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Speaker 1: Welcome to stuff Mom Never told you From House top

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Speaker 1: Works dot Com. Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm

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Speaker 1: Kristen and I'm Caroline. So today we're talking about J. K. Starley,

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Speaker 1: John Camp Starley. He didn't invent the modern bicycle, but

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Speaker 1: he certainly perfected designs that were evolving in the nineteenth

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Speaker 1: century and thanks to J. K. Starley. As I was

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Speaker 1: on my way to the office today, Kristen, yeah, I

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Speaker 1: saw a lady riding a bicycle and it was it

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Speaker 1: was a nice bike and she even had an ad

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Speaker 1: on the side advertising massage services. I'm sure it was legit,

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Speaker 1: but she would not have likely been doing such a

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Speaker 1: thing riding the bike, I mean if it were not

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Speaker 1: for J. K. Starley, Right. J K. Starley's Safety Bike,

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Speaker 1: as it was called, not only was an important chapter

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Speaker 1: in transportation history, but also in women's history because of

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Speaker 1: the freedom that it represented to women. I shall now

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Speaker 1: quote Susan B. Anthony and I often cited quote. I

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Speaker 1: know we've used it in the podcast before on an

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Speaker 1: episode we did a long time ago on women and bikes,

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Speaker 1: but nevertheless, here it is again. Susan B. Anthony in

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Speaker 1: eight said, I think it has done more to emancipate

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Speaker 1: women than anything else in the world. It gives a

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Speaker 1: woman a feeling of freedom and self reliance. The moment

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Speaker 1: that she takes her seat, she knows she can't get

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Speaker 1: into harm unless she gets off of her bicycle. In

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Speaker 1: a way, she goes a picture of the free, untrammeled womanhood.

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Speaker 1: And she's talking specifically about this safety bicycle, right, and

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Speaker 1: not the bikes that had been popular before this, which

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Speaker 1: were then called ordinaries after the safety rovers came out.

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Speaker 1: The previous bikes, which were the hilarious ones we think

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Speaker 1: govin ye olden times that had the ginormous front wheel

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Speaker 1: and the tina tanned back wheel, and you know, like

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Speaker 1: men with handlebar mustaches and and like swim suits that

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Speaker 1: were the black and white stripes. Like that's what I

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Speaker 1: think of when I think of these ordinaries. She was

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Speaker 1: not talking about those, because those were actually not only

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Speaker 1: were they incredibly unsafe and really suited only two very

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Speaker 1: tall athletic men, but they essentially prevented women from even

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Speaker 1: getting involved in cycling for like decades, because how is

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Speaker 1: a woman in all of those heavy clothes and all

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Speaker 1: of the moral like rules and regulations of the day,

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Speaker 1: How is she going to hoist herself up over that

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Speaker 1: ginormous wheel. Yeah, let's keep in mind that fashionable women

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Speaker 1: at the time would have been wearing outfits that weigh

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Speaker 1: about twenty five pounds, and so getting up on top

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Speaker 1: of this very unwheeldy machine was pretty much out of

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Speaker 1: the question. So thankfully John Kemp Starley, who was the

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Speaker 1: nephew of James Starley, who was considered the father of

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Speaker 1: the British bike in industry, don't you know, in developed

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Speaker 1: this rover bicycle and it was a really big deal

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Speaker 1: because you know, it didn't tip over like the Ordinary

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Speaker 1: or the penny Farthing as it was also known as.

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Speaker 1: And he invented it not so that women could ride bikes,

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Speaker 1: you know, but because well he was an engineer and

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Speaker 1: he said, my aim was not only to make a

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Speaker 1: safety bicycle, but to produce a machine that should be

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Speaker 1: the true evolution of the cycle. So, I mean it

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Speaker 1: was just kind of taking technology a step forward for that.

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Speaker 1: And so what was the difference between the Ordinary and

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Speaker 1: Starley's safety rover that he introduced. Well, revolutionarily, the wheels

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Speaker 1: were almost of equal size, can you imagine, And there

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Speaker 1: were cranks at the bottom bracket, and there was an

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Speaker 1: actual chain powered by pedals that then powered the wheel. You,

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Speaker 1: I just it's crazy. The science behind all of this, Well,

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Speaker 1: we might think of that too as some pretty rudimentary design,

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Speaker 1: but it was still a huge deal at the time.

