The Carolina Rambler
Finally riding a big boys bike
I'll chime in and use a couple of examples I have. This is something I have noticed and speculated about as well. I have a men's and women's pair of 1897 Cresent bicycles, and both of them have slotted forks. If I was to guess regarding the early innovation and design of bicycles, it would have been the most sensible to build forks with slots instead of holes, just like on the rear stays and for the same reasons, but I can only assume that perhaps there was a reoccurring incidence, or at least fear of, the front bolts failing or being insufficiently tightened, and the wheel flying loose, in the years following the 1890s. So as a safety feature, it was the general standard to build bicycle forks with holes and not slots, despite the difficulty of mounting a wheel. But then sometime between about 1935 and the late 30s to 1940, I am guessing is when slotted forks became standard, when bicycle equipment and hardware was perhaps consistently of a higher quality and less prone to failure of any kind than on earlier machines, which is why the slot design was finally acceptable and deemed safe. I draw this conclusion in part, because I have both a 1935, and a 39 Colson bicycle, and even on the 35, the forks are still not slotted. I've seen other similar examples as well, but this is all just an educated guess on my part. That would be my guess regarding that.
Even in modern times, there is a fear amongst manufacturers of the front wheel becoming loose or failing, which is why most all bikes available new currently are equipped at the very least with a seat of tear-drop shaped, hooked, safety locking washers to prevent involuntary dismounting of the front wheel.
Even in modern times, there is a fear amongst manufacturers of the front wheel becoming loose or failing, which is why most all bikes available new currently are equipped at the very least with a seat of tear-drop shaped, hooked, safety locking washers to prevent involuntary dismounting of the front wheel.
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