1886 L.A.W. Canton Ohio City Hall Photo 23"

[Carltonator]

Here is my latest greatest pick-up...just came today...I can see from the back it is mounted on card stock and was trimmed...probably to fit the frame…I’d like to examine the back for markings…but not enough to disturb for now…Size had me…It was taken during a Ohio Division L.A.W. meet...Started in Massillon then moved to Canton the next day where this was taken...One of those photos very hard to photograph...

 

[Major Taylor Archive]

Awesome find Carlton !

 

[pelletman]

Very nice!

 

[Carltonator]

Thanks pelletman and Major Taylor...Upon closer look I noticed the bugler....Of late I'm in the learning curve on cycling club bugles...there was an English one by Henry Keat & Sons in the last Copake auction that I was eyeballing but I spent everything on one item and couldn't get it...Hard to tell from the photo but looks like the one the Ohio L.A.W. was using may have been a trench bugle...as opposed the fancy ones with the oval bell like the Henry Keat & Sons one below...The whole subject of these bugles is interesting...

 

[mike cates]

In the front row of cyclists standing and holding their machines in both left and right close up views of this photo, you can see at least 3 men are riding high wheel safeties (possibly a "dwarf" Kangaroo with pedal and sprocket chain drives to front wheel with it's bent shaped handle bars and two treadle lever driven front wheel Faciles having straight handle bars) since the handlebar heights on each bike register about stomach height on all three men and these makes/models were available in 1886.
A few STAR high wheel safeties with treadle lever drives to rear large wheel are also shown.
Nice Photo!
Mike Cates, CA.

 

[Carltonator]

In the front row of cyclists standing and holding their machines in both left and right close up views of this photo, you can see at least 3 men are riding high wheel safeties (possibly a "dwarf" Kangaroo with pedal and sprocket chain drives to front wheel with it's bent shaped handle bars and two treadle lever driven front wheel Faciles having straight handle bars) since the handlebar heights on each bike register about stomach height on all three men and these makes/models were available in 1886.
A few STAR high wheel safeties with treadle lever drives to rear large wheel are also shown.
Nice Photo!
Mike Cates, CA.

Thanks Mike...that sounds like a great observation you've made...but those terms are over my head...remember I'm a newbie...Let's start with the three men riding high wheel safeties...I know what a high wheel is and I know what a safety is....but what is a "high wheel safety"....Also what is a "dwarf Kangraroo"...

 

[mike cates]

A high wheel safety is a adult sized bicycle (reach of leg) that has a smaller front wheel diameter bringing the rider closer and safer to the ground and easy to mount and dismount.
The classic high wheel bicycle was direct crank/pedal driven to the large front wheel axle and a rider rode the largest wheel he could reach which put him up in the air and he covered a lot of ground for each wheel/pedal rotation. The smaller rear trailing wheel was purely for fore and aft support of the rider.
High wheel safeties lowered the rider and some of them sped up the driven wheel from each crank/pedal rotation like on the KANGAROO where two different sized sprockets were linked by a chain to the front wheel. A predecessor of the rear wheel chain driven hard tire safety bicycle.
A deviation with a large rear driven wheel is the EAGLE and the large rear wheel driven lever and coiled leather belts STAR with both models making headers over the handle bars almost impossible and both having small front steerable wheels. The EAGLE would inherently want to do "wheelies" so riding style had to be adapted to it. The STAR using levers pushed the riders leg driving force downward between the small front wheel and larger rear wheel keeping it from doing "wheelies". Down hills were less intimidating since you had the little wheel in front of you.
Smaller (48" diameter or less) front wheel driven high wheel safeties used lever and linkages linked to front wheel axle (FACILE, G&J, SINGER XTRAORDINARY, etc), chain and sprocket drives linked to front wheel axle (KING, KANGAROO, and OTHER VARIATIONS) also existed.
The term "Dwarf" means a smaller adult sized version and is sometimes used to describe a high wheel safety as well.
From all of this, the hard tire safety with solid rubber wired on tires (like the high wheels) was born with the rider now positioned between roughly the same diameter wheels with cranks and pedals turning chain drive sprockets to gear up the rear wheel to equal that of the distance traveled by one rotation of a high whee bicycle. This is why modern bicycles are referred to as geared to a certain size wheel referring back to high wheel times.
Next big improvement was cushion tires (larger cross section and softer rubber or arched hollow tires glued to the inner sides of the rims as on a VICTOR) and then the pneumatic tire starting in 1892 on wood or metal rims.