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Speaker 1: Although the tires that were on the first Safety Rovers

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Speaker 1: were solid rubber that were wired to the tire rims Dunlop.

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Speaker 1: This guy Dunlop wouldn't come around with his pneumatic tires

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Speaker 1: until eighteen eighty nine. But all of this technology is

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Speaker 1: happening around the same time, all these different developments, people

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Speaker 1: taking these designs and improving and improving and improving until

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Speaker 1: we get something like the Rover that really looks pretty

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Speaker 1: much like the bikes that we ride today. And the

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Speaker 1: same year that Dunlop introduced his tires in eighty nine,

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Speaker 1: the Starlely Brothers also offered the Psycho Ladies bicycle, and

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Speaker 1: I found ads for it that were great, but I

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Speaker 1: didn't find fill me in here if you if you

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Speaker 1: found it, I didn't find an explanation for the for

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Speaker 1: the name. Yeah, I'm not sure what's up with the

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Speaker 1: Psycho and the Psycho Ladies bicycle, but The design was

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Speaker 1: different than the standard safety rover because it had something

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Speaker 1: called a step through frame, which meant that the bicycle

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Speaker 1: frame was low enough so that a woman in a

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Speaker 1: long skirt could ride astride without having to hoist her

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Speaker 1: skirt up over her ankles. It was all about making

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Speaker 1: sure that a woman's ankles were not put on display.

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Speaker 1: Oh heavens, I think Psycho Cycles would be a great

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Speaker 1: name for a bike shop. Somebody get on that. Well, So,

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Speaker 1: why we're bicycles such a big deal to women? This

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Speaker 1: is coming from an excerpt from Bella Bathurst's book in

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Speaker 1: the Telegraph. I mean it's kind of really simple, if

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Speaker 1: you think about it. Bikes kind of let women leave. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: women could get out of the house. And I mean,

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Speaker 1: at the same time that all of this bike technology

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Speaker 1: is happening, there's also a movement, the rational clothes movement

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Speaker 1: that we've talked about before, where like, let's get rid

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Speaker 1: of our corsets, or just get lighter corsets. Let's maybe

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Speaker 1: get rid of these heavy skirts and where, oh my goodness, bloomers,

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Speaker 1: so that we're not scandalizing anyone. Of course, everyone was

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Speaker 1: still scandalized. Yeah, and for those of you who have

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Speaker 1: listened to last week's Boys of Summer episode on Paul Poora,

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Speaker 1: who was the fashion designer in France who was the

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Speaker 1: first designer to popularize the no corset look. He was

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Speaker 1: doing his no corset designs around the same time that

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Speaker 1: the rational dress movement was going on, that the bicycle

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Speaker 1: craze was starting to take off. So a lot of

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Speaker 1: wheels are in motion, Caroline for a women at the time. Well,

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Speaker 1: so you know we have during this period also it's

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Speaker 1: it's post industrial revolution, and we have a rise in

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Speaker 1: the middle class thanks to a rise in leisure time basically,

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Speaker 1: and so what does this new middle class as well

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Speaker 1: as the upper class do with their leisure time leisure activities?

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Speaker 1: So we've talked about also, as Krista mentioned in regards

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Speaker 1: to poor A, we talked about how people were getting

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Speaker 1: involved in things like tennis and things like that, also cycling,

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Speaker 1: and in eighteen ninety four, Bearings magazine wrote the safety

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Speaker 1: bicycle feels a much needed want for women in any

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Speaker 1: station of life. It knows no class distinction is within

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Speaker 1: reach of all, and rich and poor alike have the

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Speaker 1: opportunity of enjoying this popular and healthful exercise. So This

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Speaker 1: was kind of a new development after a lot of

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Speaker 1: people had protested not only for moral reasons but also

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Speaker 1: like women are too dainty, they shouldn't exercise and and

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Speaker 1: get fresh air. And also by eight ninety four, when

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Speaker 1: that Bearings magazine article came out, safety bikes were being

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Speaker 1: mass produced, which was bringing the price of it down,

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Speaker 1: because when bikes first came out, they cost the same

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Speaker 1: amount as a cart and a horse, so they weren't

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Speaker 1: cheap at first, but once the craze took off, there

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Speaker 1: was this democratization to where anybody could get their hands

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Speaker 1: on a bike. But for women though, there was that

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Speaker 1: moral aspect that you mentioned, Caroline, and a lot of

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Speaker 1: it was not just because you might show your ankles,

