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The Bicycle Comes Back

In amazing revival of fad of the nineties

By John E. Lodge

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.

In Chicago, Ill., for instance, 165,000 persons recently signed a petition asking for cycling paths to be constructed in the city parks. In Washington, D. C, a huge crowd of enthusiastic spectators, last winter, braved frigid winds for hours to watch an amateur bike race. From coast to coast, cycling clubs are i springing up. The veteran League of American Wheelmen has come back to life. The Amateur Bicycle League of America has approximately ninety affiliated clubs; the Century Road Club, promoting amateur races, has twenty-five or thirty, and there are upwards of 300 unassociated clubs in the country.
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Work Capacity of Athlete Measured in Bike Test
How much work can an athlete turn out, and what does it cost him in oxygen consumption and heart effort? A group of Stanford University athletes has set out to measure their work-output capacity and “fuel” consumption while pedaling a test bicycle. The driving sprocket of the “bike” is connected to a dynamometer which translates leg effort into horsepower. Over the subject’s head is placed a copper helmet into which measured air is pumped, then exhausted air from the lungs is piped away to be measured for oxygen depletion and production of carbon dioxide. Read the rest of this entry »

Boys Build “Pumpmobile”
TWO young inventors in Dobbs Ferry, N. Y., combined their resources, consisting of half of a bicycle and a four-wheeled coaster wagon, to produce a novel vehicle which they call a “pumpmobile.” The fork of the bicycle was mounted on the rear of the coaster wagon, locomotion for the combination vehicle being secured by pedaling the bike’s one wheel.

Motor Unit Runs Bike or Mower

Powered by a 1-1/2-hp. engine, a two-wheeled unit designed and built by William Lusk of Cicero, Ill., can be readily attached to a bicycle, lawn mower, or scooter. Small pneumatic wheels carry its 200-lb. weight without marking soft turf and give ample traction for cutting heavy grass. Used on the highway as a scooter or bike motor, the unit delivers better than 25 m.p.h.

Lusk used a 1/8″ steel plate as a combined platform and chassis. The axle is a 5/8″ steel shaft running in ball bearings, with a small over-riding clutch at each wheel to give differential action. Power is transmitted by a pair of V-belts from the engine to a 7-to-l gearbox taken from a washing machine. A movable idler acts as the main clutch. By using V-belt pulleys of different diameters, Lusk changes the effective gear ratio to suit the job the unit is doing.
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Eccentric Cycles

BIZARRE bikes are back! In bicycling’s early days, granddaddy went wild over eccentric cycles. Then, bike tastes leveled off. But the comeback of the bicycle industry has changed things.

In 1948, almost three million bikes (eccentric and otherwise) were turned out. Currently, the U. S. owns 14 million cycles – a fifth of the world’s total. Even exclusive Skidmore College bowed to the trend and introduced a course in Bi-Psychology!

So, purloin a peek at the two-wheelers on these pages and you’ll begin to realize how far the fad has gone since you last looked.
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Bike Side Car for Baby Passenger

AT A rally of bicycling enthusiasts held recently at Hedgerly, Buckinghamshire, England, a novel bicycle side car was demonstrated which makes it possible for parents to take along their infant offspring when they go for a ride in the country. This side car, shown above, is equipped with a single bike wheel, has a bed-shaped body, and is attached to the bike frame with a metal rod.

Moving Reflectors Protect Riders

MOVING reflectors mounted on bicycle pedals provide a conspicuous warning to motorists of the rider ahead. They are easier to see than the stationary type, the flashing disks attracting immediate attention. They are the invention of an English bus driver.

Bicycle Has Steering Wheel and Chairlike Seat
Equipped with a chairlike seat, a bicycle introduced recently in Paris permits the rider to sit up straight in a comfortable position while pedaling. The bike has a steering wheel to insure better control.

“Home, James” by Tandem Bike
With gasoline impossible to obtain for use in private automobiles in Denmark, wealthy Danes hire chauffeurs to take them to and from work on tandem bicycles. Sue h cycle-chauffeurs do the steering and most of the pedaling. Since July, the number of bicycles in Copenhagen has jumped from 1,750,000 to 3,800,000.

Bike Craze Raging-Rentals Make Money

CREDITED to comely Miss Joan Crawford who started daily bike riding six years ago as a method of keeping physically fit, the bike riding fad has swept to all corners of the nation. Bicycle makers rub their hands with gusto, wink at the Depression, and continue to sell great quantities of wheels at around twenty dollars per machine.
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I get the feeling this poor kid’s father embarrassed him during his whole childhood. I can imagine the picture of him modeling his father’s bullet-proof lederhosen.

Lead-Lined Suit specially designed to protect against radioactivity in an A-blast, was designed by Leo Pauwela of Los Angeles and is modeled here by his son. “If it doesn’t land on us, we’re safe,” they say.

Stilt Bike Gives Second-Story Ride

Bicycle riders will have no trouble in making their way up in the world if they construct a stilt bicycle like the odd one pictured below. Built by Bryant Guthrie, a telegraph messenger boy, the odd vehicle was made from the frame of an old bicycle and lengths of pipe welded together at the joints. One long pipe runs down from the handlebars to the bottom of the frame, where it is connected to two shorter iron rods to form the steering mechanism. A cross-bar on the rear fork of the frame makes a convenient spot for any hitch-hiker to stand while getting a ride on the queer vehicle.