From sport to everyday use
For most of the nineteenth century, the bicycle was a hobby or a sport. The cycling boom of the 1890s changed it into a common means of travel for large numbers of people, especially in Europe and North America. The machines were similar in many ways to those of earlier years, but they were cheaper, safer and more comfortable, and that opened the market. This article looks at what happened as a result, not at the machine.
Why the boom happened
Several developments came together. The chain-driven safety bicycle made riding less risky and more accessible. The air-filled tire made the ride smoother. Improved manufacturing made machines cheaper, and the growing market for second-hand bicycles helped further. By the mid-1890s, bicycle riding was a fashion in many cities, with newspapers, magazines and clubs devoted to it. The peak of the craze in the United States is often placed around the middle of the decade, though dates vary by place.
Clubs and the demand for roads
Cycling clubs were an important feature. In the United States, the League of American Wheelmen, founded in 1880, grew into a large organization with local branches. Similar clubs existed in Britain and elsewhere. These groups were among the first to campaign for better roads, since the poor condition of many rural roads was a daily problem for riders.
In the United States, this was part of what became known as the Good Roads movement. Cyclists and later farmers and others lobbied for improved surfaces and for public funding of road building. Historians generally regard the cyclists as an influential part of that movement, though they were not the only group, and the motor vehicle later took over as the main reason for road improvement. In many countries, the demand for smooth surfaces created a constituency for improved roads and highways before the automobile was common.
Travel and leisure
The bicycle gave many people a new kind of mobility. A rider could cover longer distances than a walker without the cost of feeding a horse. Workers could live farther from their jobs. Weekend trips to the countryside became possible for city dwellers. Touring clubs organized rides and published routes, and the bicycle encouraged an interest in rural scenery. Railway networks remained the main means of long-distance travel, but the bicycle filled in the gaps for shorter trips and local travel.
Women and the bicycle
The effect on women’s lives has attracted the most attention from historians. In the 1890s, riding a bicycle gave many women a way to travel on their own, outside the supervision that social customs often required. Ladies’ cycling clubs formed, and magazines debated the proper clothing for women who rode.
Clothing was a major issue. Long skirts could catch in the chain or wheel, and some women adopted a looser style, with bloomers or divided skirts, which was called rational dress. These choices sparked public debate and sometimes criticism. Over time, the clothing of women who cycled became a topic in the wider discussion about women’s dress.
The American suffragist Susan B. Anthony was reported in an 1896 newspaper interview to have said that the bicycle had done a great deal to emancipate women. Because that wording comes from a newspaper report, it is best understood as a statement of the mood of the time and not as a precise quotation. Frances Willard, an American reformer, published a book in 1895 about learning to ride in her fifties, which was widely read. It would be wrong to claim that the bicycle alone changed women’s status, but it was one of the visible symbols of a changing role.
Economic effects
The boom created jobs in manufacturing, sales and repair. The cycle industry developed skills in metalworking, tubing, ball bearings and mass production, and it attracted investment. Some firms started as bicycle makers and moved into other businesses. Cycle workshops became centers of mechanical know-how, and the Wright bicycle workshop in Dayton, Ohio, is a well-known example of a repair and sales business that provided a base for later aircraft experiments.
Cycling also affected other trades. Some businesses, such as publishers of maps and guides, benefited. Others suffered. Reports from the time describe falling sales for some luxury items, though the connection is hard to measure.
The decline of the craze
The boom did not last. In the late 1890s, the market in some countries began to saturate, with many people already owning bicycles, and manufacturers had built up large stocks. Business consolidation and financial problems followed. In the United States, a consolidation effort in 1899 produced a large trust that struggled in the following years.
At the same time, early automobiles were appearing, and the motor car gradually became the focus of interest and investment. Many bicycle makers turned to motorcycles and cars. The bicycle remained in use, especially for local travel, but the sense of novelty faded.
What remained
Some effects of the boom remained after the fashion ended. Roads were better in many places, clubs had created a culture of recreational travel, and the idea that ordinary people could own a personal vehicle had been established. The experience prepared the ground for the motor age, and it left an image of the bicycle as a symbol of independence that has continued in different forms.