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Entire frame, without any attachment, F, fourth line, F clef; handle-bar Bflat under first ledger line, G clef; a piece of tubing C; brake handle, D; front fork, Eflat; right crank with a portion of attachment to sprocket wheel, Esharp; left crank only, F; handle-bar post, G; saddle post, A; brake-rod with brake, Bflat; sprocket wheel, C; front hub, D; spokes, E on the first line and its octave above; step F; front axle, G.
“The Music of the Bicycle”,
Musical Standard, November 1897
r:B
Robert Burns...as he is known to the pigeons of Dumfries
Since we’re celebrating 250 years of the Bard…this is what I like to think of as his musings on the future lot of bicyclists.
I’m now arrived – thanks to the gods!
Thro’ pathways rough and muddy,
A certain sign that makin roads
Is no this people’s study:
Altho’ I’m not wi’ Scripture cram’d,
I’m sure the Bible says
That heedless sinners shall be damn’d,
Unless they mend their ways.
Robert Burns,
Epigram On Rough Roads, 1786
r:B
“It is a strange fact that the Dutch, among the most bicycle-conscious of Europeans, have the most dangerous bicycles. Equipped only with back-pedal brakes, they leave both hands free to fend off pedestrians and point out landmarks. The Germans share their preference for back-pedal brakes, but they suplement them with an emergency hand brake on the front wheel. This is of the ‘plunger’ type, and stops the bicycle more effectively than the rider; but it is at least a gesture to safety. The Dutch, one assumes, are keen to demonstrate their courage or geography or both.”
– The Times, Monday, July 18, 1955
R:B
“A bicycle made almost entirely of hemp and resin has been constructed at Alesandria, Piedmont Province, Italy. The bicycle weights about 30lbs and can carry a weight up to 240 lbs. It is hoped to use hemp and resin in the manufacture of other mechanical equipment.”
Reuters, Friday, 23rd February 1940
<cough><cough>
<giggle>
<snurk>
R:B
It was pure whim that found me dropping the word “bicycle” into an online thesaurus. I’m not entirely sure what I expected beyond “bike” or “cycle”…
Certainly not this…
R:B
“A League of Pity for the abused bicycle is urgently required, and grievance mongers, who vex their righteous souls in unearthing obscure little wrongs or manufacturing imaginary ones, might profitably spend a little of their time and energies in advocating reform in the treatment of the bicycle, where both reform and redress are a very real and palpable necessity.”
L.A.M.P., “If the bicycle could speak”,
Cycling, 30 June 1900
R:B
“Some regulations of bicycle traffic seem to be most urgently needed. Cyclists are rapidly becoming a grave danger to both foot passengers and vehicles.
“…every cycle should have a tinkling bell continuously sounding. This might be musical, like the sleigh bells. The present spring bell is most alarming when sounded behind a foot passenger. One is just as apt to go right in front of the wheels as to move out of the way. “
from a letter from J. B. to The Scotsman,
Monday 24th September, 1894
The extract above presents an interesting approach to the bicycle bell. I’ve never seen a bicycle with sleigh bells although the idea does have its own peculiar charm, particularly at this time of year.
I recall something that I saw some years ago in Germany which almost fits the bill, a rotary-operated bell which fits to the front fork in the same manner as a bottle dynamo and is switched into contact with the tyre by a trigger mounted on the handlebars.
It is a relatively safe assumption, however, that any bicycle accessory has been around the block at least once before and this is no exception. The following advertisement from an early 20th century Sears Roebuck catalogue offers much the same performance but at a price I imagine would be multiplied at least twentyfold today.
R:B
“One of the little things in cycling which bothers the average rider is the gradual escape of air from new and practically perfect tyres*…
“A French scientist has just discovered a reason for this. Rubber, it appears, is more porous to the oxygen in the air than to its other constituent, nitrogen. The consequence is that all the oxygen of the imprisoned air gradually either leaks out or is absorbed by the rubber, which is said to have quite an appetite for that vital gas. Chemical change is thus proceeding, and the remaining gas is called Azote, and it will not leak through the rubber. It is, therefore, recommended that cyclists should never entirely deflate a tyre if it can be avoided, for the old gas inside the air tube improves with age. Fresh air may be all right for the rider, but it is not good for the tyres.”
“Cycling Notes”, The Derby Mercury,
Wednesday 30th August 1899
* Fortunately, modern butyl inner tubes do not suffer from this problem…
