Editor's Column by Mike Richeson

Back to Table of Contents | Back to Main Index Previous Editor's Columns | Send mail to The Voice Everyone give thanks for bicycle mechanics In the last 150 years, much of the United States' and even the world's major advances were prompted by an unlikely group of heroes. I'll give you three tries to guess who. I'll even give you 10. Give up? If you have ever driven a car, flown on a plane or, as a woman, been thankful you don't have to wear corsets and large frumpy dresses----you owe gratitude to the bicycle and the mechanics who built them. The person who invented the bicycle or the specific date on which this occurred is unknown, but during the mid-1800s, wealthy folks began cruising around on heavy, single-speed bikes. Few could afford them because early bicycles cost around $300, a small fortune then. Before long, bicycle shops sprang up all over the nation as costs came down, and everyone jumped on the bike bandwagon. By 1890, bicycles were a full-blown craze. Some towns banned the bikes, stating that they startled horses and--get this--caused too much traffic congestion. Also by the 1890s, the automobile had crossed the Atlantic to the United States. The first American-made gasoline car sold in 1896. Who built the car? Bicycle mechanics Frank and Charles Duryea, brilliant men with an unfortunate last name. Of course, all the retro-grouches of the day spurned the automobile as a stupid fad that would never replace a sturdy horse. During the automobile's first 20 years of life, bicycle mechanics made the majority of the technological advances. In 1903, Horatio Nelson Jackson wagered $50 that he could drive his car across the United States in fewer than 90 days. He did it in 63. He hired Sewall Crocker, a skilled bicycle mechanic, to help drive and make repairs. Jackson could never have made the trip across the continent without Crocker. The trip established the durability and speed of the automobile, and the car industry began. Perhaps you've heard of Henry Ford? Bicycle mechanic! He introduced his Ford Model T in 1908, and the world of transportation changed forever. The former bike shop employee introduced the assembly line and mass-produced affordable cars for the entire nation. On Dec. 17, 1903, while scientists and mathematicians around the world looked for insights into the art of flying, two men from Ohio were taking flight in their homemade airplane. The Wright brothers didn't invent the idea of an airplane or the concept of a wing and lift. The brothers used current technology to build a balanced flying machine that could get off the ground. You know the rest of the story, I'm sure. The Wright brothers--both bicycle mechanics. The women's fashion industry owes many thanks to the bicycle. If you've seen pictures of women in the 1800s, you know that getting dressed looked like a full-time job. Extravagant dresses and bicycle chains don't mix, and soon women were flying over handlebars and taking nose dives in the streets. Men announced that women were too fragile for cycling. Maybe women took more kindly to that kind of talk back then, but I doubt it. When one's fragility is called into question, one must respond. Women ditched dresses for bloomers and rode like mad. Men and "proper" women immediately called them "loose" for their improper dress. Susan B. Anthony once stated that the bicycle "has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world." A cycling supporter agreed, writing to the Northern Wheeler in 1893: "I am tolerably certain that the net result [of the bicycle] will be that woman will take her true position as man's equal." How did a simple two-wheeled machine accomplish all this? Women, in general, couldn't drive. (Due to my wife's gentle advice, I will not write the joke I wanted to tell.) The bicycle granted women mobility and freedom. Also, the pool of eligible men skyrocketed when a woman could pedal to the surrounding towns. For millennia, mankind never advanced past Mr. Ed until bicycle mechanics developed the car and the airplane. Fewer than 100 years after the bicycle boom, Americans were standing on the moon. Mark Twain, as always, said it best: "Get a bicycle. You will not regret it. If you live." And tip your hats to the bicycle mechanics of yore--they gave us much. Back to Table of Contents | Back to Main Index Previous Editor's Columns | Top Of Page Send mail to The Voice| Journalism department website © 2003 The Voice. No part of this publication may be reproduced in written or electronic form without prior written consent from the journalism adviser of Multnomah Bible College. All rights reserved.