Gilded Age Cyclers’ Do’s and Don’ts

A proper wheel-woman’s “Cycling Costume” from 1901

A Few Don’ts for Cyclers

• Don't try to raise your hat to the passing “bloomer” until you become an expert in guiding your wheel.
• Don't buy a bicycle with down-curve handles. It is impossible to sit erect and hold that kind of a handle.
• Don't go out on a bicycle wearing a tail coat unless you enjoy making a ridiculous show of yourself.
• Don't travel without a jacket or loose wrap, to be worn while resting. A summer cold is a stubborn thing.
• Don't allow a taste for a bit of color in your make-up to tempt you to wearing a red or other gay-colored cap.
• Don't get off the old gag about “that tired feeling” every time you stop by the roadside for a little breathing spell.
• Don't absent yourself from church to go wheeling, as you and your bicycle are welcome at most houses of worship.
• Don't leave your bicycle in the lower hallway of your flat-house for the other tenants to fall over in the dark.
• Don't believe the farmer boy who says that it is “two miles to the next town.” It may be two, four, six or twelve.
• Don't be more than an hour passing a given point, although wheeling on a dusty road is honestly conducive to thirst.
• Don't smile at the figure others cut astride their wheels, as it is not given you to see yourself as others see you.
• Don't coast down a strange hill with a curve at its bottom. There is no telling what you will meet when it is too late.
• Don't ride ten miles at a scorching pace, then drink cold water and lie around on the grass, unless you are tired of life.
• Don't try to carry your bike downstairs under your arm. Put it on your shoulder, or you will come to distress.
• Don't laugh the watchful copper to scorn because your lamp is burning brightly. He can afford to wait his time to laugh.
• Don't dress immodestly or in the costume of a track sprinter. Sweaters worn like a Chinaman's blouse are almost indecent.
• Don't forget that the modern law of the road requires you to turn out to the right in passing another bicycle or other vehicle. — From Maude C. Cooke, 1896

🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette, is the Site Editor for Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia