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Bike review pamphlet
Hot off the presses in 1877! Harry Hewitt Griffin tells you what to
buy and where! Covers 51 models in 34 pages, with plenty of text and lots of illustrations, advertisements restricted to the opening and closing pages. Price only sixpence! (Okay, $5.25 plus shipping--there's been some inflation in the last 130 years. If you've seen Sharp's 500+ page "Bicycles & Tricycles," that's what the text and illustrations look like.) This pathetic ad doesn't do justice to the little pamphlet, but it does tell you where to get it: "Bicycles of the Year 1877" http://dev1.boomersdomain.com/cgi-bi...y_2/00919.html Those guys have other reprints, too, but this is the one that arrived in the mail today. Here are a few tidbits from pages 4-9: Are you an unabashed saddle bigot? "The saddle is a novelty, being covered with black leather, and is an improvement--as a change in appearance--on the ordinary yellow pigskin." Do you enjoy arguing about Japan versus Italy? "Coventry has been, and always will be, the chief 'head centre' of manufacturers. Here all are first-class houses; no poor or petty make leaves the city, so that the mere fact of a machine being Coventry built is always a guarantee that it can be relied on." Do you wonder if the new-fangled safety is just for fatty masters? "Among the established novelties is the Safety, which has not met with the success expected. It can certtainly be put along at ten or even twelve miles an hour by an experienced rider on it, if in good form; but we fear it will never become popular, the chief objection being that it is almost as unmanageable as a tricycle when moving it (leading); but some riders will, no doubt, hail it as what was wanted, chiefly those advanced in years; but more of this anon." Do you fear that formulas for bike fit are foolish? "It is simply ridiculous the way in which makers' lists differ. We take a man of 6 ft., and refer to a few lists: The Coventry Machinists give only 54 in. (or general rule a 6 ft. 6 in. man for 60 in.); Dedicoat, 54 in.; Desideratum (H. H. and Co.), 58 in.; and Challenger, 60 in." Are you fussy about your rims, tires, spokes, and hubs? U-rims are thought to be better than vee-rims, red rubber better than grey, and charcoal iron spokes better than drawn steel, so consider the aforementioned Desideratum from Hinde, Harrington, and Company: "In the wheels preference is given to the U rim (certainly the neatest), in which are well cemented the red (or grey) rubber tyres. Charcoal iron wire spokes screw into gun metal or solid hubs." Does the weather worry you? "All machines [from H. H. and Co.] have also a mud guard, to keep the bicyclist's unmentionables from being soiled in wet weather." Do you fret about your spokes working loose? Forget motor oil, bearing grease, loc-tite, linseed oil, higher tension, bubble-gum, and all other mistaken modern remedies: "There is, however, one great feature which of itself is sufficient to recommend the Desideratum--we refer to Harrington's patent (No. 315) Tenax lock nut. . . . The nut is formed from the best steel, and is cut through at the dark line; when the nut is off itt is almost closed, but when on the bolt it grips and binds in a splendid manner, causing the wire in the screw to "bite" much better. By the use of these nuts another of those manifold ills that the bicyclistt is heir to has been done away with, att least so far as the Desideratum is concerned, for it is only on that machine that they are to be found." Pages 10-32 add exciting wheel developments in the brand-new Ariel No. 2 that answer Jobst's objections to lever-tension-arms! High-tech pogo-stick spring-steps to assist in mounting the highwheeler! Unheard-of tangent spoking! Air saddles, thumb-brakes, solid versus hollow frames, and more! Cheers, Carl Fogel |
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#2
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Bike review pamphlet
but more of this anon fatty masters so far as the Desideratum is another of those manifold ills when the nut is off at the dark line but more of this anon? as I read more, I consider they wrote this way because they and the environment smelled. |
#3
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Bike review pamphlet
"Bicycles of the Year 1877" author is soooo slick the question
raises: is the pamphlet bogus? The erudite style is parody! Like R/T doing MT. Sam Clemens level but 40 years ahead? Hmmmmm? Must read: donate several to the State U's woof woof |
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