Safety bicycle

“ The possibilities are always against us. If we step out of doors, we take chances; if we go to bed for safety, people have died in bed. Reasonable care having been used, we must trust the chances, which always expose to mishap and always give the weight of probability to the side of immunity. The most dangerous break on a bicycle is a break of frame—for example, while fracture of one side of the front fork will probably permit escape, a complete snap of fork crown or stem will almost certainly cause the rider to dive for the ground. ”

“ There are various claimants to the credit of introducing the first rear driven safety bicycle, where the wheels were practically of equal size and the gearing up of the driven wheel being effected by a pair of chain wheels and a chain. ”

“ On almost all of these safety bicycles the rider is better placed than on the unmodified bicycle, but though safer, I do not think bicyclists find them complete in speed, though, no doubt, they are superior in that respect to the tricycle. Though they do not allow the rider to stop without dismounting, the fatigue resulting from this cause is less than it is with a bicycle, owing to the fact that with the small machines the rider has so small a distance to climb. ”

“ The safety bicycle, with pneumatic tires, rendered cycling universally popular, not merely as a pastime but as a convenient means of locomotion for everyday use. Made with a drop-frame, it also enabled women to cycle without being confined to a heavy tricycle or compelled to assume “rational dress.” In consequence there was an enormous expansion in the cycle industry. In England the demand for machines had become so great by 1895 that the makers were unable to cope with it. ”

“ From the days of the Humber Cripper tricycle this type of machine has advanced along very similar lines to the safety bicycle. Gradually the size of steering wheels increased, and driving wheels, once about 44 ins., decreased till they became all one size, 28 ins., then 26 ins., where they remain to-day. The side elevation of a modern tricycle is exactly the same as a safety bicycle, and the weight of the road racing tricycle is sometimes no more than an average roadster safety. ”

“ It is scarcely necessary to explain the construction of the bicycle intended for ladies’ use; suffice it to say, that a modern Rover Safety is used in which the backbone drops down to a level with the cranks, and the rider can step between the wheels and rise into the saddle by the pedal mount; not a difficult task, to judge from the grace and ease with which women accomplish the feat every day. ”

“ The subject of side-slip is one of the greatest interest to all motor cyclists, and the position of the motor has been variously located, with a view of minimising its occurrence. It is generally acknowledged that motor bicycles are more prone to dangerous side-slips than are ordinary leg-propelled cycles. On a slippery road with the ordinary bicycle there is only the rider and the bicycle in question, but in the case of the motor bicycle the engine makes its presence felt, lessening that instantaneous and automatic control so essential for safety. ”

“ I now come to the usual complaint about the bicycle. There is a fashion just now to call it dangerous and the tricycle safe. But the difference in safety has been much exaggerated. The bicyclist is more likely to suffer from striking a stone than his friend on three wheels, but then he should not strike one where the tricyclist would strike a dozen. Properly ridden, neither class of machine can be considered dangerous; an accident should never happen except it be due to the action of others. ”

“ Roads must be, indeed, in a dreadful condition if space for one wheel to be driven easily over them cannot be found. The bicyclist can scorch in triumph along the tiniest footpath, while the tricyclist trudges on foot, pushing her three wheels through the mud or sand. Moreover, there is less resistance to the wind, and in touring, it is far easier to dispose of the small light safety than of the wider machine when you put up in a little inn at night, or are forced for a time to take the train. Many a night in Germany, Austria, and Hungary did my bicycle share my bedroom with me. ”

“ The position of the rider on a bicycle, with respect to the treadles, is by no means good, for if he is placed sufficiently far forward to be able to employ his weight to advantage without bending himself double, he will be in so critical a position that a mere touch will send him over the handles. He has, therefore, to balance stability and safety against comfort and power; the more forward he is, the more furiously he can drive his machine, and the less does he suffer from friction and the shaking of the little wheel ”