I would highly recommend the book sold by Scott McCaskey right here on the CABE which is COLLECTING AND RESTORING ANTIQUE BICYCLES by G. DONALD ADAMS which will educate you on the progression of the bicycle. I have referred to this book for decades and is a wealth of knowledge.

Mike Cates, CA.

 

[Carltonator]

A high wheel safety is a adult sized bicycle (reach of leg) that has a smaller front wheel diameter bringing the rider closer and safer to the ground and easy to mount and dismount.
The classic high wheel bicycle was direct crank/pedal driven to the large front wheel axle and a rider rode the largest wheel he could reach which put him up in the air and he covered a lot of ground for each wheel/pedal rotation. The smaller rear trailing wheel was purely for fore and aft support of the rider.
High wheel safeties lowered the rider and some of them sped up the driven wheel from each crank/pedal rotation like on the KANGAROO where two different sized sprockets were linked by a chain to the front wheel. A predecessor of the rear wheel chain driven hard tire safety bicycle.
A deviation with a large rear driven wheel is the EAGLE and the large rear wheel driven lever and coiled leather belts STAR with both models making headers over the handle bars almost impossible and both having small front steerable wheels. The EAGLE would inherently want to do "wheelies" so riding style had to be adapted to it. The STAR using levers pushed the riders leg driving force downward between the small front wheel and larger rear wheel keeping it from doing "wheelies". Down hills were less intimidating since you had the little wheel in front of you.
Smaller (48" diameter or less) front wheel driven high wheel safeties used lever and linkages linked to front wheel axle (FACILE, G&J, SINGER XTRAORDINARY, etc), chain and sprocket drives linked to front wheel axle (KING, KANGAROO, and OTHER VARIATIONS) also existed.
The term "Dwarf" means a smaller adult sized version and is sometimes used to describe a high wheel safety as well.
From all of this, the hard tire safety with solid rubber wired on tires (like the high wheels) was born with the rider now positioned between roughly the same diameter wheels with cranks and pedals turning chain drive sprockets to gear up the rear wheel to equal that of the distance traveled by one rotation of a high whee bicycle. This is why modern bicycles are referred to as geared to a certain size wheel referring back to high wheel times.
Next big improvement was cushion tires (larger cross section and softer rubber or arched hollow tires glued to the inner sides of the rims as on a VICTOR) and then the pneumatic tire starting in 1892 on wood or metal rims.

I would highly recommend the book sold by Scott McCaskey right here on the CABE which is COLLECTING AND RESTORING ANTIQUE BICYCLES by G. DONALD ADAMS which will educate you on the progression of the bicycle. I have referred to this book for decades and is a wealth of knowledge.

Mike Cates, CA.

View attachment 1993374

View attachment 1993375

View attachment 1993376

View attachment 1993377

View attachment 1993378

View attachment 1993379

View attachment 1993380

V good explanation thank you Mike…Not sure I got it all downloaded into brain but the jist is the high wheel progressed and the drive evolved…good thing for the photos…Sounded like you have might have some personal experience with the wheelies…and headers over the handle bars with the Eagle and Star…thanks for the tip on Donald Adams book…Do you just collect or restore also…Thanks for that thoughtful prose…

 

[mike cates]

Never have personally done a header or done a wheelie but have heard of both from other rider/collectors over the years.
I just restore what I have which will keeps me busy.
Original and reproduction parts I offer for sale have only come from me not being able to find certain things for bicycles I have so have had to make them.
Partial or complete bicycles I have for sale is making an attempt to thinning out the herd.
Mike Cates, CA.

 

[dnc1]

Here's a couple of photos I took in July of last year at The 61st annual 'Benson Rally' ride over here in England.
It gives you a nice size comparison between an 'Ordinary' ((high-wheeler) and a 'Kangaroo' (or one of its variants), side by side......

...always great to see such wonderful things still in use.
I particularly liked the stylish 'cruising' pegs on the 'Kangaroo'.

Wonderful group photo of the L.A.W.