Early Bicycles and the Quest for Speed

Andrew Ritchie is the author of several books on the social and technological history of cycling and the bicycle. He lives in Cornwall, United Kingdom.

Table of Contents


Acknowledgments

Preface

Introduction: Sport, Speed, Technology and Modernity

Chapter One. The Origins of Bicycle Racing

 1. The Earliest Bicycle Racing

 2. The Beginning of Commercial Bicycle Production, 1865–69

 3. Velocipede Developments in France and the United States, 1867–69: Their Influence on the British Sport

 4. Charles Spencer’s London Gymnasium

 5. Bicycle Competition as Athletic Novelty and Public Spectacle

 6. Links Between Manufacture and Sport

 7. Varieties of Competitive Activity

 8. An Elite Emerges: Match Racing and Championships

Chapter Two. Expansion of Bicycling in Britain

 1. A ­Cutting-Edge, Modern, Technological Sport

 2. Technological Innovation at the Birth of Cycle Sport

 3. Amateurism and Professionalism in the 1870s

 4. Cycling at Oxford and Cambridge Universities

 5. “Muscular Christianity”: The Cycling Career of Ion ­Keith-Falconer

 6. “Gentlemen, Not Players’: The Establishment of the Bicycle Union, 1877–78

 7. John Keen (1849–1902)

 8. A New Athletic Liberalism

 9. The Bicycle Touring Club, 1878

10. Public Recognition of Bicycling

Chapter Three. The Beginnings of Bicycle Racing in the United States

 1. American Cycling in the Late 1870s

 2. The Foundations of American Cycling

 3. Harry Etherington: Bicycling Entrepreneur and Promoter of Endurance Spectacles

 4. Etherington’s 1879 “Anglo-French” Tour of America and Its Repercussions

 5. The Founding of the League of American Wheelmen

Chapter Four. Expansion of the ­High-Wheel Sport

1. The New Sport Expands and Matures

2. Bicycle Racing Infrastructure: Road Conditions and Track Construction

3. Competition in Britain: Amateurism and Professionalism in the Late 1870s and 1880s

4. Two Professionals: George Waller (c.1855–1900) and H.O. Duncan

(1862–1945)

5. Competition in France: The Tendency towards an “Open” Sport

6. British “Meets,” the Springfield Tournaments and the Growth of International Competition

7. New Departures: Tricycle Racing and Recreational Tricycling

Chapter Five. Sport, Speed and Safety, 1885–93

1. Design and Technological Ferment within the Bicycle Industry and the Sport

2. Alternative Designs: the “Facile” and the “Kangaroo.”

3. The ­Rear-Driven “Rover Safety” and the First “Safety” Races

4. The Rise of Road Racing

5. Competition and the Invention of the Revolutionary Pneumatic Tire

6. The Cycling Revolution, 1888–93

Chapter Six. The Foundations of Modern Road Racing

1. Road Competition in Britain and France

2. The Foundations of Modern Professional Road Racing in France: Sport as Business and Athletic Celebration

3. Opposition to Organized Road Racing in Britain

4. George Lacy Hillier: Amateurism Versus the “New Professionalism”

5. Road Racing in the United States

6. Racing Bicycles on Public Roads: Danger or Celebration?

Chapter Seven. International Competition

1. Bicycle Racing as a Global Sport

2. National Championships, International Competition and Early “World Championships”

3. The International Cyclists’ Association, 1892

4. World Champion: The International Career of Arthur Zimmerman

5. Amateurism, Professionalism and Licensing Schemes

6. The 1896 Olympic Games

7. Rival Philosophies of Cycling Competition and Sporting Excellence in the 1890s

Chapter Eight. Bicycle Racing and Modernity

1. The Transformation of Bicycle Racing in the 1890s

2. Long-Distance Races on the Road

3. Stage-Riding and ­Stage-Races on the Road and the Origins of the Tour de France

4. “Stayer” (Paced) Races

5. Six-Day Races

6. Professionalization and Commercialization

7. “Gigantism” and the Pursuit of Records

8. Sensationalism and “Gigantomania”

9. The Emergence of a Modern, Professional Sports Structure

Chapter Nine. ­Non-Competitive Cycling in the 1890s

Epilogue

1. A Period of Intensive Technological Change and Sport Development

2. Reviewing the Dynamics of Social and Technological Change

A. Agents of change within the sport and industry

B. The spectacular growth of the bicycle industry and the class penetration of cycling

C. Global expansion

D. Speed and modernity

3. Sport as Moral/Physical Crusade and Sport as Business

Chapter Notes

Bibliography

Index