1900 BSA Lady's Spring-Frame – The Online Bicycle Museum

The two cycle shows, which opened on Friday, 23rd November 1900 were the National at the Crystal Palace and the Stanley at the Agricultural Hall.

SUMMARY OF SHOWS: The cycle shows this year are disappointing. The period of acute depression which the cycle trade has had to contend with during the last two or three years, and the severe competition which exists, have had the inevitable result of thinning down the number of exhibitors. Both at the Agricultural Hall, where the twenty-fourth exhibition, promoted by the Stanley Club, and at the Crystal Palace, where the ninth National Show are being held, there is a marked decrease in the space taken up by cycle makers. The motor-car builders are more in evidence than hitherto, it is true, and had it not been for the large increase in self-moving vehicles shown, all the cycle exhibits might have been easily covered by the roof of either building.

Last year the shows wore rendered more interesting than their immediate predecessors by the introduction of the “free-wheel” bicycle, which appears to have lived down the greater portion of the opposition with which it was met, and in some form or other is now to he seen on almost every stand.

Cycle makers are wise enough to understand that if the rider has to be tempted to discard his past season’s mount they must introduce some novel feature, however small, and there is ample evidence this year that they have had difficulty in devising the so-called “improvements.” Anti-vibrating appliances have been resuscitated this year. Such devices were prominent at the Stanley Show many years ago, but the introduction of the pneumatic tire caused the manufacturers to divert their attention to wheels, as it was considered that the air-inflated tire would provide sufficient insulation from shocks due to uneven road surfaces. The desire for high speeds – once the besetting evil of the cyclist, as it appears at present to be of motor-car drivers – seems to have had its day, and has given way to the desire for case and luxury.

Manufacturers who used to devote all their attention to the reduction of weight are now no longer fettered in this direction, and are taxing their resources to devise all manner of modifications to ornament and give a luxurious appearance to their products. If not carried too far the tendency is in the right direction.

Another feature of the cycle industry of to-day is the motor craze. We cannot but regret this. The cycle is a means for exercise, and its chief function is removed by the addition of an engine. Moreover, the bicycle does not lend itself readily to the new adaptation.

…BSA is introducing an elastic-framed bicycle in which the vibration is absorbed by three coiled springs secreted in the tubes of the frame. Two of these are in the back stays immediately under the saddle, and one in the top tube of the frame, Telescopic tubes are fitted at these three points, and thus the springs are allowed to absorb the vibration from the road surface. Four knuckle joints give the necessary vertical play to the frame, two near the bracket and one at either end of the top tube. In neither of the above devices is the distance from the saddle to the pedal altered by the elasticity of the frame, but the knuckle joints in the frame of the B.S.A, machine are not desirable features.

– Report from the 1900 Stanley Cycle Show

BAD TEETH NO BAR WW1 MILITARY BICYCLE BOOK - BSA SPRINGFRAME