Road Etiquette for Bicyclers

The basis of good manners in bicycling, as of good manners in everything else, is common sense and kindness. The whole manual of etiquette might be boiled down into the maxim "Use your head." 

Common Sense and Kindness Are the Basis of Action

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“Use Your Head” the Maxim

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What to Do in Cases of Emergency

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Quite Proper to Speak to a Wheelwoman In Distress Without an Introduction

Now that wheeling has ceased to be a fad and become a part of a normal life, a whole ritual is rapidly becoming as necessary to it, as life in a ball room. The basis of good manners in bicycling, as of good manners in everything else, is common sense and kindness. The whole manual of etiquette might be boiled down into the maxim "Use your head." 

Bicycling is more in need of a set of rules for behavior because of the peculiar conditions under which the sport is carried on. Men and women ride side by side for miles, and while a woman ostensibly, and voluntarily, puts herself on the same footing as her escort, by accepting the same conditions, she is still the weak member of the firm and needs a certain amount of helping to enjoyment and forbearance on hiils. 

One should never let his selfish desire to “plug” up a good hill for instance, pull him away from the aide of a lady whose weaker muscles (as well as a heavier wheel) make it necessary to dismount humbly and meekly at the foot and walk up. Of course, you show her how easy it is, and what a strong rider you are, and you can dismount at the top and wait for her, but it isn't kind. It's lonesome walking hills alone. 

It is always proper to speak to a wheel woman in distress without an introduction, but no service rendered to a woman in the road entitles a man to her acquaintance. 

In following a narrow path the rule is, “ladies first and leave a good distance behind them.” 

If a lady's wheel is so damaged tbat it must be taken some distance for repairs, leave your wheel with her while you take hers to the shop. 

As to the rules of the road, they are pretty well understood. Pass an approaching wheelman, vehicle or pedestrian on the right, and pass anything going in the same direction as yourself on the left. 

When you come up behind anything ring your bell. 

The rule for position has always been “ride on the left hand side of the lady,” and the reason is simply that one may have his good right arm ready to assist her, if it be necessary. Following this reasoning, it would seem that a left-handed man should reverse the position. But there is another reason in this rule for position, which is that riding on the right side of the road, the man is always between the lady and any vehicle that may pass them. 

Should you come up to a wagon at such a time that you will be forced to pass between it and another approaching team, take the lead and in a way, force open a passage for her to come through. Ride near the right hand horse as you pass him and do not pull over to the left until the lady has plenty of room in front of the horse.

At a corner, if you see cyclists on the cross street, go a little slow till you find out which of the three possible courses they mean to take. A slight turn to the left by you gives them a better chance to get by, but too much would cut them off from riding down the street up which you have come. Always be ready to give way rather than sprint by. Don't be ashamed to dismount. 

If you meet a runaway, a brass band and a bunch of wheelmen filling up the whole street, you will be better off on the ground than giving an exhibition of trick riding and fancy dodging. 

Lastly, in the city riding, remember that though the car you see may be going away from you, and you have plenty of time to get by the wagon, that cars on the other track come the other way and that if you are sprinting you may not be able to stop in time to clear the hidden foe. Also, an electric car comes out of a collision in better shape usually than either a man or a wheel.

Go slow and turn to the left till you find out what the other people mean to do. Don't cut them off. Look out for this. Don't try to sprint by the team. There may be a second car on the further track which you can't see. In a case of this kind, dismount. — Los Angeles Herald, 1895

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

Cycling Etiquette and Romance

A proper woman’s “Cycling Costume” from 1901

The Bicycle In Love-Making from 1895

Extraordinary Number of “Scorchers'” Who Become Bridegrooms! 

"All our best racers are getting married like winking; in fact, there is an epidemic of marriage going on among them just now!" That is the testimony that comes over from London, and it would seem to be an undoubted fact that throughout England and France, at least, the wheel is rapidly augmenting marrying and giving in marriage. 

The London County Cycling Club has recognized this tendency, and has provided for it by offering prizes for the season's racing that gentlemen competitors may find acceptable and suitable to present, to their wives. The trouble is that while a cyclist is still in his salad days, and before he thinks of matrimony, he is generally interested in racing, and delights in posing as a champion "scorcher" for the benefit of lady cyclists who are there to view.
                         

