Image: Bicycling-ca1887-bigwheelers

Description: "Bicycling", a ca. 1887 color print showing one of the few ways in which it was socially acceptable for women to ride cycles, in the years before the invention of "safety bicycles" and the woman's "bicycle suit" (see Image:Ausfahrt im Sociable um 1886 - Verkehrszentrum.JPG for another example, or compare Image:Ellimans-Universal-Embrocation-Slough-1897-Ad.png to see the radical change in the way that women went cycling over a period of just ten years). The print shows a number of men riding big-wheel or "penny-farthing" bicycles, while a woman is riding a three-wheeled cycle, which appears to be steered by a rod going from the lever under her right hand along the boom to the front wheel. The woman is probably riding in front partly for the reason that if she rode in back, the men would constantly have to be looking behind them, to make sure that they didn't quickly open up large gap by going much faster than she could.

Note how the man on the far right has his legs over the handlebars as he descends the hill to ensure that, should the large front wheel of the bicycle he is riding hit a rock, be caught in a rut or otherwise become unable to turn, he would be thrown off feet first, as opposed to head first ("taking a header") if seated with his feet on the pedals.
Usage Terms: Public domain