The High-Wheel Bicycle

The High-Wheel Bicycle

Although interest in the bicycle had waned in America, in 1871, James Starley, of Coventry, England, produced the first high-wheel, or “ordinary” bicycle as they were also known, and throughout that decade, innovation continued. The size of the front wheel was made incrementally larger as speed and front wheel diameter were directly related: the larger the front wheel, the more distance could be covered in one pedal revolution. The underlying motivation for most makers was to produce increasingly faster machines as everyone wanted a faster horse. Numerous improvements were made and solid rubber tires were introduced, a vast improvement over the heavy, metal-clad, wooden wheels that velocipedes were formerly fitted with. This also made bicycles much lighter. In 1872, ball-bearings were mass produced for bicycles which made them run smoother and a front spoon brake was introduced in 1873 and in full production on many bikes by 1880. Early on, most riders were opposed to brakes because they wore down the tires too quickly and also added extra weight to a conveyance that was already heavy, many weighing 50 pounds or more.

The high-wheel bicycle was made of iron or steel, had solid rubber tires, an exceedingly large front wheel, typically 50 to 60 inches in diameter, which was much larger than those fitted on a velocipede, and the wheel diameter was fitted to the length of the riders’ inseam. It also had a much smaller wheel in the back to minimize weight.

1880s Cabinet Card of a rider from Troy, Ohio.

Pedals and a crank mechanism fitted to the front wheel axle made for a vehicle much like the velocipede of the 1860s. One of the major problems with this design was that the rider’s center of balance was far forward on the bicycle and almost directly above the larger front wheel.

1880s CDV illustrating the forward position of a rider on a high-wheel bicycle.

This design could and did easily send a rider over the top of the handle bars, in what was called a header, if his weight was shifted too far forward or if he hit a bump, stone or any other irregularity in the road, and most roads were full of them.

Despite all its shortcomings, the high-wheel was a revolution in transportation, and the latest development in the evolution of the bicycle from the Draizine and Hobby Horse of the early nineteenth century to the two-wheeled velocipede of the 1860s. From its initial debut, and for the next decade, it created a sense of freedom and independence for the rider that had never been experienced before. The bicycle’s basic promise of an affordable form of personal transportation as well as a mode of healthy recreation now seemed achievable and bicycle clubs were formed to organize rides, races and social events for club members.

Oversize Cabinet Card of what was likely a bicycle club outing. No location indicated. From the 1880s.

By 1880, the popularity of cycling in the Eastern United States led to cities enacting restrictions regarding the riding of bicycles on the streets and sidewalks. Discourteous cyclists, often referred to as scorchers, rode their wheels at excessive speeds on public roads and sidewalks. Their actions frightened both horses and pedestrians, many of whom had been run down and injured by a scorcher, and their actions brought all cyclists into disrepute. To introduce an air of respectability and to boost the social acceptance of cycling, many clubs mandated that their members wear uniforms and ride in formation.

Oversize Cabinet Card. Subject identified as Harry Osgoodby. His hat and belt buckle have the letters "R Bi C" for Rochester Bicycle Club. He is likely dressed in his club's cycling outfit. Photographer was J. H. Kent of Rochester, New York.

One member of the Brooklyn, New York, bicycle club detailed for members of the League of American Wheelmen, how his club conducted themselves on a group ride.

[T]he club has used the following signals on outing tours since 1892 with no cause for complaint. The formation is by twos. Captain on left, pacemaker on right. Lieutenant on left, rear of line. Orderly on right, rear of line. One whistle by captain, stop; two, single file; three, mount; two whistles by lieutenant, slow up; danger, a quick succession of blasts from whistle, or raised hand on preceding wheel. Other road rules of the club are strictly enforced. Mounting; no mounting of rear file until front files are in saddle. Dismounting; starting from rear of line and extending to front. Pedestrians and vehicles; meeting, keep to right; passing, pass to left; crossing, pass to rear. Sidewalks; riding on them discountenanced at any time. Sidepaths; in country are used if roads are bad, but wheels must give way to pedestrians. Roads or streets; if bad or crowded, dismount, take sidewalk, walk your wheel on side nearest the curb in single file. Single file; wheel on right leading, wheel on left to fall in rear (From: LAW Bulletin and Good Roads magazine, March 27, 1896).