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Speaker 1: but simply because it would mean that women might be

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Speaker 1: riding a stride. Yes, I mean, if you were, for instance,

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Speaker 1: a female equestrian at the time, you would ride side saddle,

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Speaker 1: and some bicycles took a cue from that and had

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Speaker 1: side saddled designs, which can you imagine trying to write

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Speaker 1: a bot. You can't get very far riding side saddle

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Speaker 1: on a bike. It sounds incredibly complicated, and so everyone

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Speaker 1: was kind of panicking about what would happen if women

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Speaker 1: were riding a stride because of the friction involved. There

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Speaker 1: was a French expert at the time. He said that

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Speaker 1: this friction between a woman's lady seat and the bicycle

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Speaker 1: seat would ruin the quote feminine organs of matrimo neal necessity.

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Speaker 1: And so there was one company, for instance, that said, huh,

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Speaker 1: we have a solution. It came out with a hygienic

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Speaker 1: bicycle seat that essentially had a vagina hole cut out

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Speaker 1: of it so that you wouldn't make contact. So no friction,

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Speaker 1: no problem. I can't even imagine how uncomfortable, just like

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Speaker 1: a cutout seat was might be breezy, could it could

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Speaker 1: be breezy? Well, no, because you're still wearing all that

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Speaker 1: jump This is true. Well, so there were also crazy

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Speaker 1: things at this time, like bicycle chaperones. You could basically

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Speaker 1: rent a man to chaperone you on your bicycle so

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Speaker 1: that you weren't raising any eyebrows. Yes, some say that

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Speaker 1: the tandem bikes, the bicycles built for two were built

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Speaker 1: for that reason so that women would not have to

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Speaker 1: go out on their bikes unaccompanied. Yeah. But despite all

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Speaker 1: of the movements and pushes for clothing that made sense

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Speaker 1: on bicycles. Uh. Fanny Erskin in Lady Cycling wrote, some

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Speaker 1: wise will say the corset should be discarded for cycling,

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Speaker 1: and she's trying to set the record straight here people.

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Speaker 1: She says this is not correct. There should be no

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Speaker 1: approach to tight lacing. But a pair of woolen cased

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Speaker 1: coursets afford great support. They keep the figure from going

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Speaker 1: all abroad and protect the vital parts from chills. Make

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Speaker 1: sure your vital parts don't catch chills. Um. The American

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Speaker 1: Lady Corset Company was one of the companies at the

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Speaker 1: time trying to jump on the bike craze but also

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Speaker 1: make sure that women didn't get too wild with their bikes.

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Speaker 1: And so they offered a biking corset. And at one

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Speaker 1: point they had this deal in which they would they

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Speaker 1: offered a hundred dollars of free bicycle insurance with every

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Speaker 1: biking course that's sold. That's a lot of bike insurance

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Speaker 1: for you know, that's worth a lot. They really want

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Speaker 1: you to wear those corsets. I wonder I'm imagining though,

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Speaker 1: a biking corset being made out of you know, like

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Speaker 1: a like a licra kind of and it's neonly wicks, moisture,

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Speaker 1: lots of lots of moisture wicking happening. Well. So also

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Speaker 1: during this time, you know, we talked about poor A

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Speaker 1: and his hair and pants and how Amelia Bloomer came

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Speaker 1: along and was trying to push Bloomers. But really, I mean,

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Speaker 1: it took a while for these types of outfits to

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Speaker 1: catch on because a lot of people were just like, oh,

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Speaker 1: it's scandalous. You know. It was the political women and

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Speaker 1: the progressive women who really adopted everything. And a tricyclist, Yes,

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Speaker 1: tricycles for grown ups very popular or big at the time,

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Speaker 1: very big because you could still wear your hoop skirt ladies, right,

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Speaker 1: they were literally big, literally giant um So a tricyclist

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Speaker 1: wrote to Tricyclist magazine, because there was a magazine for

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Speaker 1: everything back then, and said, the result of the adoption

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Speaker 1: of such an o tree dress would be that no

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Speaker 1: lady either could or would ride and subject yourself to

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Speaker 1: the insults that such a novel costume would entail. So basically,

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Speaker 1: I don't want people on the side of the road

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Speaker 1: to yell harassing things at me when I'm wearing pants.

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Speaker 1: But that Tricyclist was wrong. She was so wrong. He

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Speaker 1: was so wrong, And first of all, I would like

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Speaker 1: to be the editor of Tricyclist magazine. I just imagine.