"One of the most popular sporting activities was bicycling. A favored costume exists of a double-breasted jacket with large leg-of-mutton sleeves. Underneath a lady was wearing a shirt blouse with a stiffened collar and a man's tie. She also has on wide knickerbockers, coloured stockings made of cotton and a straw hat with stand-up trimmings and a face veil. For a game of tennis, a lady wore a blouse and a short skirt (two inches of the ground!), a cap, a tie and gloves. A bathing costume was made of cotton with insets of embroidery. These outfits may appear very cumbersome to us, and it is difficult imagine participating in sport hampered by so much material. These clothes however were quite revolutionary in their time and were frowned upon by many as quite scandalous. At this time, women were beginning their struggle for emancipation and it is interesting that their desire to be on an equal footing with men is reflected in the clothes that they wore. The wide leg-of-mutton sleeves gave ladies a masculine, rather aggressive appearance rather than emphasizing their femininity." From AngelPig.net

If there is anything a wheelwoman appreciates, it is a man who is strong, powerful and enduring on his cycle, and who can put up a century at very nearly record-speed. The men who can do this the best are the favorites for women to ride with. Long trips, the participants being a man and a girl alone, naturally follow, and after a few of these an engagement results. 

Watch out, scorchers... Fall in love and your cycling speeds may drop! Unless of course, your wife fancies a new brooch.

After marriage the "scorchers" begin to subside, and their pace becomes much gentler. Several of the leading cycle clubs of London have lost many of their swiftest members through marriage. In an attempt to do something to break this tendency the prizes for the 100-mile race which is to take place in London on the Herne Hill track have been so designed that they can either be used as clasps for gentlemen or as brooches lor ladies. It is hoped that the married women desirous of acquiring these will force their husbands to practice and enter.

A late 1800's Cycling Costume and Riding Habit

The effect of cycling on the matrimonial market in this country has not been especially marked here, but it is likely to be within a few months. That is, if one may judge from the number of engagements that are probably "on" at the present time. Claremont and the Casino in the park have countless couples who dismount shyly from their wheels and come into the restaurant each evening with a "Don't speak to us, don't look at us, please." style. Daisy Bell's bicycle that was built for two, never panned out half so well as these solitary wheels that scurry around through the darkness of New York in pairs. 

The bicycle wedding pictured the other day in one of the comic papers, wherein everybody in the wedding procession was cycling to the church, may yet be witnessed in New York. This picture was a joke, but as a matter of fact, and an absolutely truthful one at that, there was a bicycle wedding a few days ago in the sleepy little village of Astead, in Surrey. Every member of the bridal party went to the church mounted on a bicycle. When the procession started from Leatherhead, about two miles from the town where the ceremony was to take place, it aroused the utmost enthusiasm among the villagers, who cheered it vociferously. At the head of the company rode the bride and bridegroom, astride of a tandem cycle. The bride, who occupied the front seat and attended to piloting her better half that was to be over the rough bits of road, was a striking picture. She wore a fawn-colored costume appropriate for cycling, and her leggings were of the trimmest and neatest. Upon her head was a wreath of orange blossoms, to which was attached a long white veil which streamed out straight in the wind caused by their rapid flight and occasionally slapped in the face of the bridegroom, causing him to find vent for his annoyance by pedaling a little harder. 

Fashions for the Gilded Age Sportswoman

The bridegroom was also a thing of beauty. His raiment was light-colored, like the bride's, and it is a fact well worth noting and moralizing over that the veil and orange blossoms were the only distinguishing marks between the two. The bridesmaids and the best men hurried perspiringly in the wake of the happy pair. The best men wore "scorcher" breeches presented by the bridegroom. 

The party finally reached the church in great good humor, and after the ceremony wheeled away to the hostelry where a wedding feast had been commanded. On the road they passed that famous inn where the landlady refuses to recognize knickerbockered ladies unless they consent to wear skirts. The speechless indignation of this innkeeper is said to have been very funny.        

Undoubtedly, the innkeeper would have approved of this non-knickerbockered cyclist.

Doubtless before long there will be as rigid a system of etiquette established for bicycle weddings, as exists to-day for the ordinary sort. Probably in the near future it will be considered more common in fact for the bride and bridegroom to wheel up to the church on separate bicyles and, after they have been made one by the minister, to ride away on a tandem which might be ridden to the church by the principal bridesmaid and the best man. -1895, New York

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