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Pickwick Bicycle Club Magazine. Volume 10 No.3 October 2013

The Boys Own Paper, continued.

To begin with, a good bicycle should possess beauty of appearance. It is not at all an
un-pleasurable sensation to hear bystanders remarking, “That’s a nice-looking machine,” apropos
of one’s bicycle. The handles should be placed as low as possible, the steering should be very
rigid, and bearings, both front and hind wheel, should be the very best procurable, the spokes
should be numerous, not less than fifty to a fifty-two inch wheel, the tyres should be of the best
rubber and indissolubly fixed to the felloe; the spring should be very strong, and yet flexible; and
lastly, the machine must be provided with the amplest break-power. These points will all be found
in a greater or less degree of perfection in the principal makes now being sold.

The price of a first-class bicycle averages about £14 for a machine with a fifty-two-inch driving
wheel – five-shillings an inch, less or more, according to size. If the machine is polished “all bright,”
the charge is higher, £2 being a usual price extra for a burnished machine. Bicycles polished in
this manner look remarkably nice, but they are an infinite trouble to keep clean, and it is not at all
pleasant when caught in a shower to think of the amount of elbow grease that will be required to
restore the bicycle to its pristine brightness on one’s return home.
Bicycles are occasionally electroplated; the extra price is not very great, £4 being the usual addition
to the charge for burnishing; the effect is very fine, and the liability to rust is obviated, a pail of
water and sponge being all that is required to remove any mud or dirt that may have accumulated
in a run.

The finish is, of course, of utmost importance if one is to impress one’s fans !