The High Wheel - Increased Speed and Comfort

The high-wheel bicycle was developed between 1870 and 1885 in direct response to the limitations of the velocipede, both in terms of speed and comfort. Given the fact that bicycle manufacturers remained tied to the idea of a direct-drive machine, the only means of increasing the gear ratio and speed of a machine was by increasing the diameter of the wheel. Fortunately, even with the increased diameter, machines with the new rubber shod, metal-spoked wheel weighed less, had better suspension and was more comfortable to ride. As the size of the driving wheel increased, the other wheel had to be reduced to maintain the stability of the machine.

The Ariel bicycle, Starley&Smith.(CSTM)

The Ariel (810206), produced by Starley& Smith in 1870, is recognized as the first commercially produced high-wheel bicycle. This machine exhibits most of the characteristics of high-wheel technology; because of the obviously larger driving wheel, the seat was positioned almost directly over the hub and pivot steering. The Ariel proved to be an effective design and continued to be produced for a decade. Throughout the 1870s and early 1880s, other designers and manufacturers worked to improve the high-wheel design.

There was a burgeoning market for the new machines among the growing number of young, male, middle-class cycling enthusiasts, who avidly took to the road in Europe and North America. However, because the high-wheel bicycle was both expensive and difficult to operate, it created an elitist atmosphere within many of the cycling clubs that had been established to encourage cycle touring. In Canada, clubs had been formed in every major city by 1880, and in 1881 the Canadian Wheelmen's Association, patterned after its American cousin, was established to coordinate events and disseminate information.

By the early 1880s the high-wheel bicycle had reached its most advanced form. Machines such as the restored Humber Racing Bicycle (810209) on exhibit characterized the highest standards of bicycle design. They were light-weight, powerful and comfortable and, with 152-centimetre wheels, could reach previously unattainable speeds. Yet despite these improvements, bicycle use was still limited to a highly athletic group, excluding a broad sector of the population. Even by the 1880s, cycle manufacturers realized the commercial limitations of the high-wheel design and began to seek a safer machine that could be sold to a wider market.