Ping Carl - "The First Automobile" film bicycle

TCM has "The First Automobile" in its playlist - it just finished
locally. It's a 1927 film that goes back to about 1906 and tells the
story of the auto surplanting the horse.

About 1 hr into it, there's an unusual "social" (side by side tandem)
bike shown. It *may* be a trike, which would seem to make more sense.

Have you seen this? Were sociables that common, or was it show for
comic effect,like the early unreliable cars in this film?

"Brian Huntley" wrote in message
...
TCM has "The First Automobile" in its playlist - it just finished
locally. It's a 1927 film that goes back to about 1906 and tells
the
story of the auto surplanting the horse.

About 1 hr into it, there's an unusual "social" (side by side
tandem)
bike shown. It *may* be a trike, which would seem to make more
sense.

Have you seen this? Were sociables that common, or was it show for
comic effect,like the early unreliable cars in this film?

I've seen one, and seen it being ridden on rollers, by a suitably
dressed couple. There was a company in, I think, NYC in about 1980
or so which made them. They brought one along to a GEAR (Great
Eastern Rally) that the LAB used to hold in those days

Jeremy Parker

The last time I heard (a few years ago), Bob Barrett of New York was
making sociables and was selling them through The Bicycle Station of
Brooklyn.

I saw Bob's sociables when he was making them in Berkeley in the late
'70s. They were extremely nicely made because Bob is both an expert
machinist and a perfectionist.

Here's a picture of one of Bob's sociables:

http://www.directcon.net/retroguybilly/sociable.jpg

On Jul 14, 6:26*pm, Bill wrote:
The last time I heard (a few years ago), Bob Barrett of New York was
making sociables and was selling them through The Bicycle Station of
Brooklyn.

I saw Bob's sociables when he was making them in Berkeley in the late
'70s. *They were extremely nicely made because Bob is both an expert
machinist and a perfectionist.

Here's a picture of one of Bob's sociables:

http://www.directcon.net/retroguybilly/sociable.jpg

Thanks for that link - those are seriously odd machines.