#145 Bicycle Mania! From Velocipede to Ten-Speed

The Bowery Boys: New York City History

Tom Meyers

Places & Travel, History, Documentary, Society & Culture

4.7 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 16 November 2012

⏱️ 21 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The bicycle has always seemed like a slightly awkward form of transportation in big cities, but in fact, it's reliable, convenient, clean and -- believe it or not -- popular in New York City for almost 200 years. The original two-wheeled conveyance was the velocipede or dandy horse which debuted in New York in 1819. After the Civil War, an improved velocipede dazzled the likes of Henry Ward Beecher and became a frequent companion of carriages and streetcars on the streets of New York. Sporting men, meanwhile, took to the expensive high-wheeler. But it was during the 1890s when New Yorkers really pined for the bicycle. It liberated women, inspired music and questioned Victorian morality. Casual riders made Central Park and Riverside Drive their home, while professionals took to the velodrome of Madison Square Garden. And in Brooklyn, riders delighted in New York's first bike path. ALSO: What did Robert Moses think of the bicycle? www.boweryboyspodcast.com Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryboys

Transcript

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0:00.0	The Bowry Boys Episode 145, Bicycle Mania.
0:04.0	Hey, it's The Bowry Boys.
0:05.5	Hey.
0:07.3	The Bowry Boys is brought to you by EuroChipo.com.
0:11.9	EuroChipo's editors expect and recommend the best budget hotels in Europe.
0:17.4	On the web at EuroChipo.com.
0:21.6	Welcome to The Bowry Boys.
0:23.0	Hello there. This is Greg Young.
0:24.8	Tom Myers is not here this week after the last few weeks of craziness of
0:29.2	sunken cars and power outages.
0:31.2	Well, he just decided to leave the country for work actually,
0:34.4	and he will be back for the December show.
0:37.0	New York City is still recovering from the events of Hurricane Sandy,
0:40.4	which struck the area at the end of October.
0:42.4	The areas like Staten Island, Rockaway Beach,
0:45.0	Coney Island, and many other places are still cleaning up and trying to return to normal.
0:49.2	During the first week, much of the subway system was closed,
0:52.1	and people could only get around by motor vehicles.
0:54.6	Then in the following weeks, New York and New Jersey experienced a gas shortage,
0:58.8	and we're just now ending a period of gas rationing that happened in the city.
1:02.8	Almost like a return to the 1970s, but through all of these situations,
1:06.8	the one traveler who's been able to get around,
	...

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