Is this yet another story about the so-called "new golf"?
The bicycle is back. Four million Americans now pedal along streets and highways. And, last year, factories in the United States turned out 750,000 machines, nearly equaling the peak production of the gay nineties. News items from all parts of the country tell the story of this dramatic boom in popularity.
Ah, no. This is from a Popular Science article The Bicycle Comes Back
in 1936 (picked up via Wheels of Justice), and it's interesting to note how the more things change the more they…umm, don't. The 1930s cycling resurgence was attributed at least in part to a middle-class who during the Depression saved money on overseas holidays by resorting to near-by Bermuda
, where
automobiles are taboo and bicycles abound. The American tourists caught the cycling craze, brought it home, and spread it throughout the East.
And also to celebrity endorsement:
publicity agents for Hollywood movie stars began to run out of ideas for "different" pictures that would be printed in newspapers and magazines…The publicity men hit on the idea of having their stars photographed riding bicycles. Almost overnight, Hollywood became "bicycle conscious". What started as a mere publicity stunt, turned into an authentic cycling craze.
Hmm, sounds stupid enough that it might just have happened that way.
We [heart] gadgets
And cyclists have always loved a good gadget or two. In the 1930s it was stuff like bikes with three-speed gear shifts, automobile-type steering wheels, built-in speedometers and lights
or
a combination horn and light. The accessory is housed in a streamline case which clamps onto the handlebars, the light bulb and reflector in front and the electrically operated horn at the rear. A button placed near one of the handlebar grips operates the horn.
Well, I think that steering wheel idea might have sunk without a trace.
Security concerns?
And even in 1936 bike theft must have been a concern:
Another ingenious combination bicycle accessory is a lock with a reflector which serves as a tail-light. The device is attached to the framework at the back wheel with the reflector pointing to the rear. By pressing a small handle, the cyclist can snap a strong metal rod between the spokes of the wheel, thus locking the machine when it is left unguarded. Only one who knows the combination of the lock and turns the handle in the correct manner can unlock the wheel.
Another type of lock is housed in the fork crown of the front wheel. When a key is turned, the front wheel is locked in place at such an angle that the bicycle cannot be ridden or wheeled away.
But it appears that bike manufacturers hadn't considered the possibility that thieves might just carry a bike away.
Down the same path
But of all the similarities, it was this one that struck me the most:
Another outstanding development of the bicycle boom is the establishment of cycle paths in city parks. In the nineties, it was the bicycle rider who led the agitation for better roads. Now, the present-day enthusiast argues, the automobile age can repay its long-standing debt by providing such paths for bicyclists away from the dangers and fumes of the motor traffic which monopolizes our highways…
To safeguard bicycle tourists riding on main highways, cycling organizations are now strenuously advocating that states authorize the construction of special paths along the shoulders of roads.
Now there's a passage that could just about fit in any number of reports in the media of today. It makes me wonder what happened to all those excellent bike paths that were installed back then?
Comments
What do they say... the more things change the more they stay the same? Interesting article about how things happen in "cycles."
As for the bicycling being the new golf, whenever I hear that phrase, I always think of a couple fat guys riding around in a cart smoking cigars.
Damn! I wish I'd thought of that "cycles" line!
And I think the "new golf" thing is supposed to suggest that the fat guys are now a bit thinner, riding around on expensive racing bikes, and swapped the cigars for decaffeinated skinny caffe latte. But I really don't know…