Cycling Fiends of 1894

While searching for information about Annie Londonderry, who rode around the world in 1895, I found the following article that demonstrates that doctors were quite free with their opinions about cycling.

"In my daily wait in Central Park," said Dr. Sayre, "I have been very much struck by the number of young men who ride bicycles in harmful positions. They lean over till their noses almost touch the front wheel, their arms fixed to the handles with the rigity of death, their chests caved in and their backs bent into a semicircle. The girls ride in better positions than the men as a rule, because their feminine self-respect prevents them from making themselves ridiculous."

"I have spoken to several of the young men in the park about it, saying to them: 'Now, my boy, why don't you sit up like that pretty girl." This usually has the effect of making them getting into better positions and also of making them feel uncomfortable."

"They tell me that they stoop because the resistance of the wind is decreased in this position, and they get more purchase on the wheel. But the exercise, if it really necessitates such a position, is worse than useless. The bicyclists should take time, and not be in such a feverish hurry."

From the article "The Cycling Fiends" in the St. Paul Daily Globe, October 22, 1894

Odometer Made More Appealing

Searching for posters and advertising for bicycles from the late 19th century turns up many things. For only a dollar one could have an odometer to keep track of how far one traveled. It isn't clear what year this is from - one notes the rather large number of miles the rider has accumulated. An allusion to Annie Londonderry and her cycling around the world?

Seattle Blog Entry on anti-Bike "Culture"

Analysis of the conflict between the forces of darkness and light, titled Seattle's Socialist War on Driving Cars Gears Up. The title is supposed to be ironic, I guess.

You wouldn't think you'd have to explain that a human-powered, 20-pound, two-wheeled machine is vastly less expensive from every angle than a gas-powered, 4-wheeled car weighing several tons, but again, these are people who--in their rush to banish cyclists from the road, and despite the bumper stickers which spell this out--fail to consider that each bicycle is one less car to clog traffic.

The more interesting part of the blog entry is most people don't have much of a grasp of the relevant laws.

Many people don't know that it is legal to ride your bicycle on a sidewalk in Seattle--at a safe speed, and yielding to pedestrians, not yelling to them--or that cyclists can ride two abreast in the street. Seattle requires you to have a helmet, brakes, and, at night, a white light on the front of your bike with a red reflector on back. Cyclists can use crosswalks, but not heedlessly endanger pedestrians or impede traffic. Cyclists are required to use hand signals. A person in a car can't open their door to traffic (bike or otherwise) in a way that impedes traffic.

Capital Bikeshare Bike Station - Arlington VA

I saw my first Capital Bikeshare bike station this morning and took some photos. This one is in Arlington (Virginia) near Pentagon City. Several bikes were checked out. The whole operation looks pretty slick.



The bikes are fairly nice - I guess there is a three speed internal hub shift. The handlebars have this plastic faring that looks quite perishable with various instructions printed on it. In front of the handlebars is a kind of funky small rack with bungy cord to hold a purse-sized item in place. Somehow a basket would seem more useful.

Book on how Portland got to be Bike Central

New book by Portland's bike program manager explains the twenty year or so process.

Its small chapters outline issues such as the challenges of retrofitting streets with bike lanes, building off-street paths, adopting and enforcing bicycle parking codes and encouraging people to incorporate bicycling into their daily lives. In addition, it describes overcoming obstacles, business opposition and negative media coverage.

Even in Seattle . . .

Seattle article about how even there cyclists are generally described as causing traffic problems in the media. In particular, the new mayor is often called the "bicycling mayor" as if that's a bad thing.

Wheels and Wheeling (1892)

Another book from the Library of Congress collections, digitized by Google, is
Wheels and wheeling: an indispensible handbook for cyclists published in 1892. The modern "safety bicycle" was not dominant at that early point.

The first chapter describes the important "League of American Wheelmen" in rather great detail, followed by an entire chapter about "macadam roads." Finally the history of the bicycle is given and the "copious illustrations" described on the title page begin.

Early forerunners of the (modern) "safety bicycle" are described, such as the "Bicyclette."



The basic modern bicycle is called a "diamond safety."



One senses that the move to the basic modern bicycle had some who resisted - note this "chainless" variant of a "safety bicycle" ~



There are of course mysteries - did the chainless safety (above) have a freewheel of some sort in the front hub? Otherwise why is there a brake for the front wheel - or perhaps the illustration is in error.

And there are ads from different bicycle manufacturers in the front and back.



Amusing description of the pneumatic tires.