The entire affair was not unlike a military maneuver. Despite all that, a late nineteenth century advertisement summed it up when it suggested that a bicycle would enable a rider to “fly like a bird,” and achieving that sense of freedom quickly made cycling the sensation of the late Victorian period.

Racing was an integral part of cycling from its very beginnings. As early as 1819, Draizine races were held in Europe in conjunction with horse racing derbies (Herlihy 2004). In America, velocipede racing became a popular spectator sport in the late 1860s and racing was seen as an important way to promote the bicycle. Racing also pushed cycle technology to its limits, which spurred improvements in their designs and made them faster and more efficient. There were hundreds of patents filed in the 1860s alone for improvements to velocipedes and by the late 1860s, major cities, both in Europe and America, held velocipede races that attracted thousands of spectators. When the high-wheeler emerged, racing continued in Europe and more innovations were introduced; it had become the high-tech machine of its day.

One panel from a 1890 Stereoview. This was a League of American Wheelmen event in Buffalo, New York.

In 1876, Albert Pope, a young Boston businessman, saw two British made high-wheel bicycles at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition; the Ariel and Paragon. He initially believed that a rider had to be an acrobat just to ride one, but he was intrigued by the new machines and the following year he fabricated a rudimentary example for himself that was both difficult to ride and expensive to make. He decided to evaluate eight more examples from different British manufacturers and displayed them in his shop in Boston. They sold briskly and he then went to England to study how they were made and upon his return started manufacturing them in the United States. His firm, Pope Manufacturing Company of Hartford, Connecticut, maker of the Columbia bicycle, was the first to successfully produce the high-wheel bicycle in America.

Albert Pope (1843-1909), founder of the Pope Manufacturing Company, Hartford, Connecticut.

In the early years of American bicycle production, the Pope Manufacturing Company monopolize the cycling business by purchasing design patents from other inventors; this led to writs of injunction and excessive licensing fees that discouraged entrepreneurs from entering the bicycle market. These patent acquisitions had the specific intention of preventing open competition.

An advertisement that appeared in the December 1879 edition of Scribner's Monthly Magazine.

Pope's monopoly was challenged in lawsuits, the results of which effectively declared the bicycle as not patentable. Nevertheless, by 1890 Pope’s business had grown to be the largest manufacturer of bicycles in the world. At its peak, his 38,000 employees were turning out 600 bicycles a day.

A full page advertisement illustrating the Pope manufacturing plant in Hartford, Connecticut. From the July, 1893 edition of Scribner's Magazine.

In 1880, Pope had been instrumental in launching the League of American Wheelman (LAW), the first national cycling organization, with the primary objective of lobbying local, state and the federal government for the improvement of public roads. The organization also advocated for the legal rights of its members to ride on public roads and in public spaces such as Central Park in New York City, South Park in Chicago and Fairmont Park in Philadelphia.

There were other styles of high-wheel bicycles. The American Star bicycle was invented in 1880 by G.W. Pressey and manufactured by the Smith Machine Company of Smithville, New Jersey. It had the small wheel in the front to avoid the problem of tipping forward, or pulling a header, an inherent problem on the standard high-wheel bicycle. It was powered by a pair of treadles instead of a crank. Power from each treadle was transferred to the rear wheel by a leather strap. This treadle arrangement allowed riders of different sizes to ride the same bike comfortably without modification. The rider in this image is identified on the back as Chas Smith. It's uncertain if he was related to the Smith Machine Company that manufactured the bicycle.

High-wheel tricycles were also popular for older adults and women.

Bad roads weren’t the only problem cyclists had to deal with. Farmers in particular objected to bicycles on the roads because they frightened their horses and caused them to bolt and run off. Additionally, many wagon drivers were road hogs who would not allow a cyclist to pass them and numerous confrontations occurred between the two groups. Articles often appeared in the bicycle periodicals where riders complained of malicious young thugs who were in the habit of thrusting sticks through the spokes of a wheel as a rider drove by, and cyclists often fought back. It wasn’t unusual for anyone who resented bicyclists to throw tacks or broken glass in the roadway; they also cast aspersions and other rude comments at cyclists. Cyclists lobbied their local governments and laws were passed that made such activity illegal and large fines, including jail time, were issued to anyone convicted of such acts.

