Cycling: The Badminton Library (1889)
Cite this book
Citation
Viscount Bury and G. Lacy Hillier. Cycling: The Badminton Library (1889). 1889. cyclearchive.com, https://cyclearchive.com/books/the-badminton-library-cycling-1889/
Page numbers are pages of the PDF, which can differ from the numbers printed on the page.
Contents
- The Editor of the Badminton Library explains that no modern encyclopaedia guides the inexperienced in British sports and pastimes, and offers the series, written by experts in each sport, to supply the want.
- Viscount Bury opens from Professor Huxley's remark that no improvement since Achilles had added to unaided man's speed, and surveys cycling's rapid growth: his 1885 estimate of 400,000 cyclists from Cyclists' Touring Club reports, the tricycle and Coventry chairs for invalids at Harrogate, labourers and servants riding to work, bicycle versus tricycle, the N.C.U. and C.T.C. (over 20,000 members), road reform, the maker's-amateur dispute, the limits of the electric tricycle and the cycling press.
- A history from Baron von Drais's dandy horse and the velocipedes shown at the 1862 Exhibition, through the Paris machines brought to London in 1869 and the rise of Coventry makers, to the Middlesex B.C. ride to John o' Groat's in 1873, Crystal Palace and Hampton Court meets, the Keith-Falconer, Cortis and Keen races, the Stanley Show, the Harrogate Camp and the records of the mid-1880s.
- Instruction in learning to ride, recommending an old boneshaker or a few lessons on a tricycle first, then teaching oneself, mounting, pedalling and the ankle action with the home trainer, position of the handles, choosing the size of wheel, fitting the saddle, adjusting and caring for the machine, and the use of brakes and avoiding falls.
- On racing, which the chapter credits with much of cycling's success: the lighter racing bicycles and tricycles (the Humber built for George Gatehouse, the weight lessons of Keith-Falconer's machine), learning to race on a roadster, and how to run a race meeting with its committee, honorary secretary, starter, judge, timekeepers, umpires and press enclosure.
- Advice for the holiday tourist, the commonest cyclist: planning the route, a moderate daily mileage rather than sixty to a hundred miles, light luggage in bags and carriers (never on the spring), the woollen kit and combination garment, forwarding parcels to hotels, and preparing the machine, tool wallet and lamp.
- The old professional trainers' harsh regimes, including bans on drinking, against the amateur's need for sensible preparation; the mental side, the different temperaments of racing men, sprinters and stayers, a daily programme on the track with walking and massage, and other sports that suit or hinder a cyclist.
- The case for a proper cycling costume, covering undergarments of wool rather than linen or cotton, flannel shirts, jerseys and the 'Weather Defiance' coat, knee-breeches and short stockings, light flexible shoes, headgear, and the grey C.T.C. cloth costume for lady riders.
- Cycling clubs and their part in the sport: the Pickwick B.C. (1870), the Stanley C.C. and its show, the Surrey B.C. (1871), provincial bodies such as the Bradford club, the North Warwickshire and Speedwell clubs, Scottish and foreign clubs, athletic clubs with cycling branches, and the Oxford and Cambridge University clubs with their champions such as Keith-Falconer and Whatton.
- How women took up the tricycle from about 1878, against medical objections and unsuitable machines sold as 'ladies' tricycles', learning with husbands and brothers on sociables and tandems, the correct saddle and reach, sensible shoes and dress, and membership of clubs and the C.T.C.
- Why running tracks like the old Lillie Bridge path, with its 'Hospital Corner', were dangerous for cycle racing, and a survey of the proper tracks: Cambridge and Oxford, Alexandra Palace and the Crystal Palace track at Sydenham, one of the first laid solely for cycling.
- The origin of the governing body: the 1876 press agitation involving Murray Ford of the Temple B.C., the London, Pickwick, Surrey and Temple clubs founding the Bicycle Union in 1877 under Mr. Cobb, its challenge to the A.A.C. championship, its local centres and rules for race meetings, and the championships established from 1879, with tables of winners to 1886.
- The C.T.C., founded on 5 August 1878 as the Bicycle Touring Club through the Bradford B.C. and Stanley J. A. Cotterell, its early troubles, the appointment of Mr. Shipton as secretary and editor of the Gazette, its prospectus of hotel headquarters and consuls, and its growth.
- How advertising supported a specialised cycling press, with 'Bicycling News' (founded 1876 and merged in 1885 with 'The Tricyclist' and 'Wheel Life', edited by Lacy Hillier), other cycling papers, sporting papers such as 'The Sportsman', 'The Field' and 'The Referee', annuals including Nairn's 'Bicycle Annual', Sturmey's 'Indispensable Bicyclist's Hand-book', and the C.T.C. Gazette.
- Part I explains the parts of the machine (head, forks, handle-bars, cranks and pedals, springs and saddles, spokes, bearings, brakes, and tricycle driving gear such as Starley's 1877 differential and clutch gears) with adjustment and repair; Part II describes modern cycles: ordinary bicycles, the Rover and other safeties, the Facile, tricycles, tandems, sociables, trade carriers and lamps.