“ Consequently all cyclists are indebted to the man whose happy thought it was to combine the two, and who had the skill to do it. An instrument can now be had which will at one and the same time register time and distance.
Something new which will surely find favor with bicycle riders is a simple coupling apparatus by means of which any two safety bicycles may be converted into a tandem. ”

“ Bicycling also is exposed, as a public sport, to the same reproaches on both sides of the Atlantic. The bad roads of America prevented the spread of wheeling so long as the old high bicycle was the type, but the practice has assumed enormous proportions since the invention of the pneumatic-tired "safety." The League of American Wheelmen has done much to improve the country roads. The lady's bicycle was invented in the United States, and there are, perhaps, more lady riders in proportion in that country than in any other. ”

“ The liability of accident appears to be at a minimum, and the questions connected with the cheapness of construction, the economy in operation, the great speed of trains, and the comfort and safety of travel, appear to be entirely solved by the employment of the Bicycle system. ”

“ Soon the boneshaker became a bicycle with a tall front and a small back wheel, and the first effective attempt to cope with the danger from headers thereupon consequent was comprised in Singer's Safety, the invention of Mr. Lawson in 1878. The identical machine here represented was made for Viscount Sherbrooke—then Mr. Robert Lowe—who, as a rider of the
The bi-tricycle. original dandy-horse, is perhaps the oldest cyclist now alive. It was driven by cranks upon the hind wheel, actuated by pedals, bent levers, and connecting rods. ”

“ Boys on bicycles become extremely careless and fool-hardy. They cut in front of rapidly moving cars and weave from one side of the roadway to the other. They dart in from behind a parked car or from a side street. When moving not straight along the wheels are always likely to slip on wet spots in the pavement or catch in the flangeway of the street-car tracks.
The bicycle is in itself a very useful machine and, perhaps, the most economical vehicle built. ”

“ Here is the first place where a bicycle begins to lose its usefulness. If the bearings are worn, either from use or lack of care in keeping dirt out, the wheel will never again run easily. Next look closely at the pedals, not only at the bearings in them, but at the condition of them generally. They get a large amount of wear and tear, and they strike obstacles which come in the way of the bicyclist more often than any other part of the wheel. ”

“ When you are riding along level ground, and do not touch the "brake," the gear is at 80. Soon you come to a hill. Then by pulling the "brake" handle up half-way the gear of the wheel is changed from 80 to 60, and thus you can go up hill, slower, to be sure, but much easier. After reaching the top of the hill you pull this rod up close to the handle-bar of the wheel, and the gearing is thrown off entirely, so that the bicycle will coast down hill without turning the cranks. Of course the rider can keep his feet on the pedals all the time. ”

“ If going up hill be exhausting, why, then it is wise to walk. Going down, if the hill be long, the brake must be used from the start, and to know how to back-pedal is important. To back-pedal is to press on the pedal when it is coming up instead of when it is going down. Nothing could be more dangerous than to lose control of a machine on a down grade. Some of the most serious accidents have been the result of the rider's letting her cycle run away with her in coasting.
I have enumerated the virtues of the bicycle. ”

“ A favorable place for a bicycle is along a railroad track—going in the centre or at one side. When suddenly attacked, my men can get out of the road like a covey of quail, and a bicycle can be trundled across the worst possible country as fast as a man can travel, for you see all the weight of the man’s gun and pack are on the wheel, which runs without any appreciable resistance, and all bike men know how to throw a bicycle over a [237] fence with ease, and my average march is eighty miles a day. Ladigo, remember—eighty miles a day. ”

“ Look! If some one hasn’t been up here on a bicycle I miss my guess!”
“A bicycle!” exclaimed Bob. “Do you mean to say that the robbers rode a bicycle up here?”
“There are the marks of the rubber tires plain enough,” replied Jerry, pointing to them.
“That’s no bicycle track!” declared Ned.
“Why not?” the tall lad wanted to know.
“Or, if it is, the fellow rode on one wheel, or else is more expert than anyone I ever saw. See, there’s only one straight mark, and the best rider in the world turns his front wheel every now and then, making a separate track from the rear one. That’s no bicycle mark.” ”