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Speaker 1: I'm sure it was that he imagined he was Dandy fellow. Um.

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Speaker 1: But yeah, it is fascinating to see how this one

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Speaker 1: innovation of J. K. Starley's safety bike tight in all

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Speaker 1: of these different elements, all these political movements, the gender

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Speaker 1: movement going on, the fashion changes, all the stuff swept

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Speaker 1: together in a bicycle, right, And I mean he was

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Speaker 1: he was, like we said, just trying to engineer a

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Speaker 1: better bike and in the process just finally got a

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Speaker 1: lot of women out of the house and outside. Although

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Speaker 1: I would like to note that when the safety bike

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Speaker 1: first came out, of course the Penny Farthing slash ordinary riders,

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Speaker 1: you know, the bikes with a giant, comically large front wheels,

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Speaker 1: made fun of the safety bikes, calling them dwarf machines,

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Speaker 1: beetles and crawlers. But of course the safety bikers got

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Speaker 1: the last laugh, although they had to would have to shake,

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Speaker 1: like point their finger up at the person riding by

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Speaker 1: on the giant ordinary bike. But by eighteen nine seven

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Speaker 1: there were more than two million bikes that have been

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Speaker 1: sold in the United States. So the es is when

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Speaker 1: the bike craze is happening, and women's cycling clubs were

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Speaker 1: becoming more popular. And the thing about the popularity and

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Speaker 1: the impact of the bicycle was that it effectively reached

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Speaker 1: a cross section of the female population because it became

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Speaker 1: mass produced. It wasn't just a thing reserved for upper

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Speaker 1: class women, even though it probably started as an upper

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Speaker 1: class and trickled down, but it happened in such a

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Speaker 1: short amount of time. And like we mentioned, a lot

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Speaker 1: of these bicycle pioneer saw it as a noble cause.

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Speaker 1: I mean it was a lot of times aligned with

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Speaker 1: the suffrage movement, women's rights movement, and even Elizabeth Katie

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Speaker 1: stand said that woman is riding to suffrage on a bicycle.

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Speaker 1: These women were making a statement. Being out in the

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Speaker 1: world wearing puffy pants was a political statement and a

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Speaker 1: little bit ironic that bicycles were seen as this kind

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Speaker 1: of engine of women's suffrage because one of the reasons

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Speaker 1: why bicycling became so immediately popular among men along with

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Speaker 1: other sports was because alongside the rise and urbanization, there

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Speaker 1: was this push for maddenly exercise for fear that these

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Speaker 1: city five men were becoming too feminine. But I bet that,

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Speaker 1: you know, those early male biking pioneers probably didn't anticipate

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Speaker 1: it being something that twenty years down the line, men

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Speaker 1: and women would be riding along side each other. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: joining photography clubs, Yeah, cycling clubs. In Golden Gate Park

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Speaker 1: in a sign of just how popular biking had become

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Speaker 1: for men and women are, like, they opened a cycle ry,

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Speaker 1: which I think was an indoor bicycling rink essentially, but

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Speaker 1: it had separate sitting rooms, lockers, and bathrooms for women

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Speaker 1: because say, you know, just as many women were coming

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Speaker 1: out to bicycle and tricycle supervised cycling. How fun that

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Speaker 1: must have been. I'm sure it was liberating at the time. Yeah, yes,

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Speaker 1: I mean imagine, like I remember the feeling of riding

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Speaker 1: a bike for the first time, and it really did

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Speaker 1: feel like liberation in a way. Yeah. I would just

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Speaker 1: go ride mine around the neighborhood for hours. Yeah, let's

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Speaker 1: get out of the studio and go ride or bike.

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Speaker 1: Let's do it. I have a little bell. It really works.

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Speaker 1: People get out of the way. Thinking well with that,

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Speaker 1: send us your letters about your bicycles and tricycles. Send

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Speaker 1: us pictures. Do you have an awesome bike? Oh, we

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Speaker 1: didn't mention too that. And I know that some listeners

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Speaker 1: will appreciate this that those Stanley safety bikes, those very

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Speaker 1: first bikes, they were fixed these they were fixed gear bikes.

