Wing Your Heel
Wore out three sets of tires already!
It's a pain having the lamp mounted so low, it's easy to knock it and break it. But as competition increased among US manufacturers in the late 1890s many cut costs and did not include a lamp bracket on the handlebar stem. A fork-mounted lamp bracket was a cheap accessory that a rider could buy and fit easily themselves.
All British bikes (except stripped down racers) had lamp brackets on the stem. But during WW1 many bikes were fitted with rifles. Standard rifle clips had the rifle protruding forward under the handlebar, which meant that a lamp mounted in conventional position would stop the handlebar turning as it met the static rifle. So lamp brackets were fitted to the front fork instead.
Observe that most of your photos are reversed - the chainwheels and lamp brackets are on the wrong side. A lamp would be mounted on the 'offside' i.e. so it was in the middle of the road.
All British bikes (except stripped down racers) had lamp brackets on the stem. But during WW1 many bikes were fitted with rifles. Standard rifle clips had the rifle protruding forward under the handlebar, which meant that a lamp mounted in conventional position would stop the handlebar turning as it met the static rifle. So lamp brackets were fitted to the front fork instead.
Observe that most of your photos are reversed - the chainwheels and lamp brackets are on the wrong side. A lamp would be mounted on the 'offside' i.e. so it was in the middle of the road.
