I came across the ad below this morning, which is one I had not see before - an ad for a 1940s Schwinn Continental geared toward adult riders in the United States. I've seen quite a few of these catalogs and ads from the period between the late 1930s and early 1950s, mostly those from Schwinn and Westfield/Columbia, advertising adult-oriented utility bicycles in the U.S.
But this was an ad I have not seen before, and I especially like how it advertises the Continental three speed Schwinn as a practical cycle for exercise, vacation, and utility transportation.
I've written before about the interesting attempt by some of the American bike builders to revive adult-oriented utility and leisure cycling in the period from about 1938 through the early 1950s. (see my 2017 article and my 2015 article). It is too bad bicycles like this did not take off more in that time period... over 20 years before the second "bike boom" (the first was in the 1890s) in the U.S. I also like how the ad references "foreign" bicycles, likely the English Raleigh and Hercules three speeds coming into the U.S. just after WWII.
I sometimes wonder what could have happened if adult bikes did take off again after WWII. There was still a bit of war-time austerity and I'm sure not enough new cars to go around. But we rebounded pretty quick. Whereas in the UK the austerity lasted through the 1950's since the war took a greater toll on them. Adult biking was very much a thing. It wasn't until the 1960's where cars really took over.
ReplyDeleteI've got a booked called "Bike-Ways" by Godfrey Frankel. It was published in 1950. It focused on adult cycling (with a focus on young adults) and things like bike touring and hostels. I like to peruse it from time to time because it was a glimpse at a world that didn't take hold in the way that Frankel had hoped. (There's a couple updates to "Bike-Ways", the last one published in the early 70's. But each update was more geared at kids.)
-Shawn
https://societyofthreespeeds.wordpress.com/
Our bike infrastructure would probably be more developed (at least somewhat and in some places), and perhaps drivers would be a little more used to cyclists. It seems like in Britain and parts of Europe, the cycling infrastructure is more developed because there was a longer acceptance of bicycling as an option for short commutes or errands. The development of rail trails here has been a good thing, but it would have been nice to have had a couple decades' head-start building the trails.
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