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Speaker 1: Now breaks original hipster. Yes, they those nineties cyclists were

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Speaker 1: the original hipster. So that send us your emails, Mom

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Speaker 1: said at Discovery dot com is where you can send them,

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Speaker 1: or you can find us on Facebook or tweet us

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Speaker 1: at mom Stuff podcast. And before we get to a

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Speaker 1: couple of your letters, Caroline, let's take a quick break

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Speaker 1: and we'll get right back. Kristen, I am super excited

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Speaker 1: that I have Netflix because shows like Arrested Development, Felicity,

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna say it again are available to watch at

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Speaker 1: my command. Netflix streams TV shows and movies directly to

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Speaker 1: your home, saving you time, money, and hassle. That's right.

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Speaker 1: As a Netflix member like care one and I are,

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Speaker 1: you can instantly watch TV episodes and movie streaming directly

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Speaker 1: to your PC, Mac, or right to your TV with

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Speaker 1: your Xbox three, SIXPS three or Nintendo we console. Also

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Speaker 1: including Apple devices, Kindle and Nook. Now if you are

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Speaker 1: a stuff Mom Never Told You listener, you can get

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Speaker 1: a free thirty day trial membership by going to Netflix

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Speaker 1: dot com slash mom and signing up right, So, join

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Speaker 1: Kristen and me on Netflix. Get your free thirty day

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Speaker 1: trial by going to Netflix dot com slash mom. And

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Speaker 1: now back to our letters. Well, I've got one here

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Speaker 1: from Jennie about our episode on Magic Old Movie Makeovers,

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Speaker 1: and she writes, a wonderful job on the podcast is

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Speaker 1: always thank you. Jenny's just wanted to remind you of

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Speaker 1: the Princess Diaries and the lovely Anne Hathaway being made

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Speaker 1: into a princess. Yes, good point, um, and she said,

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Speaker 1: also Romeo Michelle's high school reunion the quote business Women

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Speaker 1: make Over taught them that you are at your most

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Speaker 1: fabulous when you're just being yourself. That's right. I have

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Speaker 1: a letter here from Sarah, and she was responding to

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Speaker 1: a conversation we had in an advertisement. Oh yes, she says,

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Speaker 1: when I heard you talking about binge netflixing on Felicity

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Speaker 1: this morning on my way to work, I almost pulled

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Speaker 1: over the car right then and there to email you.

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Speaker 1: I never watched the show when it originally aired, so

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Speaker 1: I'm catching up now. I am totally addicted. No spoilers, okay, Sarah,

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Speaker 1: no spoilers, but you're in for a treat. Okay. But

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Speaker 1: there's a haircut that happens. There is a haircut, and

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Speaker 1: then they had to make everybody at the w B

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Speaker 1: sign a contract saying I wouldn't put your hair that's

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Speaker 1: a thing. Yeah, oh that's why that happened. Yeah, okay,

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Speaker 1: we should probably have this conversation off the podcasts, probably, okay. Anyway,

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Speaker 1: So Sarah goes on to say, now that I'm here,

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Speaker 1: I want to thank you for your podcasts. They regularly

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Speaker 1: keep me company on my commute to and from work.

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Speaker 1: I discovered you well pregnant with my now seven month

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Speaker 1: old son, and you accompanied me through many long sleepless nights.

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Speaker 1: I know, babies terrifies. I won't say more. That's not true,

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Speaker 1: Sarah much. She says. I love your stuff on parenting,

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Speaker 1: specifically anything that has to do with being a working mom.

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Speaker 1: I work full time and my husband stays home with

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Speaker 1: my son. He also goes to school full time as well.

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Speaker 1: It's nice to hear about other working moms in the

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Speaker 1: struggle we all face leaving our children behind for a

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Speaker 1: plus hours at a time and then coming home for

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Speaker 1: our second shift. And she says, keep up the great work, ladies.

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Speaker 1: I've just started watching your YouTube channel. What a crack

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Speaker 1: up bloop bloop. Thank you, Sarah, I'm glad you're listening

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Speaker 1: and watching. Yeah, and thanks to everybody who's written into

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Speaker 1: mom Stuff at Discovery dot com. And also, don't forget

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Speaker 1: to hit us up on Facebook, like as Sarah. While

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Speaker 1: you're at it. You can follow us on Twitter Mom

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Speaker 1: Stuff Podcast. We're on Tumbler as well. It's stuff Mom

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Speaker 1: Never Told You dot tumbler dot com. And you too

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Speaker 1: should check us out on YouTube if you haven't already.

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Speaker 1: We are at YouTube dot com slash stuff Mom Never

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