Bike Snob - Anonymous [4]
But what happened soon after this put cycling over the top, and it’s the reason I don’t go by the name of “PennyFarthingSnobNYC.” No, I’m not talking about Grover Cleveland’s inauguration. I’m talking about the invention of the “safety bicycle.” The safety bicycle was invented by John Kemp Starley, who just happened to be James Starley’s nephew, and the name of the bike came from the fact you no longer had to perch yourself atop that giant front wheel. The safety bicycle used a chain drive, and the size of the cogs determined the speed of the bicycle. This meant that you could not only use wheels of the same size, but those wheels could also be reasonably sized—like, not taller than you. The bicycle was now easy to ride. It handled well. And once Dunlop started making pneumatic tires a few years later, it rode smoothly too. Everything came together. Essentially, the safety bicycle with pneumatic tires is the same thing we’re all riding today. Sure, our bikes are a lot more refined now, but the idea is the same. For the most part, by 1887 they’d nailed it.
Once the safety bicycle “dropped,” cycling absolutely exploded. It was the thing to do. Most cyclists, and even many non-cyclists, are aware that professional cycling was once an extremely popular sport in the United States. In fact, at the turn of the previous century, if you went to Madison Square Garden in New York City, you didn’t go to watch a basketball game—you went to watch the bike races. That’s because Madison Square Garden was a velodrome, and it was a hot ticket. You’d probably put on your best tweed knickers, wax up your mustache, and have yourself a gay old time. But not a lot of people realize just how popular cycling was with people as an activity as well as a spectator sport. They were all over it. I’m sure that before the bicycle came along people didn’t have much to do except walk around in parks with parasols or maybe play croquet. Sure, there was equestrianism, but that took a lot of money. It also took land, and if you lived in the city and didn’t have a country estate you couldn’t exactly keep a horse in your living room. So once the safety bike came on the scene and gave people a chance to explore the countryside in speed and comfort, people jumped on cycling faster than a cat jumps on a counter when you open a can of tuna.
Cycling went from being a novelty and a craze for society folk to a lifestyle. By the latter part of the 1890s, people were riding fast and far. In fact, there were cycling clubs, rides, and races everywhere. “Runs” and “centuries,” organized by the local “wheelmen” in whatever town you lived in, happened every weekend. The New York Times regularly published “Gossip of the Cyclers,” which announced rides and race results as well as reported on general cycling matters.
GOSSIP OF THE CYCLERS
Brooklyn Bridge Trustees Are Considering Plans
for a Cycle Path Over That Structure.
NONE WHOLLY SATISFACTORY
The English Aristocracy Is Fond of Cycling, and Women of Rank Ride—Prince of Wales Set the Fashion—A Naughty Donkey Suppressed.
In looking forward to the time when wheeling across the Brooklyn Bridge will be difficult, if not dangerous, because of the trolley lines now being laid upon the two driveways, it is gratifying to know that President Berri and Chief Engineer and Superintendent Martin are contemplating the erection of a cycle path for the exclusive use of wheelmen and wheelwomen. They acknowledge that it may not be constructed immediately, but until recently cyclists were in doubt if their convenience and safety would ever receive recognition from the Bridge Trustees.
Superintendent Martin is a wheelman himself, and on a recent morning trip had the perils of a cycle trip across