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CYCLING

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 685 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CYCLING , the clipped See also:

term now given comprehensively to the See also:sport or exercise of See also:riding a See also:bicycle (q.v.) or See also:tricycle (q.v.). Suggestions of vehicles having two or more wheels and propelled by the See also:muscular effort of the rider or riders are to be found in very See also:early times, even on the bas-reliefs of See also:Egypt and See also:History. See also:Babylon and the frescoes of See also:Pompeii; but though sporadic examples of such contrivances are recorded in the 17th and 18th centuries, it was apparently not till the beginning of the 19th See also:century that they were used to any considerable extent. A " velocipede " invented by See also:Blanchard and Magurier, and described in the See also:Journal de See also:Paris on the 27th of See also:July 1779, differed little from the celeri fere proposed by another Frenchman, de Sivrac, in 1690; it consisted of a wooden See also:bar rigidly connecting two wheels placed one in front of the other, and was propelled by the rider, seated astride the bar, pushing against the ground with his feet. The next advance was made in the draisine of Freiherr Karl Drais von Sauerbronn (1785–1851), described in his Abbildung and Beschreibung seiner neu erfundenen Laufmaschine (See also:Nuremberg, 1817). In this the front See also:wheel was pivoted on the See also:frame so that it could be turned sideways by a handle, thus serving to See also:steer the See also:machine (See also:figs. 1 and 2). A similar machine, the " celeripede," also with a movable front wheel, is said to have been ridden by J. N. See also:Niepce in Paris some years before. In See also:England the draisine achieved a See also:great, though temporary, See also:vogue under various names, such as velocipede, patent accelerator, bivector, bicipedes, pedestrian See also:curricle (patented by See also:Dennis See also:Johnson in 1818), See also:dandy See also:horse, See also:hobby horse, &c., and for a See also:time it was popular in See also:America also. The propulsion of the draisine by pushing with the feet being alleged to give rise to diseases of the legs, arrangements were soon suggested, as by See also:Louis Gompertz in England in 1821, by which the front wheel could be rotated by the hands with the aid of a See also:system of gearing, but the See also:idea of providing See also:mechanical connexions between the feet and the wheels was apparently not thought of till later.

Pedals with connecting rods working on the See also:

rear See also:axle are said to have been applied to a tricycle in 1834 by See also:Kirk- See also:patrick McMillan, a Scottish blacksmith of Keir, Dum- friesshire, and to a draisine by him in 1840, and by a Scottish See also:cooper, Gavin Dal- zell, of Lesmahagow, Lan- arkshire, about 1845. The draisine thus fitted had wooden wheels, with See also:iron 3o in. in See also:diameter and the See also:driving one about 40 in., and thus it formed the prototype, though not the ancestor, of the See also:modern rear-driven safety bicycle. For the next 20 years little was done, and then began the See also:evolution of the high " See also:ordinary " bicycle with a large driving wheel in front and a small trailing one behind. About 1865 See also:Pierre Lallement in Paris constructed a bicycle in which the front wheel was driven by pedals and cranks attached directly to its axle, but it is doubt- ful whether the origin of this idea must be attributed to him or to Ernest Mich- aux,the son of his employer, who was a See also:carriage repairer. Lallement took his machine to the See also:United States, and in 1866 was granted a patent which had an important See also:influence on the subsequent course of the See also:cycle See also:industry in that See also:country. This machine, consisting of a wooden frame supported on two wooden wheels (fig. 3), soon became popular in England, as well as in See also:France and America, and came to be called bicycle (or bysicle) by those who took it seriously and "boneshaker" by those who did not. Improve- ments quickly followed, chiefly in England, for in America the popularity of the machine was See also:short-lived, and in France the industry was checked by the Franco- See also:German See also:war. See also:Rubber tires, in See also:place of iron ones, appeared in 1868, and in two or three years were made very large, 2 in. or more in width. Suspension wheels, with See also:wire spokes in tension, were seen at the Crystal See also:Palace, See also:London, on the " Phantom " (fig. 4) of W. F.

