1895 cycling

[mtk62]

Cycling notes: snobbery, female riders and dispensing with a brake – archive, 1895

Pneumatic saddle
A paragraph for lady riders. A lady says she has found the Guthrie-Hall pneumatic saddle very satisfactory, and all of her feminine acquaintances who have tried it appear to like it too. I know a good many men who do not care for it, but that is beside the mark in the present case. I should recommend the Guthrie-Hall people to push it specially for feminine use.

The use of the brake
Except for absolute road-racing or record-breaking, there is nothing gained – I cannot underline this too strongly – by dispensing with a brake. From one to one and a half pound is about the weight saved, and this is not felt in ordinary riding.
...
Of course I do not recommend cyclists to get into the habit of constantly using the brake; it should be kept as a last resource, and only used in case of sudden necessity or danger.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/mar/04/cycling-notes-snobbery-female-riders-and-dispensing-with-a-brake-1895

[Gerry557]

Now I thought this was about another Yellowstone prequel but with bikes instead of horses.

Beryl Burton wouldn't find the road through Gargrave to Malham too heavy with hills.

[UncleEbenezer]

Sounds entirely sensible to me. The difference between male and female anatomies is nowhere more important than in the choice of bike seat, and you really can't argue with the advice to have brakes! 1895 was, after all, the era of the safety bicycle while at the same time the pennyfarthing had dominated the formative years of anyone above a certain age.