CYCLING 



637 



whereby the relative positions of the two wheels 

 nii^lit lie varied at will ; in other words, some 

 method whereby the base of thu machine might IHJ 

 changed at pleasure. To this end, a trim 

 handle wan affixed to the front wheel, which 

 admitted of its being turned even to a right angle. 

 This new comer wius known as the bicycle, out 

 is now irreverently alluded to in all quarters as 

 the 'boneshaker' probably because it was made 

 of wood, and shod with iron tyres instead of rubber, 

 while springs were often conspicuous by their 

 absence. 



The Itoneshaker craze was a serious one ; it 

 affected all classes of society, but chiefly in con- 

 sequence of the cost of the article the middle and 

 upper ranks ; in witness whereof, the illustrated 

 papers of 1867-09 contained more than one wood- 

 cut showing the Prince Imperial upon his bone- 

 shaker in the Tuileries. One of the earliest of 

 Mii-haux's bicycles found its way to Mr Charles 

 Sieucer's gymnasium in London in 1868. So little 

 was to be gained, and so much was to be lost 

 particularly in the way of appearances by 'bone- 

 shakerism, that in a few years it promised to 

 become a lost art, when, happily, the inventive 

 genius of an Englishman, whose identity is open 

 to question, supplied the missing link the rubber 

 tyre which, with the suspension wheels and steel 

 framing introduced at a later period, made the 

 modern bicycle. From the bicycle the tricycle was 

 early evolved, chiefly through "the instrumentality 

 of James Starley (died 1881), of Coventry ; a further 

 impetus was given by the pneumatic tyre, and now 

 the types of machine are practically endless. 



The utility of the cycle is proved beyond all 

 question. It is asserted on the best authority that 

 a person of average capabilities can upon it travel 

 at least three, and frequently six, times as far as he 

 can walk in a day, and this with even less fatigue ; 

 while the possibilities of the machine in able hands 

 will be admitted, when it is pointed out that a mile 

 has been ridden upon a bicycle in less than two 

 minutes and a half, and that 32 miles have been 

 traversed in an hour, 616 miles in the 24 hours, on 

 the racing track. The twenty-four hours road 

 record is in England 414 miles; in Scotland, 314 

 miles ; and in Ireland, 2489 miles. The road 

 from Land's End to John o' Groat's roughly, 900 

 miles by road has been accomplished in three days 

 four hours forty-six minutes ! 



But the utility of the cycle is further proved by 

 facts other than those given ; it has become the 

 poor man's carriage, ana the rich man's hobby in 

 more senses than one. Royalty disports itself, at 

 any rate in quasi-publicity, upon it, and the nobil- 

 ity and gentry make no secret of their love of the 

 wheel. Clergymen visit their parishioners; medi- 

 cal men their patients ; and tens of thousands of 

 the middle classes transact their business or follow 

 their pleasures by its means ; while it is next to 

 impossible to pass through any of the streets of our 

 chief towns without seeing that the cycle, in some 

 one of its numerous shapes, is ably ministering to 

 the wants of the community. It was estimated 

 that in 1895-96 the annual British output was 

 about 750,000 machines, while that of America 

 was already over 1,000,000. Cycle-making has 

 become a very important industry. 



So general has cycling become, that there are in 

 existence in Great Britain alojie at least twenty 

 cycling publications, varying from weeklies to 

 annuals, while roadbooks and handbooks innumer- 

 able have already been put upon the market. 



As with most other sports or pastimes, cycling is 

 strong in a clubdom of its own. Hundreds of local 

 clubs exist in different parts of the country, while 

 acting in concert with them is the largest of all, 

 the Cyclists' Touring Club, whose headquarters are 



at 47 Victoria Strtwl, Ixmdon. Th T.T.C., tut 

 it is familiarly called, won not the forerunner of 

 the local clubs to which reference has been mode, 

 for some of these existed three or four years before 

 it, but it was called into existence in 1878 for the 

 purpose of encouraging and promoting touring, an 

 ltd name implies. To t hi- end it has appointed at 

 one fixed tanll' some hotel often the leading one 

 in every town as headquarters. It has also appointed 

 a member in nearly every town to act as consul 

 in other words, to tie a guide to visiting clubmen ; 

 in addition to which it has nominated the m.-t 

 competent mechanic the place possesses to repair 

 machine.- at moderate prices in case of breakage. 

 By the introduction or a specially suitable and 

 durable uniform ; by the compilation of roadliooks 

 and maps for the Continent, as well as for Great 

 Britain ; by agitating for better roads, for finger- 

 posts and milestones ; and in countless other ways 

 it has benefited cyclists and cycling ; and that its 

 programme is popular, will be apparent when it is 

 explained that it at present possesses over 45,000 

 members. It publishes an official Gazette, which, 

 consisting of some forty to fifty pages, is sent 

 gratis to every member once a month, as well as an 

 official handbook with full details of the arrange- 

 ments made in the different parts of the country 

 for the convenience of its memlrcrs. The benefits 

 of membership are all obtainable for a nominal 

 sum annually. The C. T. C. is international in its 

 character, nearly a do/en prosperous divisions hav- 

 ing already been established in the United States, 

 in Canada, and upon the Continent. 



Cycling possesses also a National Cyclists' Union 

 that looks after the legislative side of the sport ; 

 that frames and endeavours to uphold the amateur 

 definition ; that pledges itself to oppose the intro- 

 duction of prohibitive restrictions ; that holds the 

 amateur championships ; and that in many other 

 ways does a large amount of good for wheeldom. 

 The headquarters of this body are at 57 Basing- 

 hall Street, London, E.G., and the subscription for 

 members not belonging to a local club affiliated 

 en masse is five shillings. There are branches of 

 the N. C. U. in Scotland, and Ireland has its 

 Cyclists' Association. 



For many years cycling was practised in England 

 in the face of much ridicule from the general 

 public, and hostility from other sections of the 

 road-using community ; while ingress to the parks 

 was denied its votaries. These prejudices nave, 

 however, happily been overcome ; by the instru- 

 mentality of the C. T. C. and the N. C. U. before 

 referred to, nearly all these restrictions have been 

 removed, and, speaking broadly, a cycle is at 

 liberty to enter and use the inclosures to which 

 other public vehicles are given access. Similarly, 

 througn the exertions of the C. T. C., the powers 

 hitherto possessed by courts of quarter session 

 and corporations under the Highways Amendment 

 Act of 1878, and the Municipal Corporations Act of 

 1882, have by the Local Government (England and 

 Wales) Act, 1888, been taken from them. Cycles 

 have been declared to be carriages within the 

 meaning of the Highways Acts, entitled to all 

 the benefits, and subject to all the penalties (tax- 

 paying excepted) applicable to otner carriages, 

 while the anomalous and conflicting bylaws 

 hitherto in force were, on 1st April 1889, super- 

 seded by a statute law which runs as follows : 



Local Government (England and Wales) Act, 

 1888, sect. 85. (1) The provisions of sect. 26, sub- 

 sect. 5, of the Highways and Locomotives (Amend- 

 ment) Act, 1878, and* sect. 23, sub-sect. 1, of the 

 Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, in so far as it 

 jjixvs power to the council to make bylaws regulat- 

 ing the use of carriages herein referred to, and all 

 other provisions of any other public or private acts. 



