April 28 1914 Bicycling and Motorcycle review

[fat tire trader]

When was the "Big Boom Year"?

 

[hoofhearted]

When was the "Big Boom Year"?

fat tire trader ... i'd have to say 1914 ... looks like all major U.S. bicycle manufacturers had a
motorbike of sorts entered into a commercial venture, at that time ....

Great Question !!!

......... patric


fat tire trader .... THIS is for YOU ........

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[fat tire trader]

Its not 1914. It is referenced in the bottom of the second column of the 1914 article. My guess is that it was closer to the turn of the century.

 

[hoofhearted]

fat tire trader ... i agree with you ... a "big boom year" of notoriety would hardly celebrate a modification
to the diamond-frame bicycle .. creating a "bulldog" or "motorbike" by adding and/or bending a unit of frame
tubing. The (article-stated) "big boom year" certainly makes a reference to a time much earlier than 1914 ...
TOC or earlier ...... but i can't venture a ghost of a guess on any particular year.

Maybe i'm overstating the significance of the 'motorbike' design ... just 'cause i likes it !!! That "big boom year"
may simply refer to a year of bicycle production with respect to 'numbers' made ... celebrating at "The Altar of Quantity".

Still ... a Great Question !!!

............ patric

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[Balloontyre]

When was the "Big Boom Year"?

Maybe it's a reference to the economy of 1896 and the crash?

 

[bricycle]

When was the "Big Boom Year"?

close to 1898.

 

[Balloontyre]

close to 1898.

Seems that by '98 most manufacturers were out of business or on the way out

 

[bricycle]

Seems that by '98 most manufacturers were out of business or on the way out

I just picked that date, because it seems that was when the bike field was most flooded... could be 1896?

 

[Balloontyre]

I just picked that date, because it seems that was when the bike field was most flooded... could be 1896?

Ya it was flooded, lots of used bikes and NOS bikes from previous years were offered in ads of '98. It could be '98, I'm just thinking after the economy went south in '96 there was likely a downturn of production and lots of overstock.

 

[chitown]

Seems that by '98 most manufacturers were out of business or on the way out

Or bought out by colonel Pope and the ABC... then shut down by Pope so he could eliminate his competition and sell the manufacturing equipment. He really picked a bad time to start a monopoly. The 90's was the beginning of the assembled bicycle and the end of the armory style that came before it. That's when there were hundreds of bicycle manufacturers. They used companies like Aurora Automatic Machinery for their lugs and Shelby tubing for the frames. The armory style of building needed huge facilities and massive machining capabilities. Western Wheel Works showed that stamped metal parts could be used at a fraction of the cost of castings or lath produced parts. Iver Johnson was one of the only companies that survived by producing everything in house. Even Westfield Mfg called itself an assembler of bikes in the late teens when they were testifying in front of congress in regards to tariffs.