| |
Main
Date: 18 Nov 2007 13:23:29
From:
Subject: coasting pegs in action
|
Here's the first photograph I've found (as opposed to drawings) of a
rider actually using the coasting pegs on the fork of an early
fixed-gear safety bicycle:
http://www.nostalgic.net/index.asp?S=arc/pre1920/1890%27s+man+on+bike%2Ejpg
Nice costume. The position of the coasting pegs must make it hard to
tuck in. The cross frame, as they were known, shows that it was a very
early safety, probably pre-1890.
I'd love to find a contemporary picture of someone using the rare
coasting pegs on a highwheeler:
http://img1.photographersdirect.com/img/17706/wm/pd781040.jpg
Few highwheelers came with coasting pegs built onto the frame. Flding
coasting pegs for the front fork could be added for one shilling,
six-pence in 1879:
http://books.google.com/books?id=wYg3AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA198&lpg=PA198&dq=%22keen's+eclipse%22&source=web&ots=BszxqQAjVP&sig=aooIqM3qS9tg5SJl1pY__x9jzDQ#PPA190,M1
But most high-wheel riders just hung their legs over the handlebar
when coasting.
Cheers,
Carl Fogel
|
|
| |
Date: 18 Nov 2007 17:52:54
From: limeylew@gmail.com
Subject: Re: coasting pegs in action
|
On Nov 18, 2:23 pm, carlfo...@comcast.net wrote:
> Here's the first photograph I've found (as opposed to drawings) of a
> rider actually using the coasting pegs on the fork of an early
> fixed-gear safety bicycle:
>
> http://www.nostalgic.net/index.asp?S=arc/pre1920/1890%27s+man+on+bike...
>
> Nice costume. The position of the coasting pegs must make it hard to
> tuck in. The cross frame, as they were known, shows that it was a very
> early safety, probably pre-1890.
>
> I'd love to find a contemporary picture of someone using the rare
> coasting pegs on a highwheeler:
>
> http://img1.photographersdirect.com/img/17706/wm/pd781040.jpg
>
> Few highwheelers came with coasting pegs built onto the frame. Flding
> coasting pegs for the front fork could be added for one shilling,
> six-pence in 1879:
>
> http://books.google.com/books?id=wYg3AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA198&lpg=PA198&dq=%...
>
> But most high-wheel riders just hung their legs over the handlebar
> when coasting.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Carl Fogel
Hi, Carl, since I am a former Brit, I had a little chuckle when I
read, "one shilling, six-pence"
(probably a princely sum in 1879).
This is what it actually is but, in the local vernacular, it would
probably have been expressed as 'one and six', or 18 pence.
A shilling was often called a 'bob' and sixpence was a 'tanner'.
Hope this didn't bore you. :-)
Kind regards.
Lewis.
*****
|
| | |
Date: 18 Nov 2007 19:37:02
From:
Subject: Re: coasting pegs in action
|
On Sun, 18 Nov 2007 17:52:54 -0800 (PST), "limeylew@gmail.com"
<limeylew@gmail.com > wrote:
>On Nov 18, 2:23 pm, carlfo...@comcast.net wrote:
>> Here's the first photograph I've found (as opposed to drawings) of a
>> rider actually using the coasting pegs on the fork of an early
>> fixed-gear safety bicycle:
>>
>> http://www.nostalgic.net/index.asp?S=arc/pre1920/1890%27s+man+on+bike...
>>
>> Nice costume. The position of the coasting pegs must make it hard to
>> tuck in. The cross frame, as they were known, shows that it was a very
>> early safety, probably pre-1890.
>>
>> I'd love to find a contemporary picture of someone using the rare
>> coasting pegs on a highwheeler:
>>
>> http://img1.photographersdirect.com/img/17706/wm/pd781040.jpg
>>
>> Few highwheelers came with coasting pegs built onto the frame. Flding
>> coasting pegs for the front fork could be added for one shilling,
>> six-pence in 1879:
>>
>> http://books.google.com/books?id=wYg3AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA198&lpg=PA198&dq=%...
>>
>> But most high-wheel riders just hung their legs over the handlebar
>> when coasting.
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Carl Fogel
>
>Hi, Carl, since I am a former Brit, I had a little chuckle when I
>read, "one shilling, six-pence"
>(probably a princely sum in 1879).
>
>This is what it actually is but, in the local vernacular, it would
>probably have been expressed as 'one and six', or 18 pence.
>
>A shilling was often called a 'bob' and sixpence was a 'tanner'.
>
>Hope this didn't bore you. :-)
>
>Kind regards.
>
>Lewis
Dear Lewis,
Yes, "one and six" sounds more familiar.
It's hard to say what prices meant back then. High-wheeler bicycles
were expensive toys, but people would sacrifice to have them if they
really wanted them, just as some teen-agers today will scrimp and save
for the expensive gaming computer that may cost ten times what my
medical clients buy for their clerks.
If you look at the rest of the ad, a lamp that hung from the
highwheeler's front hub cost five and six, almost four times as much
as the folding front footpegs, while "best pigskin saddles" cost only
three shillings:
http://books.google.com/books?id=wYg3AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA190&lpg=PA190&dq=%..#PPA190,M1
It's on page 190--I seem to have somehow pasted the link to page 198.
A whole "tapered backbone," roughly the equivalent of a safety bicycle
frame with no fork, was only three shillings, but then it was pretty
much just a curved piece of tapering pipe with some mounting studs for
the front and rear forks and the big leaf spring for the saddle.
"Bent steel backbones" cost more than twice as much, 7 shillings, just
as more exotic frames cost more today.
Cheap V-rims for highwheelers were only 3 & 6, while the improved U
rims were 5 & 6. It was apparently just a little too early for the
hollow crescent rims.
Cheers,
Carl Fogel
|
|