See also:

Reynolds and J. A. Mays in 1869, and early in the same See also:year the manu- facture of bicycles, at first for export to France, was begun in England by the See also:Coventry Sewing Machine See also:Company, till then makers of sewing See also:machines. There was a rapid growth in the See also:size of the front wheel, which in the boneshaker nor- mally measured 36 or 38 in. in diameter, with a corresponding shrinkage in the rear wheel (fig. 5), until by 1874, the date of the invention of the tangent wheel by J. K. See also:Starley 54-in. wheels were being made. The high bicycle was now fairly established in See also:form, and the changes made in the subsequent 10 or 15 years during which it retained its supremacy were chiefly in the details of construction, such as the See also:adoption of See also:steel tubing for the frames, the use of hollow rims in the wheels and the application first of See also:cone and then of See also:ball See also:bearings to points of See also:friction. The See also:weight of a 54-in. bicycle, which in 1874–1875 exceeded 50 or even 6o lb, was thus reduced to well under 40 lb in machines intended for use on ordinary roads, and to not much over 20 lb in the See also:case of racers. The high " ordinary " bicycle (fig. 6) gave unquestionable See also:pleasure to many riders, and very fast times were made with it both on the road and on the raceng path. In 1882 H.

L. Cortis rode 20 M. 300 yds. in one See also:

hour, and in See also:April 1884 See also:Thomas See also:Stevens started from See also:San Francisco to ride See also:round the See also:world, a feat which he accomplished in See also:December 1886. But it had various disadvantages. The vibration set up by the small hack wheel. was very trying, and in spite of the size of the front one the rider had to move his pedals at an uncomfortably rapid See also:rate if he wished to maintain a See also:good See also:speed. Moreover his seat was placed in such a position that he was liable to be pitched over the handle-bar if his wheel encountered a comparatively small obstacle. Attempts were made to remedy these inconveniences in various ways. From the early 'eighties much See also:attention was devoted to tricycles, and these were produced in innumerable designs, whether for a single rider, or for two in the form of "sociables," in which the riders sat See also:side by side, or of " tandems," in which one sat behind the other. But their weight, and consequently the exertion of propelling them, was necessarily greater than in the case of the bicycle, and by the end of the See also:decade, the demand for them had fallen off, though they are still made to a certain extent, chiefly for carrying purposes. The two-track dicycle (fig. 7), invented by E. C.

F. See also:

Otto about 1879, in which the rider balanced himself between two equal wheels placed abreast, also failed to secure lasting success. The improvement of the high bicycle was attempted in two directions. On the one See also:hand it was modified by placing the rider farther back, his position " over his See also:work " being ensured by arranging the pedals immediately below him and connecting them to the front wheel, which was usually reduced in size, by levers and cranks or by See also:chain-gearing, often with a multiplying See also:action. On the other, the rear wheel was enlarged and made the driving wheel. The " 'Xtraordinary " (fig. 8), " Facile " (fig. 9). and " See also:Kangaroo " were examples of the former See also:kind, which were often spoken of as " See also:dwarf-safeties "; but though a good many of them were used about 1880 and following years, both they and the "ordinary" bicycle ultimately disappeared be-fore machines of the second kind, which See also:developed into the modern rear-driven safety. There are numerous claimants for the invention—or rather the reinvention—of this type, but it appears that the See also:credit for its See also:practical and commercial introduction in substantially its See also:present form is due to J. K. Starley in England. His " Rover " (fig. ro), brought out See also: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 See also:

motion imparted by the pedals to a sprocket wheel mounted between the wheels was transmitted by an end- less 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 See also:complete revolu- tion of the pedals. From FIG. 8.-Singers' " 'Xtraordinary," about 1890 the " safety " 1879. monopolized the See also: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. See also:Dunlop, a veterinary surgeon of See also:Belfast, whose idea, however, had been anticipated in the See also:English patent taken out by R. W. See also: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 See also: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 See also:original " Rover was about 50 lb, that of its successors 20 years later with 28-in. wheels was reduced by 35 or 45%, or even 6o% in the case of racing machines. The beginning of the loth century saw the introduction of two innovations: one was the " See also:free-wheel," a See also: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 " See also:coast " down a See also:hill using the stationary pedals as See also:foot-rests; and the other was the motor-cycle, in which a petrol-See also:engine relieves him, except at starting, from all See also:personal exertions 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 See also: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 See also:TIRE).

