# Shakespeare would ride the bicycle... if alive today. 1896 Cleveland Bicycle Catalog.



## chitown (Dec 29, 2014)




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## chitown (Dec 29, 2014)




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## MrColumbia (Dec 29, 2014)

Very nice. No wonder Cleveland adds always sounded better in their _"original Klingon"_.


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## Wheeled Relics (Dec 29, 2014)

Two thumbs up !


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## MrColumbia (Dec 29, 2014)

It is very interesting that they list Westfield Mass as one of their factories in the 1896 catalog. All the documentation I had seen showed the factory being completed in 1897.


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## fordsnake (Dec 29, 2014)

MrColumbia said:


> It is very interesting that they list Westfield Mass as one of their factories in the 1896 catalog. All the documentation I had seen showed the factory being completed in 1897.




If Lozier was in the process of building his factory sometime in 1896...it makes sense (feasibility) to preempt brand's expansion in his '86 catalog, even though the factory wasn't competed until '87. It's a marketing ploy to solicit customer loyalty and perception of the brand growth


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## MrColumbia (Dec 29, 2014)

fordsnake said:


> If Lozier was in the process of building his factory sometime in 1896...it makes sense (feasibility) to preempt brand's expansion in his '86 catalog, even though the factory wasn't competed until '87. It's a marketing ploy to solicit customer loyalty and perception of the brand growth




That's what I figured as well.


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## bricycle (Dec 29, 2014)

Great handout/ad, but what a statement.... now they claim to read a dead mans mind....


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## chitown (Dec 29, 2014)

*Toledo on the badge*

Back cover:


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## bricycle (Dec 29, 2014)

poor guy named "Baron" was accused of being alot of those characters in that book....


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## Wheeled Relics (Dec 29, 2014)

Da Vinci would have rode a bicycle. No question about it...

roller-chain sketch




Leonardo Bicycle Hoax:
http://www.cyclepublishing.com/history/leonardo da vinci bicycle.html


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## bricycle (Dec 29, 2014)

prior to decent roads, likely no one would have ridden a bicycle, cobblestone is not kind to solid tires/rear ends (ouch)


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## Wheeled Relics (Dec 29, 2014)

Here is some food for thought. Wagon wheels traversed roads, including paved roads well since (western history) roman times. Likewise early velo's had wood wheels. On the thought of riding on cobble stone, the roads in Europe were much more developed over a longer period of time... where were the earlist velo's rode? Well down hill of course. Considering the circumstances of decent roads _following after_ the evolution of transportation... roads were improved, as a direct result of people riding bicycles."Good Roads" magazine was an advertising schema, or activism for the development of road improvement in North America. The railroad reached further, faster into the "pioneered" landscape than any trail turned road previously built. The roads in the united states were so bad in the early part of this century that Myths circulated about "coral roads in Bermuda were as smooth a billiard table, and never got dirty, even in the rain."


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## olderthandirt (Dec 29, 2014)

these cartoons are great ! about 35 years two of my buddies toured Scotland by racing bicycles  on the fourth day one of the hard chargers had to take off and purchase a thick wool sheep skin seat cover from the pounding his Bumm took !!! it put the other hard charger off schedule by a day or two who was 50 lbs lighter and not in dire misery and its still a sore subject with the hurt party ,i thought it was just about the funniest thing that could have happened to them ,they still do not think it was very funny


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## MrColumbia (Dec 30, 2014)

bricycle said:


> prior to decent roads, likely no one would have ridden a bicycle, cobblestone is not kind to solid tires/rear ends (ouch)




They did not refer the early ones as boneshakers for nothing. Yes, wagon style wheels on them and yes on cobblestone. Ever notice the huge leaf springs under the horse drawn carriages of the day? Yes they were bad roads that made for a difficult ride. They still did it though.


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## chitown (Dec 30, 2014)

bricycle said:


> prior to decent roads...





...described  as "Oklahoma Gumbo" in this 1917 clip.


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## filmonger (Dec 30, 2014)




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## Wheeled Relics (Dec 30, 2014)

"This sh*t writes itself" - William Shakespeare


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## bricycle (Dec 30, 2014)

could that be a "handlebar mustache"?


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## wasp3245 (Dec 31, 2014)

Hello all

Great posting of the Cleveland catalog ... the bicycling boom of the 1890's with cash flowing allowed the manufactures great luxury for the art department to go wild with promotion themes in their catalogs.  Victor did an all Oriental theme catalog , Schwinn's first catalog pictures their bicycles in scenes around the world. 

Bone shakers ...or Velocipedes  invented(1863-5) and first successively used (1867-1870) in France  were the Romans had done a good job with laying roads...and Napoleon had made it priority to have sand paper smooth wide boulevards.   

Here in American the velocipede was introduced to the public by the Hanlon Brothers as part of a stage act....August 1868....  The Hanlons were acrobats..high wire etc ..and needed a bit safer act to fill up some time ...so balancing on a velocipede / bicycle  going round and round on a small stage ( 30 x25 + - ) for 10  minutes to an audience who had never seen a bicycle worked . During the day the Hanlons would ride the velocipedes in mock races with each other in the greens/ parks of the cities they were performing in to drum up interest to sell tickets for the nights performance .   

During the Winter of 1868 / 69  hundreds of velocipede rinks opened across the nation ( roller skating had been introduced two years earlier..and a number of roller skating rinks  quickly added velocipedes as rentals to ride the rink) .

 Bicycling riding was introduced as a indoor sport ..racing, trick riding , long distance, games, etc ... all going in circles on a wood floor ...   Think of the last time you went to a roller rink ... you rent some skates  and circle the place to 2 hours ... all the things that go in a rink today were being done in 1869 ...   most folks just rented the velocipedes..so very little personal investment .

Much press was written about the anticipated riding in the streets come spring of 69.  End of April a huge gathering at the  Union ( race)  Course in Brooklyn proved just terrible American race courses were and the roads were even worse.  Most cities outlawed  the use of bicycles on sidewalks ( in most cases the only relatively smooth surface )  and many parks also  banned their use.   City streets were not all that friendly  for someone riding an oddity in them ...any one see "Gangs of New York " or "Copper" ?.....   plenty of  youth offering sticks and stones  could ruin your ride.... and at the other end of the social ruler  horseman  had no interest in sharing their roadway ...    horses like uneven roads  ( cobblestones / brick) as it is not slippery ...   
May 10th 1869 the Transcontinental Railroad was completed  America turned it's back in the bicycle world  till English machines were brought to the centennial in 1876 .
Economically there was a "correction" in the market fall of 69 when gold lost 1/3 it's value ( it only took 100 years to climb back) , and in 1873 a huge recession ( lead by the collapse of over extended railroads) took the nation south for many years .  

America had dumped all it's money into railroads ..the steel ribbon highway of the huge nation ... smooth roads did not become a universal priority till the 1890's with the "Good Roads Movement"  lead by bicyclists and farmers united. Once built the new automobiles were most happy about their construction . 

"Boneshakers"  ..wood wheels with steel tires ...  yes are a bit jarring on pavement ( also very slippery) ...  on crushed limestone  not  bad  ..  in America there were experiments and patents for wire spokes and rubber tires. In France , Meyer introduced a successive wire spoke / rubber tire by August 1869 .  Rubber tires make all the difference in the world ! 



  This is  Companie Parisianne velocipede built May / June 1870 ...no bone shaking going on here .. rides like a Lincoln town-car. 
Cheers Carey Williams


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