A Short History of the Birth of Bicycling

Figure 1. Cartoon of a Velocipede Riding School in New York, 1869

(Source: Harpers Weekly 1869)

The adults in the bicycle riding class wobbled, crashed and generally felt out of control. Due to a new-fangled invention called the velocipede, in the late 1860s a host of new classes sprang up to teach adults how to ride a bicycle (figure 1). Mastering the awkward, heavy riding machines required the novel ability to balance on two wheels. It was a new experience for those who generally walked, rode horses or moved about in carriages.

The Thrill of the Mountain: Bicycling Down Chestnut Ridge

"Truck Warning: Very Steep Grade Next 3 Miles:" Sign near Uniontown, Pa.

(Photo: Google Photos)

In the 1970s my friend Dave and I were both new to road cycling. During one summer, several times a week we “pumped the mountain” on our new bikes. The mountain in question is what locals call "Three-Mile Hill." It’s hardly a hill.

At the top of Chestnut Ridge, Dave and I are sitting on the deck of the Summit Inn and resting from our climb up the mountain. The Summit Inn is an historic “porch” hotel that dates back to 1907. It sits atop the most western edge of the Allegheny Mountains near Uniontown, Pennsylvania. It sometimes is covered in the clouds, but this day the weather is clear. Dave and I have a great view of the foothills below.

The Story of my 1976 Sekai Competition Bicycle

1976 Sekai Front Headbadge

(Photo: Doug Barnes)

The US in 1977 has its largest trade deficit in recent history (Lawrence, 1978). Asian and European companies are making inroads into US markets with sales of less expensive or higher quality products. Fears abound that this will hurt the US economy. Sound familiar?

Trade concerns also were felt in the booming bicycle industry during the early 1970s. Consumers began turning away from American-made bicycles such as Schwinn and began favoring brands from Europe including Raleigh, Peugeot and Motobecane. This all changed in the mid-1970s as Japanese companies began taking advantage of their low-cost and high-quality manufacturing facilities to penetrate US markets (Brown n.d.).

Even companies like Schwinn got into the act, importing bicycles from Japan and relabeling them as “Schwinn Quality.” The World Sport and Le Tour models introduced by Schwinn in 1972 were made exclusively in Japan (Crown and Coleman 1996). This was paralleled by the emergence of high-quality component manufacturers including Sun Tour, Araya and Shimano. The Japanese bicycle invasion was in full swing.

Five Bicycle Hardware Tips for Older Riders

Older Bicyclists on Legacy Trail in Venice, Florida.

(Photo: Doug Barnes)

It’s not uncommon to see a 50- or 60- or even 70-year-old riders hunched over bicycles that look like they belong in the Tour de France. Those bikes are designed to reduce air resistance by bending the body into the shape of pretzel. I am sure it is thrilling to go fast on such bikes, but for the average older rider, it’s a very uncomfortable position. The back gets sore, the hands go numb and the knees complain. There is a better way.

Tips for younger bike riders are frequent in magazines and on websites. Advice for the older bicyclists is uncommon, despite the fact that some people ride well into their 70s and 80s. Even young riders eventually grow old facing problems such as sore backs and swollen knees. To continue enjoying riding what I call the "Happiness Machine," older riders need to forget advice geared towards younger enthusiasts and bicycle racing. To compensate for the stiffness and inevitable consequences of aging, older riders can make some sensible changes to both bikes and riding techniques.

How Bicycle Coaster Brakes Work

I can see a puzzled look suddenly come over the young woman’s face as she picks out a cruiser bicycle to ride at the C and O Canal Bicycle Loan program at Great Falls, Maryland. She sheepishly asks, “Where are the brakes?”

“Just pedal backwards. The bike has coaster brakes.” This information doesn’t quite compute.

“Pedal backwards. Really?”

“Try it out. People have been riding bicycles with coaster brakes without a problem for more than 100 years. The one on this bike is a Bendix Coaster brake that was popular in the 1960s.”

The forty or fifty year old bike she is going to ride is Columbia bicycle that is very popular in the program. The brake is a Bendix Model 70. Bendix began manufacturing coaster brakes in 1924 after deciding to diversify from its car parts business and to start producing bicycle components. The company produced bike parts until the demise of its bicycle division in the 1980s. During the 1950s and 1960s Bendix coaster brakes were quite common on Schwinn, Columbia and many other major bicycle brands.

A Short History of the Bicycle Coaster Brake

The coaster brake has been in constant use on bicycles for over a century, but it seems to get no respect. Compared to other bicycle components such as wheels, derailleurs, shifters, rims or tires, the bicycling community does not pay much attention to coaster brakes. The probable reason is that they are found mostly on low-cost bicycles. Despite this lack of respect, coaster brakes are still sold in high volumes in the USA and throughout the world. In addition, they were a key invention during the 1890s, an era when innovations defined the modern bicycle.

Measuring the Business Benefits of New, Improved or Extended Bicycle Trails

The value of new bicycle trails is often underestimated in terms of overall benefits, but this is particularly true for business generation. The lack of admission fees to directly measure the willingness to pay for new or improved trails means that it is not easy to measure business benefits of such trails. This is not a new issue and parallel difficulties in valuing public parks and other community venues. Standard techniques have been developed for measuring the willingness to pay for the benefits of public trails and greenspace (McConnell and Walls 2006; Krizek 2006). Although there are established ways to measure general benefits such as increase in home value, the measurement of benefits for local businesses has been less common. This article concentrates on ways to measure the business benefits of trails or trail improvements.