The safety bicycle, with the,methods of cycle,construction were swallowed up by company promoters and adventurers, See also:

bent simply upon filling their own pockets. The See also:march of mechanical invention and improvement was arrested, and machines, instead of being built by See also:mechanics proud of their work, in many cases were merely put together in the shortest possible time and in a few See also:standard patterns. For these the world clamoured, and for a year they could not he produced fast enough. Then the demand See also:fell off, the See also:British See also:market became over-stocked, and as the British makers declined to consider the wants of See also:foreign customers, their See also:store-rooms remained crowded with machines that could not be sold. Speculative See also: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 See also:capital of £25,000, had its natural effects. There ensued widespread and continuing disorganization of the See also:trade, which had to be met by extensive reconstructions of over-capitalized companies. English makers too had lost the commanding See also: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. See also:Pope (1843-1909), and even by 1890 the value of the products barely exceeded 21 million dollars, while for several years later much of the steel tubing required for bicycle manufacture continued to be imported from Great See also:Britain. The industry,, however, thanks to automatic machinery and perfect organization, See also:grew rapidly, and in i9oo 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 See also:worth nearly 14 million dollars, though they fell off in subsequent years, and English makers had to contend with an See also:American invasion in addition to their domestic troubles.

But the competition was short-lived. The American makers sent over machines with single See also:

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 loth century the industry in Great Britain gradually recovered itself. More attention was paid to the See also:production of cheap machines which were See also: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 See also:total value of the See also:home-market for cycles and their parts being about 31 millions See also:sterling, and of the export trade about one million. In the same year the number of machines imported was only 2345. Cycle See also:tours were taken and cycle clubs established almost as soon as the cycle appeared, the Pickwick Bicycle See also:Club in London, founded in 187o, being the See also:oldest in the world. The organization of these clubs is chiefly of clubs. a social See also: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 See also:Europe, America and even the See also:East. Many other countries possess See also:national clubs, as for instance the See also:League of American Wheelmen, founded in 188o, and the Touring Club de France, founded in 1895, of whose See also:objects cycling is only one, though the See also: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 road-books, maps and See also:

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 See also: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-See also:post, and cyclists who meet with accidents in lonely places find repair outfits provided for their free use. Another important See also: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 that she possesses the best roads, kept up to a certain extent by the cycle tax, whereby the cyclist acquires a certain See also:official position and right; moreover cycles accompanied by their owners are conveyed without extra See also:charge on the See also:railways, and aid is given to the sport and pastime from public funds. In See also:Belgium the cycle has worked a veritable revolution in the national See also:life. The See also:surface of the greater part of the country being loose and sandy, the roads have been paved, and this paving is so See also:bad as to be impossible for See also:light See also:traffic. The cycle tax has consequently been devoted, first, to the construction of paths on which cyclists have equal rights with pedestrians, and secondly to the replacing of the paving by macadam. In this way alone cycling has proved of inestimable benefit to Belgium and Luxembourg. In the United States See also:measures for securing good roads and side paths have been introduced in various states, mainly at the instigation first of cyclists and then of motorists, and in Great Britain the Roads Improvement Association has worked for the same end. Each country also possesses an organization for the See also:government of cycle racing; and although these unions, one See also:object RBetQg of which—usually the See also:main one—is the encouragement of cycle racing and cycle legislation, boast an enormous membership, their membership is often composed of clubs and not individuals. Among the most important are the National Cyclists' See also:Union of England and the Union Velocipedique of France. These bodies are also See also:bound together by the International Cyclists' Association, which is devoted mainly to the promotion of racing and legislation connected with it all over the world.

