The 7th International Cycle History Conference

Summarized by David Herlihy

as published in The Bicycle Trader, September 10, 1996, Vol. II Issue VI
and presented here by Pedaling History Bicycle Museum

The 7th International Cycle History Conference took place September 3-7 at Buffalo, New York, USA. It attracted over 30 experts from around the world, and was brilliantly organized by Carl and Clary Burgwardt, the owners and operators of the Pedaling History Museum in nearby Orchard Park.

Though the program was quite varied, special attention was devoted to the early and little known pioneer period of cycling (from about 1865 to 1870). In particular, David V. Herlihy outlined a new comprehensive account on the invention and development of the early bicycle.

Herlihy is the founder of the non-profit Lallement Memorial Committee, which seeks to recognize the Frenchman Pierre Lallement as the true original inventor of the basic bicycle. Thanks to its efforts, a Boston bicycle path is now named after Lallement (it crosses the point where he died in obscurity at the start of the great bike boom in 1891).

A plaque will also be dedicated in New Haven [Connecticut] next August in conjunction with the Junior Nationals, to commemorate Lallement's historic "gyrations" on the Green there in April 1866. A few weeks later, after he had attracted an investor, he applied for a US patent. Awarded that November, it is the world's first public record of the basic bicycle. A photograph of the original drawings is now on display at the US Patent and Trademark Museum in Arlington, Virginia.

Most modern accounts credit another Frenchman, Pierre Michaux, with single-handedly inventing the bicycle in 1861 and launching the industry shortly thereafter. Herlihy had already debunked those belated claims at the 3rd International Conference held in Boston in 1993, but this time he presented startling new evidence to clarify exactly what did take place before the commercial bicycle burst on the scene in 1867.

Andrew Ritchie, author of King of the Road and Major Taylor, spoke on the beginnings of cycle racing in England in 1869. He stressed the importance of the sport in sustaining the boneshaker and eventually transforming it into the highwheeler.

Nick Clayton, author of Early Bicycles and editor of The Boneshaker, spoke more on the invention of the highwheeler. He challenged traditional accounts which cite Starley's 1871 Ariel as the breakthrough, suggesting that the real groundwork had been laid sometime before in France.

Carl Burgwardt presented a fascinating account of a local cycling pioneer, George Bidwell. As a boy, Bidwell tested the boneshaker, and went on to become one of Albert Pope's leading salesmen with the revival of the US industry in 1878. Bidwell recounted how Pope had stubbornly resisted shifting production to the modern safety bicycle pioneered by the British in about 1885. Pope soon saw the light, however, and went on to become one of the world's largest safety makers.

Glen Norcliffe, a Canadian geographer, spoke more in-depth about Pope and his overlooked role in pioneering mass-production technology, soon used by the nascent automotive industry.

Charles Meinert, a well-known Wheelman, gave a thorough and captivating account of the grueling single-rider six-day races, which were held in Madison Square Garden, New York between 1891-98.

Derailleurs also figured heavily in this conference, with three of the world's experts actually confined to a single hotel room, Frank Berto of Bicycling fame, Ron Shepherd of Australia, and Raymond Henry of France. The first two sketched the history of the derailleur from early safeties to mountain bikes. Henry spoke about a famous maker of French touring frames, Jo Routens.

Nicholas Oddy of Scotland spoke about cycle accessories as aesthetic objects, while Alex Pollock of the Wheelmen focused on bicycle bugles from the highwheel era (which he demonstrated to great amusement). Roger Street of England spoke about Dicycles (two-track two-wheelers) through the ages, while Ross Petty of Babson College tackled the vast and fascinating subject of women and cycling.

Sandra Markham, a special guest speaker, gave a dinner slide presentation on the Kauffman family of Rochester, New York. These famous acrobats were popular from the highwheel era through the outbreak of World War I. Participants were very much intrigued, as they were with the final treat: a tour of Niagara Falls. It included an exhilarating boat ride on the Maid of the Mist.

All in all, the conference was a tremendous success and the Burgwardt's are to be thanked and congratulated by the cycling community. Proceedings will be available in the Spring through Bicycle Books, which has published the last three, held in Boston, US; Cambridge, UK; and South Africa. Next year's conference will be in Glasgow, Scotland.

This series has sparked a great deal of imaginative, original research on a wide variety of topics related to the rich but underdeveloped field of cycle history. We can all look forward to many more exciting revelations from future gatherings.

HöhnePages
Contact M. Hoehne at [email protected]