Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 December 1892 — The Wheel and Its Riders. [ARTICLE]

The Wheel and Its Riders.

The use of the bicycle is one of the striking features of the travel of the day. The bicycle is now one of the most common means of transport about cities and towns. It all parts of the country where there are fair roads it has largely displaced the horse, and It is continually extending its field of usefulness. It is comparatively but a few years since the bicycle was only a toy thought to be as little deserving of men as the small gravity wagons on which boys ride down the sidewalks. The first bicycle, or the velocipede, as it was commonly called, had little to recommend it. It was hardly faster or less laborious than walking, and the machine was laid aside at an early day. The big-wheel bicycle was a long advance. It changed a toy into a useful machine. It enabled the rider to travel rapidly with small labor. It hail the disadvantage that a small obstruction or a rough road meant a fall to the rider. Then some sensible mechanic remembered that with proper gearing the two low wheels could be made to go as far at a revolution as the big wheel, and the “safety” was the result. Since this invention the popularity of the machine has wonderfully increased. Any one sound in mind and limb may learn to ride. Old and young women and men may have the wheel at their service and enjoy the healthful exercise and the exhi'aration that comes from rapid motion without exertion. It was once a rarity to see a woman on a bicycle. Now the sight is so common as to cause no remark. An elderly man taking a spin was equally rare a few years ago. Now whitehaired gentlemen may be seen riding -the wheels through the streets on any fine day. The bicycle is the universal steed. It costs no more than a good horse. It never becomes hungry- or thirsty. Its “keep” is nothing. A little oil and the use of a cleaning rag are all the attention it needs. The only trouble about the possession of it is found in the numerous improvements that are being made, so that the buyer of the finest machine of this year may have bis heart eaten out with envy when he is passed by the rider of the finest machine of next year. The pneumatic tire, which secures ease of motion, has been the latest advance. Perhaps the use of aluminum, cutting the weight of the machine down to one-third that of those of steel, will be the next. The bicycle has passed the trotting horse in point of speed. Even the fleet Nancy Hanks, with the pneu-matic-tire sulky and the kite-shaped track, must yield io the safety with the athletic man to propel it. The experiments thus far made show that the bicycle will be valuable in war as well as in peace, and it is proposed to equip squadrons with it to secure rapid movement of troops. i The bicycle has proved a strong in--1 fluence for good roads. Every man i who owns a wheel becomes thereby a i strong advocate of smooth roads. ■ He finds the value of them at once. I On all points the bicycle is to be I commended. 1 A New York drummer has been held up and robbed in Chicago by four women. If female footpads are to be added to the other iniquities of [ the breezy city, it is not too lab to ; have a World’s Fair in some loc-ity j of conaparutivc'safety.