The National Cyclists' Union, originally the Bicycle Union, which was the See also:

parent See also:body of all, formed in See also:February 1878, was the first to put up danger-boards, and also was early instrumental, alone and with the C.T.C., in framing or suggesting See also:laws for the proper government and regulation of cycle traffic, notably in establishing its position as a vehicle in securing universal rights, in endeavouring, again in See also:conjunction with the C.T.C., to increase facilities for the carriage of cycles on the railways, in securing the opening of parks, and in promoting many other equally praiseworthy objects. For a number of years, however, it has been more prominent as the ruling See also:race-governing body. But cycle racing has fallen upon evil days. At one time cycle racing attracted a large number of spectators, but gradually it lost the public favour, or rather was ignored by the public because it became mainly an See also:advertisement for cycle makers. The presence of the See also:man, directly or indirectly, in the employ of, or aided by a maker, and the consequent mixing up of trade and sport, lowered racing not only in the public estimation, but in that of all genuine amateurs. There have always been a few amateurs who have raced for the love of the sport, but the greater number of prominent racing men have raced for the benefit of a See also:firm, so much so that, at one time, an entire See also:section of racing men were classed as " makers' amateurs." They did not confine themselves to the race track, but appropriated the public roads until they became a danger and a See also:nuisance, and road-racing finally was abolished, though See also:record rides, as they are called, are still indulged in, being winked at by the See also:police and by the cycling authorities. The makers' amateurs at least rode to win and to make the best time possible. But the See also:scandal was so great that a system of licensing riders was adopted by the N.C.U., and if this did not effectively kill the sport, the introduction of waiting races did. There probably is considerable skill in riding two-thirds of a race as slowly as possible, and only hurrying the last part of the last See also:lap, but it does not amuse the public, who want to see a fast race as well as a See also:close finish. The introduction of pacing by multicycles and See also:motors next took from cycle racing what See also:interest was See also:left. A motor race, in which the machines are run at See also:top speed, is more exciting than the spectacle of a motor being driven at a rate which the cyclist can follow with the See also:protection of a See also:wind-See also:shield. In America this system of proving what cyclists can do with racing machines was carried so far that in 1899 a See also:board track was laid down on the See also:Long See also:Island railway for about 2 M. between the metals, and a cyclist named See also:Murphy, followed a See also:train, and protected by enormous wind-See also:shields, succeeded in covering a milein less than a See also:minute in the autumn of 1goo.

Other cyclists have devoted themselves, at the instigation of makers, to the riding of too m. a See also:

day every day for a year. It would be difficult to say what See also:advantage there is in these trials and contests. They are not convincing records, and only prove that some See also:people are willing to take great personal risks for the benefit of their employers. E. See also:Hale, during 1899-1900, covered 32,496 M. in 313 days. For many years also long-distance races, mostly of six days' duration, have been promoted on covered tracks, and though condemned by all cycling organizations, they find a great See also:deal of pecuniary support. The cycle has also been taken up for military purposes. For this idea the British See also:army is indebted to See also:Colonel A. R. See also:Savile, who in 1887 organized the first See also:series of cycle manoeuvres Military. in England. Since then military cycling has undergone a great development, not only in the country of its origin but in most others. Cycling has produced a literature of its own, both of the pastime and of the trade.

Owing to the enormous profits which, for several years, were obtained by cycle makers, a trade See also:

press Literature. appeared which simply lived by, and out of, its advertisers; and though each country has one or more genuine trade journals, the large proportion of these sheets have been worth, in a business aspect, as little practically as from a See also:literary standpoint. On the other hand a vast See also:mass of practical and unpractical, scientific and medical, See also:historical and touring See also:treatises and records • have appeared, but mostly of a rather ephemeral character.

End of Article: CYCLING

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