Page 19 - PBCOctober2012

Pickwick Bicycle Club Magazine. Volume 9 No.3 October 2012 19

Extracts from “The Boys Own Paper” 1880

BICYCLISTS AND BICYCLING

7 – Past and Present

In the summer of 1867, English tourists returning from the International Exhibition then being held
in Paris brought back accounts of an extraordinary species of velocipede, which was then to be
seen in considerable numbers on the boulevards of the gay capital.

The writer well remembers how a relative of his described to him his astonishment at seeing a
man mounted on a velocipede consisting of only two wheels, one behind the other, and propelling
the machine at a good rate without any visible means of support.
The novelty was soon imported into England, and during the early part of 1868 Mr. Mayall, the
well-known photographer, succeeded in riding one of these bicycles, as the new invention was
called, from London to Brighton, the time taken on the journey being about twelve hours – a
remarkable contrast to the present day, when the same distance has been covered in three hours
and a half.

The labour of driving one of the old-fashioned bicycles was enormous. Owing to the position of
the saddle, it was impossible to apply the driving power properly, and the iron tyre giving no hold
on the roadway made it equally impossible to drive the machine up hill. Bicycles were also so
badly made that twelve miles on an ordinary turnpike road would have knocked them to pieces.
Accordingly, it is not surprising that, after the novelty had worn away, bicycling, for a time, fell into
disrepute.

Bicycles at that time were looked upon more as toys, to be ridden about in a covered ground,
than the great means of locomotion they have since become. The idea of bicycling had in it,
however, too much practical value to be thrown aside. Inventive minds were at work; the old iron
tyres were discarded, and rubber ones substituted. The old wooden spokes gave way to steel;
Mr. Starley, of Coventry, invented the step, which invention, though apparently trifling, tended
much to increase the popularity of bicycling, for hitherto riders had been compelled either to mount
in an ignominious manner with the help of a friendly kerbstone, or else to vault into the saddle,
which, to people with rather weak nerves, was a somewhat trying operation. So by degrees the
bicycle began to assume its modern shape.

In 1871 the first race for the Amateur Bicycle Championship was held at Lillie Bridge. The distance
was four miles, and the time sixteen minutes, twenty-five seconds. This was considered a
wonderful performance at the time. Last year the same distance was covered under thirteen
minutes. The Championship Race in 1871 was won by Mr. H P Whiting, who was again victorious
in 1873. The distance was the same, and the time on this occasion fourteen minutes thirty-five
seconds, thus showing a great improvement.