1891 was an interesting year in bicycle evolution. Penny farthings were now ‘old hat’ and the days of the tricycle (in the centre of the illustration below) were also numbered. The design of the new safety bicycle had improved in leaps and bounds, and in just five years the crossframe on the left had already been superseded by the diamond frame gents bicycle on the right.
But the real revolution at this time was in tyres, and it’s interesting that the artist has fitted pneumatic tyres to the old-style crossframe in the illustration above.
Charles Terront was photographed with this style of wide pneumatic tyre on his Humber after winning the inaugural Paris-Brest-Paris 1200km road race later that year.
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