but it appears that the credit for its practical and commercial
introduction in substantially its present form is due to J. K.
Starley in England. His “Rover” (fig. 10), brought out late
in 1885, had two nearly equal wheels, the driving wheel 30 in.
in diameter and the steering 32 in., and the rider sat so far back
that he could not be thrown forward over the handles. The
motion imparted by the
pedals to a sprocket wheel
mounted between the wheels
was transmitted by an endless
chain to the rear wheel,
and by sufficiently increasing
the size of this sprocket
wheel the machine could be
made to travel as far or
farther than the “ordinary”
for each complete revolution
of the pedals. From
about 1890 the “safety”
monopolized the field. At
first it was fitted with the narrow rubber tires customary at
the time, but these gave way to pneumatic tires, invented
in 1888 by J. B. Dunlop, a veterinary surgeon of Belfast, whose
idea, however, had been anticipated in the English patent taken
out by R. W. Thomson in 1845. The result was a great gain
in comfort, due to reduction of vibration, and a remarkable
increase of speed or, alternatively, decrease of exertion. Subsequent
progress was mainly in the details of design and manufacture,
tending to secure lightness combined with adequate
strength, and such was the success attained, by the application
of scientific principles and of
improved methods and materials
to the construction of the frames
and other parts, that while the
weight of the original “Rover”
was about 50 ℔ that of its
successors 20 years later with
28–in. wheels was reduced by
35 or 45%, or even 60% in the
case of racing machines. The
beginning of the 20th century
saw the introduction of two
innovations: one was the “free-wheel,” a device which allows
the driving wheel to rotate independently of the chain and
pedals, so that the rider, controlling his speed with powerful
brakes, can “coast” down a hill using the stationary pedals as
foot-rests; and the other was the motor-cycle, in which a petrol-engine
relieves him, except at starting, from all personal exertion,
though at the cost of considerable vibration. A third contrivance,
which, however, was an idea of considerably older date, also
began to find favour about the same period in the shape of
two-speed and three-speed gears, enabling the rider at will to
alter the ratio between the
speed of revolution of his
pedals and of his driving
wheel, and thereby accommodate
himself to the varying
gradients of the road he is
traversing (see also Bicycle,
Tricycle and Tire).
 |
| Fig. 8.—Singers’ “’Xtraordinary,” 1879. |
 |
| Fig. 9.—The “Facile,” 1879. |
 |
| Fig. 10.—Starley’s “Rover,” 1885. |
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. Numbers of new factories were started, small shops grew into large companies, and the capital invested advanced by millions of pounds. The makers who had devoted their mechanical skill to perfecting the methods of cycle-construction were swallowed up by company promoters and adventurers, bent simply upon filling their own pockets. The march of mechanical invention and improvement was arrested, and machines, instead of being built by mechanics proud of their work, in many cases were merely put together in the shortest possible time and in a few standard patterns. For these the world clamoured, and for a year they could not be produced fast enough. Then the demand fell off, the British market became over-stocked, and as the British makers declined to consider the wants of foreign customers, their store-rooms remained crowded with machines that could not be sold. Speculative finance, such as was exemplified in 1896 by the flotation for £5,000,000 of the Dunlop tire company, which had been started in 1889 with a capital of £25,000, had its natural effects. There ensued widespread and continuing disorganization of the trade, which had to be met by extensive reconstructions of over-capitalized companies. English makers too had lost the commanding international position they once enjoyed, when they supplied almost the entire demand for bicycles in many parts of the world, including the United States. In America the manufacture of bicycles was not begun until about 1878, when it was introduced by A. A. Pope (1843–1909), and even by 1890 the value of the products barely exceeded 2½ million dollars, while for several years later much of the steel tubing required for bicycle manufacture continued to be imported from Great Britain. The industry, however, thanks to automatic machinery and perfect organization, grew rapidly, and in 1900 the value of its products was nearly 32 million dollars. In the two years 1897 and 1898 the exports of cycles and cycle parts alone were worth nearly 14 million dollars, though they fell off in subsequent years, and English makers had to contend with an American invasion in addition to their domestic troubles. But the competition was short-lived. The American makers sent over machines with single tube tires and wooden rims which did not secure the approval of the British purchaser, and so they too lost their hold. In the opening years of the 20th century the industry in Great Britain gradually recovered itself. More attention was paid to the production of cheap machines which were sound and trustworthy, and sales were further stimulated by the introduction of systems of deferred payments. In 1905 about 600,000 machines were made in Great Britain, and 47,604 were exported, the total value of the home-market for cycles and their parts being about 3½ millions sterling, and of the export trade about one million. In the same year the number of machines imported was only 2345.
Cycle tours were taken and cycle clubs established almost as soon as the cycle appeared, the Pickwick Bicycle Club in London, founded in 1870, being the oldest in the world. The organization of these clubs is chiefly of Touring clubs. a social character, and a few possess well-appointed club-houses. To a great extent they have been superseded by the large touring organizations. The Cyclists’ Touring Club, organized in 1878 as the Bicycle Touring Club, has members scattered through Europe, America and even the East. Many other countries possess national clubs, as for instance the League of American Wheelmen, founded in 1880, and the Touring Club de France, founded in 1895, of whose objects cycling is only one, though the chief. The aim of these national associations, which have formed an international touring league, is the promotion of cycle touring. To this end they publish roadbooks, maps and journals; they recommend hotels, with fixed tariffs, in their own and other countries; they appoint representatives to aid their members when touring; and they have succeeded in inducing most governments to allow their members to travel freely across frontiers without paying duty on their machines. In all countries they have erected warning-boards at dangerous places; in France the best route is suggested by a sign-post, and cyclists who meet with accidents in lonely places find repair outfits provided for their free use. Another important part of the work of these clubs, either directly or indirectly, is the improvement of the roads. France has done more for the cyclist than any other country, owing to the fact