Certainly the biggest problem facing both cyclists and farmers was the condition of the roads. In 1897, the Fremont, Ohio, Daily News reported a sad incident related to the funeral of a well-known area farmer by the name of John Gallagher. Services were held at the schoolhouse near his home and:

The remains were interred in Green Creek Cemetery, a distance of about seven miles from the home of the deceased. The funeral procession had an extremely difficult time in reaching the burying ground. The hearse became fast in the famous depths of Riley Township mud, and it was necessary to attach four horses to the funeral car to pull it out. Other carriages got stuck in the mud, including the buggy of the officiating clergyman. The roads in that locality are in well-nigh impassable condition (From: LAW Bulletin and Good Roads magazine, March 5, 1897, page 242).

An illustration of a farm wagon that appeared in the April 24, 1896 edition of the LAW Bulletin and Good Roads magazine

In another incident, a house in Winchester, Massachusetts, burned to the ground because the fire company could not get to it in time due to the depth of the mud in the road that made it virtually impassable.

Some roads were so bad during the rainy season that many farmers were isolated from towns and cities and unable to deliver their goods to market, often for months. The deep mud could and did literally swallow up their wagons. Accounts about the poor condition of the roads were routinely reported in the bicycle periodicals of the day. As the roads improved, farmers came to understand that better roads were beneficial to them as well.
The League of American Wheelmen also became the central racing authority in the United States, organizing and regulating bicycle racing throughout the country. With Pope’s help, bicycle racing developed into a major spectator sport and in 1883, in Springfield, Massachusetts, at the Hampden Racing Track, it was reported that some 50,000 people attended the meet. The Springfield races became known internationally as the greatest cycling event in America and it became so popular that in subsequent years, the city of Springfield virtually shut down for the duration of the races. In 1879 Pope commissioned Charles Pratt, a prominent Boston patent attorney, to write the first American book about the high-wheel bicycle. Pope also financed the start-up cost (some $60,000) for The Wheelman, the first American bicycling magazine. Pope’s immeasurable contributions to the world of cycling made him a very wealthy man. Thomas Edison designed and built Pope’s electrified assembly line, the first in America, and Henry Ford, who early in life repaired watches to teach himself about the principals of mechanics and who subsequently worked for Edison as an engineer, visited Pope’s plant and was quite impressed with his assembly line operation. The rest of that story is history.

Columbia bicycle advertisement from 1886.

Although cyclists using both the velocipede and the high-wheel bicycle took part in long-distance rides, some lasting for days and covering hundreds of miles, it was left to Thomas Stevens to be the first man to ride around the world on a bicycle (April 1884 to December 1885) and he did it on one of Pope's 50-inch, Columbia high-wheel bicycles, certainly a remarkable feat.

A mid-1880s engraving of Thomas Stevens and his bicycle.

Others followed in his footsteps. Frank Lenz, of Pittsburgh, a well-known high-wheel racer, took off on one of the new safety bicycles to circumnavigate the world in 1892 but disappeared in Turkey. It was later determined that he was likely killed by either Armenians or Kurds.

Cabinet Card of Frank Lenz while he was travelling through India.

The outcry compelled William Sachtleben, another early globe-circling cyclist, to go off in search for him in an adventure detailed by historian David Herlihy (Herlihy 2010).

Large photograph of William Sachtelben and Thomas Allen on their trip to circumnavigate the world on a bicycle.

Below is a Gallery of High-wheel Bicycle images.

George Hendee, amateur high-wheel champion and later founder of the Indian Motorcycle Company in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Cabinet Card Dated June, 1882 of a Coventry Rotary Tandem Bicycle.

1880s era Cabinet Card from Richmond, Michigan.

A rider with an American Star bicycle. Mid-1880s.

Cabinet Card - two riders on a tandem tricycle. No location indicated. 1880s.

Cabinet Card of a young boy with his American Star bicycle.

Cabinet Card of a rider identified as Owen Irvins, with an American Star bicycle. No location indicated. 1880s.

1880s Cabinet Card of a pair of trick riders called The Wilmot Duo. Rubber stamp impression on the back indicates they were from 23 Erie Street, Cambridgeport, Massachusetts.