit and some of the buildings then became the main campus of the University of Washington (where I went to school). A number of photograph books of the exhibit were published and are available today online, such as Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition or this Souvenir Guide for visitors.



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Bikenomics - Book Review

Bikenomics: How Bicycling Can Save the Economy by Elly Blue

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Elly Blue is a columnist for BikePortland.org and well qualified to write a book about cycling's impact on society. I suppose the rationale for the title's focus on the economic benefits of more cycling is because that is what we are all supposed to care about these days, but the twelve chapters provide something more like a reader or introduction to the main social issues of increasing use of bicycles in America, from "asphalt bubble" to "whose streets?"

As with most advocacy texts of this sort, the author's intense expressed enthusiasm for her position suggests to me that few cycling opponents would have any interest in reading this, so there may be a "preaching to the choir" problem. My public library purchased several copies (and presumably others did too); perhaps some folks who are in the middle or open to learning about the topic will consult it.

At least for me, it hasn't been easy to find books on "cycling policy" that make for engrossing reading. I certainly didn't sit down and read this from cover to cover - eventually I read about half of it, jumping around. I knew some of what was described, but I learned a few things, too.



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Limits of Cold Weather Commuting

As in, my limits. Well, my limits and the limits of my cycling equipment.


My ice commuter, for better or worse

Today was the second day I rode back and forth the ten miles between my house and Capitol Hill with the trails pretty icy and in reasonably cold weather, particularly in the morning. In my years of commuting in more or less all weather, it is fairly unusual to have sustained cold such that the trail conditions didn't change that much between two days. In a few places some salt had cleared areas, but it was not like the second day was a huge improvement. (Mostly the trails are not treated.)

This morning it was cold, for here at least, at around 12-14 F - around -10 C. It was colder than yesterday and since it took me over an hour to get to work, my fingers were starting to get cold on one hand - but overall my cold weather biking clothes work OK at least down to this temp. But I need to keep moving, spinning, to maintain my warmth.

The bigger problem is with my bike and my fitness (my "fitness" in the broader sense of being physically ready for such an endeavor). The bike is an old Giant that I have only ridden in the last few years when I want to take advantage of the studded tires I have mounted on it, and that's it. The bike could use some adjustments. The rear brakes in particular don't work well in these conditions and of course when it is slick the front brake can't be used (much) without instantly causing a crash so the poor rear brake performance isn't helpful at all. (I should fix that!) The 1.95 inch wide tires with the studs are lovely for traction when the surface is mostly flat/smooth but if there is accumulated snow or snow+ice they have a terrific amount of road (or I guess snow) resistance - the width isn't helpful.

But it does work. Two days running I rode back and forth on a lot of slick surfaces and didn't fall once. And I got back and forth.


The Gravelly Point area of the Mount Vernon Trail; another riding north as I head south

I don't see too many other riders on the trail on a day like this. Today I saw two riders coming the other way on my ride home (total) - one was a commuter and the other fellow just seemed to be out enjoying the fun to be had. The photo above shows the commuter I saw, chugging along. He did not, I think, have studded tires - he was riding a cyclocross sort of 700 size tire bike and was hugging the right edge of the trail. I am familiar with this approach - basically you stay away from where other riders have been riding and especially stay away from icy sections. The narrow tires cut through the snow OK and you have traction but it very tiring to maintain this kind of straight-ish line.

My approach with the wide mountain bike tires is to stick to the middle where the snow is pounded flat and where there is compacted snow on ice and try to skirt as much of the clear ice as I can. The studded tires will allow some riding on clear ice, but you can't brake or steer (much). And sometimes you hit a bump and the bike simple slides. The studs aren't a perfect solution.

It's an adventure (or something like one, for me) but I'm glad to have the weekend now to rest up. I don't know if I could do more than two days running of this. I was unhappy this morning to pass a guy walking his bike on the Mount Vernon Trail near the airport, on one of the bridges - he had a very nice bike, but apparently was having no luck staying upright. He didn't look like he was dressed as warmly as me, and walking . . . I didn't have anything to help him with this problem, so I just kept going.


A snow-bike patent for a set of attachments from 1900 - but my problem was ice, alas

I have a sort of cyclocross bike that is presently out of commission with disk brakes - I should get some studded tires for that thing when they are on sale so I have a bike to ride in this kind of weather with working brakes and have narrower tires to cut through snow. For next year. Yeah.

My Cool Bike - Book Review

My Cool Bike: An Inspirational Guide to Bikes and Bike Culture by Chris Haddon

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


150-plus pages of photographs of a very wide variety of interesting ("cool") bikes with enough text describing their owners and/or history - what's not to like?

I suppose there is a certain prevailing hipster sensibility to the choices, but in a very broad sense. The only type of bicycle clearly excluded by design is that of modern racing bicycles - well, really modern mass produce bikes "for the masses" of all kinds, I suppose. Mass production bicycles from the past are included where they have been adapted for modern use in some way but otherwise the emphasis is more on bikes made in limited number for different enthusiast audiences.

The photographs are by Lyndon McNeil who apparently mostly does motor sports and vehicles - the photographs are a good mix of "action" shots and closeups of bicycles sufficient to make out interesting details.

The book was published in England so while there are some bikes from the U.S., the U.K. and Europe are much more heavily represented.

Some sections are almost more about the activities done with the bicycles than about the bicycles - from playing polo to riding around the world. The sub-title references "bike culture" - it appears that there is much variety in what that phrase may mean as there are different types of bicycles, if not more.

A lovely book to page through for the cycling enthusiast.



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Kickstarter Bicycle Proposals - Short /= Good

The idea of Kickstarter is that with a compelling "ask" online a person can get funding for a great idea that would have otherwise been difficult if not impossible for most "regular" people to achieve. It is important to have a good network of online contacts who will use social media to plug your idea on your behalf, but first and foremost a person needs an attractive idea and to present it in a compelling way. While it can be good to be brief, it is possible to be too short.

I know this having bumped into the Bamboo Bicycle Modules Kickstarter proposal.


A minimalistic Kickstarter proposal if there ever was one

In addition to its brevity, another problem with this Kickstarter could be that it doesn't explain very well what it is offering, I suspect. For around 100 years, almost all bicycles frames were somewhat like tinker-toys in that bits of metal tubing where inserted into specially designed "lugs" and welded/brazed together - here the idea is that you substitute (your) bamboo for the tubing and use his special lugs to hold the bamboo together. He also offers some sort of magical way of holding the frame pieces together (that I don't think would work) rather than a traditional jig. And I still am not sure if he means that with his "modules" the bamboo is inserted into the things or if the modules are inserted in the bamboo. I find it puzzling that one is expected to use carbon fiber with the epoxy to hold the materials together. It seems antithetical to the bamboo approach to slather carbon fiber on it to hold it together.


Examples of lugs from the 1890s - available for purchase much like the "bamboo bicycle modules"

This Kickstarter's author seems not to have followed the usual approach of offering various levels of "awards" - his one option, for $600, is to get a set of the modules so you can build your own bamboo bike with them. Where is a T-shirt with a logo and a bamboo bike on it for $25? Where is getting a postcard if you give $1? And so on. While a couple of people have pledged a total of $102 (as of today), neither will receive a "reward." So far not one person has funded at the reward level and the fellow has about two weeks left.

So minimalism doesn't seem to garner good results. Or is it the quality of the proposal? Perhaps both.

If I write any more, my blog post will be longer than the Kickstarter.