“ Perhaps an engineer enamoured of his engine can understand the love of a cyclist for his wheel.
[289]
The people around the Garfield Park Loop were beginning to get impatient. Most of them had stood for two hours holding their bicycles, and even a well behaved bicycle is an awkward possession in a crowd. Pedals scraped the shins of utterly strange riders, handle-bars got tangled in watch-guards, and front wheels got into mischief with unpleasant regularity. ”

“ The introduction of the bevel-geared cycle, with its neat gear case, has done much and will do more toward enforcing the necessity for a gear case on all of our chain-driven cycles. In England no bicycle is considered complete without a gear case, but, notwithstanding the fact that all the authorities on the sport and mechanics of the trade of this country have approved of it, not until this season has it gained a foothold here. ”

“ This bicycle will be of great practical service if its machinery is solid and durable, for there are many bad places along a country road where a change of twenty in the gearing would save a large amount of strength in the total of a day's work, and at the same time, on level ground, much more distance can be covered by changing back to eighty. Then also with the ability to keep your feet on the pedals, you can feel sure of not losing the control of the machine when coasting. ”

“ In the present type the driving axle is a third, independent of the wheels, and the wheel hubs are either turned from the solid steel bar or drop-forged from steel, or formed from steel tube, the “bike metal” casting being kept very quiet in this as in other portions, or else reserved for the people who suggest that the cheapest way to procure a bicycle is to buy ready made parts and “build” one’s own. ”

“ With a light bicycle that can be lifted over small obstructions, an expert could go almost anywhere that it would be practicable to take a horse, and when you consider how much easier it would be to conceal your cycle, in case a little excursion on foot were necessary, and how much less danger there would be when no provender or shelter is required for the steed, certainly the idea is feasible. ”

“ Usually he or she came back, but at times, when the accident was serious, Bert or Grubb had to go out and fetch the machine home. Hire was always charged up to the hour of return to the shop and deducted from the deposit. It was rare that a bicycle started out from their hands in a state of pedantic efficiency. Romantic possibilities of accident lurked in the worn thread of the screw that adjusted the saddle, in the precarious pedals, in the loose-knit chain, in the handle-bars, above all in the brakes and tyres. ”

“ This machine was possible for young and active men and even they were likely to take a “header” when the wheel struck some unexpected obstruction in the road. It was now that Mr. Kiser and other manufacturers set themselves seriously to devise a bicycle that should be convenient, comfortable, and safe, for women as well as for men. ”

“ If your machine does escape from your control, throw your legs over the handles, and "coast," as you are less liable to get a bad fall while in this position than in any other.
Keep to the right of the road as much as possible. Always keep to the right when you meet a team, foot-passenger, or other bicycle, and in overtaking any of these always pass to the left. Dismount and walk past any horse that becomes frightened at your bicycle.
Always carry a light when riding at night. ”

“ This, of course, necessitates a great many joints, and as joints of thin material, whether sheet metal or celluloid, cannot be perfectly made to exclude dust and driving rains, and as such joints are always more or less noisy when a bicycle is in use, they are not even yet satisfied with the gear case, but realize its great usefulness, even when only partially efficient, so that it has become a fixture on nearly every English wheel. ”

“ The irritating thing was that each side of this detestable road were wide belts of inviting grass, but with malignant ingenuity these are cut up at frequent intervals by oblique drainage gutters, which forbid the passage of anything wider than a bicycle. For bicycles there are indeed special tracks kept in order by the Touring Club de France, but all four-wheeled vehicles must jolt and bump along the rough, uneven stones. By the time we reached the first cross-road Aunt Mary begged for mercy, and I was glad to have the order to get off the pavé at any cost. ”