In 1890s Chicago, bicycles were all the rage Chicago’s fastest, rudest bicyclists were called “scorchers.” They hunched over their handlebars as they raced in the streets. They were “selfish, reckless, impudent transgressors of the law and trespassers upon the rights of others,” the Tribune harrumphed. The newspaper described scorchers as cyclists “who delight to whirl around corners without warning and sweep down upon the unwary on a crossing, with a laugh at the alarm they cause and only a very slight fear of the police.” It was 1896, the pinnacle of America’s first cycling craze, and Chicago was caught up in the excitement over these new “noiseless steeds.” Then as now, bicycles jostled with other modes of transportation, vying for supremacy. After a brutal winter this season that kept many bicycles in the garage, that scene will be staged anew as warmer weather allows cyclists to pedal lakefront paths or commute on city and suburban streets. At the turn of the last century, bicycles were such a novelty they required their own vocabulary. Scorchers weren’t the only breed of “wheelmen,” as cyclists were known. Upper-class citizens leisurely rode bicycles down the boulevards. Some laborers — those who could afford a bicycle — were using bikes to do their [...] ilinnews/in-1890s-chicago-bicycles-were-all-the-rage/
Posted on: Sun, 04 May 2014 03:01:19 +0000
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