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Article on SF Bay Area pre 1900 Cycling Scene. Many great photos.

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gkeep

I live for the CABE
Found this story today and had to post it. There are some great photos of late 19th century club rides, good clothing and wheel details. Now where're all these machines now? Casualties of WWI and WWII scrap drives?

https://timeline.com/photos-of-san-...ut-today-s-bike-hipsters-to-shame-36864ee5e02.

A few of the nice snaps.
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After hearing about WWII scrap drives for decades, I think the idea that teenage brownshirts scrapped out tens of thousands of bike is total BS. They still keep turning up .
 
The topic of what went in the garbage in the past is a common conversation at work. William Rathje (Garbologist) at the University of Arizona has done a lot of research doing archeology style digs at old and modern dumps around the world. Some of them may have gone to dumps in rural areas. Cities have always had scavenger services and until the 1960s when hydraulic packing trucks came into use everything picked up was hand sorted. The paper, glass, metal, rags, etc had enough value, local demand for raw materials and labor was cheap. I've looked at a few hundred cubic yards of 1920s and 30s landfill and the only metal is small stuff like tin cans, labels still readable. A lot of shoes, shoe soles and small paper items also still legible.

One man of the crew stayed in the truck to sort everything as it was brought up the "seven steps to heaven". He was usually the new guy. The helper moved to the next address while the driver moved the truck forward and the picker sorted material into boxes, barrels, etc. You can see in this photo they've made a temporary barricade that may be for the out throws. Urban garbage was very different before the throw away by design 50s and 60s.
Alameda Scavengers Association DeMartini Truck
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San Francisco Horse Drawn wagon. When the trucks came along they just put the same wagon bed on a truck chassis.
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One of our fleet of restored antique trucks, a locally made DeMartini.
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Whatever could be reused usually was- a city staple was the "rag and bone man" picking up those items. Out in the country it was a different story, with every farm having a dump. But even through the 1940's almost everything was broken before it ended up there. It was just not in the culture to throw things away. When the high wheel bikes appeared, a common suggestion was to go find an old velocipede and learn how to ride it first. And for safety bikes, just look at how many have had wheels and tires swapped out for something that was easier to find (at the time) to keep them on the road.
 
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