Bicycling (about 1887) by Hy Sandham. The Golden Age of Bicycles Historians call the 1890s the Golden Age of Bicycles because of their great popularity in those years. At that time they were so popular that bicycle clubs for both men and women opened in Great Britain and in the United States. There were 2,000 bicycle clubs in Victorian 1 Britain with about one million members. During the late Victorian Age people were becoming interested in sports, and cycling was a cheap and fun sport. Bicycles were used to 1. Victorian :duringthetimeofqueenvictoria(1837-1901). 31
go to work and to go out at weekends into the clean air of the countryside. The bicycle caused changes in the social life of Great Britain, because even the working class could travel for pleasure quickly and cheaply. This was a new kind of freedom for many people. The famous British author H. G. Wells wrote a comic novel, The Wheels of Chance (1897), about a young man and woman who meet during a bicycle trip in England. The bicycle was not the result of a single invention; it was the result of several different ideas and inventions. It took many years to produce a bicycle that was safe and comfortable. Whose idea was it? In 1817 a German called Karl Drais invented the running machine : a twowheeled machine which was pushed along with the feet called the draisine. It was made of metal and wood. The draisine also called a velocipede was introduced in Great Britain in 1818 and was quite expensive. Only members of the nobility and the rich could afford to buy one. The Draisine or Celeripede in a drawing of 1869. 32
The modern bicycle of Pierre Michaux (1869). In 1839 a Scot named Kirkpatrick Macmillan designed a kind of new wooden bicycle with pedals, 2 but it weighed almost 25 kilogrammes and was uncomfortable to ride. About 1864 two Frenchmen, Pierre Michaux and his son Ernest, built a bicycle with pedals attached to the front wheel, which was easier to ride. Soon Michaux and his son opened the first bicycle company; it produced two hundred bicycles with pedals each month in Paris. Soon more than one hundred bicycle companies opened all over France. At the same time another Frenchman, Pierre Lallement, was also working on a bicycle with pedals and went to America to present his ideas. The popularity of the bicycle spread 3 to the United States, particularly to East Coast cities like New York, where the first cycling paper The Velocipedist was published. Bicycle production in Britain began in 1868 and by 1874 the city of Coventry was the centre of the bicycle industry. 2. pedals : 3. spread :(here)movedquickly. 33
A lady and a gentleman riding penny-farthing bicycles (1874). The high-wheeler was introduced in England in 1873. It had a huge front wheel which made the bicycle go faster and farther, but it was unsafe and difficult to ride. By the 1890s people didn t like the highwheeler and called it the penny-farthing because the front wheel was compared to the large British penny 4 and the back wheel to the much smaller farthing (quarter-penny). 4. British penny : 34
The Safety Bicycle In 1885 the Englishman John Starley invented a new frame 5 for the bicycle which made it stronger, lighter and safer. Starley s bicycle was called the Rover Safety Bicycle and Cycling magazine said that the Rover had set the pattern to the world, a phrase that was used in Rover s advertising for many years. Starley not only improved the shape of the bicycle with the new frame, but also improved the wheels. The final improvement was the air-filled rubber tyre, 6 also called the pneumatic tyre, introduced in 1889, which was the invention of a Scottish doctor, John Boyd Dunlop. This new kind of tyre made riding much smoother. The new safety bicycle was an immediate success and was sold around the world. Advertising poster for the Rover Safety Bicycle (about 1888). 5. frame :themetalbodyofabicycle. 6. tyre : 35
Society ladies cycling in Hyde Park, London (1896). Other manufacturers copied Starley s design and hundreds of bicycle factories opened in Britain, the United States and Europe. In 1895 more than 800,000 bicycles were produced in Great Britain, where the bicycle was extremely popular. Posters advertising different kinds of bicycles were seen everywhere. The tandem bicycle or bicycle built for two also became very popular during the 1890s. 36
Women and the bicycle As the bicycle became safer and cheaper more women bought one because it gave them greater personal freedom and a cheap means of transport. The bicycle became the symbol of the new woman of the late 19th century in Great Britain and the United States. Since it was difficult to ride a bicycle with the traditional clothes of the late 19th century, many women dressed in bloomers 7 when they went riding. Bloomers were, of course, shocking to 19th century society but they slowly became popular because they were comfortable and perfect for riding. 1 Comprehension check Answer the following questions. 1 Why were bicycles so popular in Victorian Britain? 2 What was the draisine? 3 What did Pierre and Ernest Michaux do? 4 Why was the city of Coventry important? 5 Describe the penny-farthing. 6 How was John Starley s bicycle different from others? 7 Why did John Dunlop s new tyre change the bicycle ride? 8 How did the bicycle affect women of the 19th century? 2 Discussion Discuss the following questions. 1 Can you think of another cheap form of transport which has revolutionized society? 2 Has it made a difference in your life? If so, how? 7. bloomers : 37