Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1937-09-02
BICYCLE IS BACK
IN POPULAR FAVOR
Vigorously Returns After a
Lapse of Generation.


biggest crop in thirty years.
Massachusetts police chiefs are
concocting traffic regulations for
cyclists" says the National Geo
graphic society. Large cities have
built special cinder-surfaced paths
for them through shady parks. De-
partment stores offer pedaling In
struction on indoor Kinks or sta
tionary wheels.
weekly bike trains carry the
two-wheeled sportsmen, their cycles
stabbed in baggage cars, off to quiet
country roads for a days exercise
beyond the reach of metropolitan
street jams.
"This latest craze in America has
been seized upon as a pleasant
means of obtaining the city-dwell-
er's luxuries, fresh air and exercise.
In many foreign countries, however,
where the bicycle has long been
elected the leader among vehicles,
it won it's popularity contest on the
durable platform of usefulness.
Necessity xuCIc.
Gin Bermuda, for instance, where
automobiles are banned, bicycles
are virtually a household necessity
for youth and age. The fiat brick
highways of the Netherlands are too
good as cycling roads to waste,
and in many parts of that land
there are separate paths for BIZ
cycles as well. Shady lanes of the
English countryside, too narrow for
autos, are ideal for touring on two
wheels. In Nicaragua, larger inn
ported vehicles may necessitate con-
siderable expense, but bicycles in
droves are imported from England;
swarms of them dispute the streets
of Mangua with ox-carts and au-
tomobileS.
"Police on bicycles patrol the ca
nal paths of southern France. The
ploughman homeward plods his
weary way no longer; he pedals.
At sunrise peasant women briskly
cycle to market, their geese for foie
gras sitting in rows on handlebar
trays.
"The bicycle population of Koben-
havn, Denmark, is third as large
as the human population. Special
police direct the two-wheeled traffic.
''In Germany bicycle tours are
popular. Plump frauleins tear along
at IL miles an hour, some holding
cotton umbrellas over their heads.
Industrial centers are also cycling
centerS.
bicycles are widely used not on
ly in England, but also in Ireland
and Scotland.
"Such widespread use of cycles is
comparatively recent, for their
earlier popularity was spasmodic.
The first craze was for the walk
bicycle, or pedestrian curricle, de-
veloped in France and popularized
in England about 1920 by the Brit
ish coachmaker Denis Johnson. It
was simply an invention for walking
on wheels, a wooden rail mounted
on two grooved wooden wheels, pro-
PEELED scooter fashion. Even John
sons riding school could not induce
current sportsmen to suffer for long
the general ridicule toward riders
of these Dandy-Horses.
Fifty years, however, brought
radical changes. A monument Is
erected in Barbecue, near Verdun,
France, to the French locksmith
Michaux who suggested pedals for
wheels. One of his dissatisfied work.
men ran away and patented tho
idea in the United States. In Bos-
ton carriage manufacturers began
to turn them out, numbering con-
trivances of wood. These 'veloci-
pedes' had wooden pedals shaped
like large spools. A cord was pulled
to put on the brake, merely press
ing a wooden spoon against the
wheel to slow it.
Revolutionary Step.
"Translating bicycles into metal
was another revolutionary step.
Successfully came wire wheels,
then metal wheels with solid rubber
tires, then tubular steel bicycles.
The front wheel was enlarged to
diameter of five feet, to cover
more distance with less pedaling
while the rear wheel tagged along
like postscript, a foot high.
"By 1870 this 'highwheeler,' or
Spider Wheel was having it's day.
Six day bicycle races started.
Mounting stools were supplied at
the race track for ascending the
giant cycle, until builders began to
construct small steps on the rear
of the frame.
Frequent falls from this speedy
model FASTENED it's discard and
cleared the way for the Safety
bicycle, with wheels of the same
size. Pneumatic tires, invented by
an Irish veterinarian for the COM
fort of his little son, and ball bear
ings contributed to the comfort of
the cyclist. The craze was on again,
ushering in the Nineties, whose cy-
cling days are celebrated in song.
BY 1896 it was estimated that the
United States had four million bike
-