http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Topic: "A List of Don’ts for Women on Bicycles Circa 1895" en Sun, 05 Apr 2026 22:55:27 +0000 http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6444#post-69329 Mon, 07 May 2012 17:42:29 +0000 crowriver 69329@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Here's an even better one. No bloomers though. 1912's Pedal on Parliament.</p> <p><img src="http://oldbike.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/1912_suffragettes_winston.jpg"> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6444#post-69322 Mon, 07 May 2012 17:15:10 +0000 Claggy Cog 69322@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@crowriver - great pictures, I think they look very stylish and classy. No mudguards and no back brake in the bottom picture...fixies with chainguards, and how daring, coasting and no hands!! </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6444#post-69313 Mon, 07 May 2012 16:29:32 +0000 Smudge 69313@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@Kirst "<em>So, what do you think of my bloomers? </em>"</p> <p>Dunno, show us a picture! </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6444#post-69305 Mon, 07 May 2012 15:49:28 +0000 crowriver 69305@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Clearly these ladies are discussing the merits of each other's bloomers:</p> <p><img src="http://www.fashion-era.com/images/Edwds1890-1915/cyclistsx20.jpg"></p> <p>Looks like she thinks everyone is looking at her:</p> <p><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dn30HWOxBT8/TxCiPDcUREI/AAAAAAAAA0o/bbHTGsrR1YU/s1600/bicycle1894bazar.jpg"></p> <p>Examples of reckless coasting behaviour below. The lady on the right has a clear case of 'bicycle face'.</p> <p><img src="http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug02/hendrick/bloomers.jpg"> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6444#post-69294 Mon, 07 May 2012 14:57:39 +0000 crowriver 69294@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@steveo, from the same article:</p> <p>BICYCLE FACE</p> <p>In the 1890s, America went bicycle crazy. Mass production combined with technical innovations — equal-size wheels, brakes, rubber inflatable tires — made two-wheelers both the “rich man’s recreation” and the “poor man’s horse.”</p> <p>The boom also saw an explosion in bicycle-specific diagnoses. Doctors of the time reported “bicycle stoop” and “bicycle hernia,” as well as a syndrome called “bicycle heart,” caused by too-rapid acceleration. “Cyclist’s sore throat” came from ingested dust.</p> <p>Oddest of all was “bicycle face” — “an expression either anxious, irritable, or at best stony.” The description came from one Dr. A. Shadwell, who coined the term in popular periodicals like the National Review. “Nearly all [cyclists] have it ,” Shadwell claimed in Medical Age, since it results from the “severe nervous strain” of balancing on two wheels. He wondered, “Did ever [a] pastime wear a mien so sombre?”</p> <p>Not all doctors agreed. Writing in the American Medico-Surgical Bulletin in 1895, one physician speculated that “bicycle face” might be nothing more than “a variety of horse-face or locomotive-face.” A different writer in the same publication joked that too much discussion on the matter might give rise to another illness: “bicycle-face face.” </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6444#post-69293 Mon, 07 May 2012 14:50:55 +0000 Min 69293@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><em>Patients wore a facial expression “verging on the satanic” — variously dubbed “the sphinx-face,” and the “you-be-damned” expression.</em></p> <p>Well I don't think that affliction has ever gone away.. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6444#post-69289 Mon, 07 May 2012 14:32:02 +0000 steveo 69289@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Better to have "Bicycle Face" than “the sphinx-face,” from <a href="http://articles.boston.com/2012-02-19/ideas/31074207_1_wi-fi-headache-elevators/2">AUTOMANIA</a> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6444#post-69287 Mon, 07 May 2012 14:25:06 +0000 Min 69287@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>The writer seems almost as fixated on bloomers as some people are with lycra nowadays. I guess not much has really changed since then!</p> <p><em>Don’t cultivate a “bicycle face.”</em></p> <p>Priceless. If we had signatures on this forum, this would be mine. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6444#post-69284 Mon, 07 May 2012 14:07:17 +0000 Kirst 69284@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>So, what <em>do</em> you think of my bloomers? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6444#post-69275 Mon, 07 May 2012 13:12:31 +0000 Smudge 69275@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>:-) I've seen worse current lists of do's and don'ts! B-) </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6444#post-69271 Mon, 07 May 2012 13:01:52 +0000 chdot 69271@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/01/03/donts-for-women-on-bicycles-1895" rel="nofollow">http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/01/03/donts-for-women-on-bicycles-1895</a> </p>