Soon after H.G. Wells learned to ride a bike in the mid 1890s, he wrote a cluster of three books, two famous--The War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man--and one not so--Wheels of Chance. As he tells it:
"I learnt to ride my bicycle upon sandy tracks with none but God to help me; he chastened me considerably in the process, and after a fall one day I wrote down a description of the shape of my legs which became the opening chapter of Wheels of Chance. I rode whereever Mr. Hoopdrive rode in that story. Later on I wheeled about the district marking down suitable places for destruction by my Martians. The bicycle in those days was still very primitive. The diamond frame had appeared but there was no free wheel. You could only stop and jump off when the treadle was at its lowest point, and the brake was an uncertain plunger upon the front wheel. Consequently you were often carried on beyond your intentions, as when Mr. Polly upset the zinc dust bins outside the shop of Mr. Rusper. Nevertheless the bicycle was the swiftest thing upon the roads in those days, there were as yet no automobiles and the cyclist had a lordiness, a sense of masterful adventure, that has gone from him altogether now."--H.G. Wells, Experiment in Autobiography, 1934, p. 458
FWIW, Wells soon had "the Humber people" make him a very fine rear steer tandem that he and his wife toured the south of England on. It had what appears to be an approximately 26-27" rear wheel and perhaps a 20-24" front wheel. No mention of gearing.
Don Wilson Los Olivos, CA USA
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