Through the readers' correspondence pages we can gain a rare insight into the hopes and dreams of generations of riders. Their obsession for motorcycles and motorcycling is readily familiar to 21st century obsessive but inevitably attitudes have changed. For example, when the first letter in this selection was published the fair sex were protected from such stressful occupations as voting.
I regret to see that you are advocating, or rather countenancing, the adoption of motor bicycle driving by ladies.
To my mind, woman was never made for an engine driver, and has not that cool nerve required so often in motoring. I saw a lady motorist riding a Singer lady's machine for the first time some fortnight ago at Cambridge, and without being ungallant, I don't want to see another. Her nervousness was pathetically obvious, and her facial expression was an index to the sustained nervous tension under which she was labouring.
I am sure that the natural constitution of the gentler sex is not such that they can extract any pleasure or physical good from such a pastime as motoring, which requires strong nerves, and a cool and ready hand and head.
Of course there are ladies who are made of very much sterner stuff than the majority, but I am sure that if motor cycling is indulged in by ladies, they will be a source of considerable danger, both to themselves and other users of the road, and I pity the poor men when the ladies of the household come home from a hard ride 'a bundle of nerves'.
The majority of lady cyclists are bad enough in observing the rule of the road and practising gymkhanas all over the place, hopping off in front of one without the slightest warning, riding three abreast, and doing other funny things, but Heaven forbid the lady motorist. SMJR
As you'd expect, the targets of SMJR's scorn were swift to reply.
Your correspondent 'SMTB' seems very nervous where ladies are concerned. I must say I think he is unnecesarily so. I have riden over 2,000 miles on a motor bicycle, and only had one accident. This was occasioned by a male cyclist, who ran into and upset me, as well as himself. I ride everywhere alone, doing journeys of one hundred miles and under. I do not consider a motor bicycle is pleasant in thick traffic or on greasy trams, but with the Bowden system of control a lady can manage her mount quite easily, and run comparitively few risks if she rides with ordinary prudence.Dogs are the principal danger, and foolish cyclists (male and female) who possess little or no headpiece. Why forbid the lady motorist? She exists already and will surely increase. Mary E Kennard
As a woman, and a rider of a Singer motor bicycle, I would most respectfully call the attention of SNJR to a few facts which he has evidently overlooked.
Far be it from me to take up the pained and painful attitude of a brow-beaten Premier; but is your correspondent fair? I think not.
Every woman ("ladies" preside at wash-tubs!) can do what her particular nature permits her. There are some women, and also men, who ought not to approach within ear-shot of a motor bicycle; but with motors at their present price, the fact that a woman invests in one with the intention of riding it shows she is not one of these. Practice makes perfect, and if circumstances forced the Cambridge motorist into traffic before she felt sure of her mount, she is to be sincerely pited, and not made the subject of an appeal to an even higher power than the local Robert* – plus stop-watch. There are, I believe, six women motor bicyclists within the British Isles, and there must be six hundred waiting for the right moment and the right machine.
As for SMJR, all the consolation I can offer is that, despite my best efforts, it seems probable that there is still some little time between him and the day his nerves seeem to dread – the period when absolute equality in all things, subject to an individual capability, will be afforded to all human beings, without regard to the somewhat delicate point as to whether they mote in French boots or Stohwasser's puttie leggings. Woman – an Engine Driver * "Robert" must be the politest nickname ever coined for the police. It derives from Robert Peel, who as Home Secretary founded the Metropolitan Police; hence also the more common nicknames of 'bobbies' and 'peelers'.
SMJR stood his ground, damning one of his detractors with the faintest of faint praise and patronising the other in a way that must have left her incandescent with fury.
When I penned my recent letter to you I quite anticipated a reply from that well-known lady motor cyclist, Mrs Kennard. I sincerely hope she has not taken my remarks personally, as she is one of the few exceptions which prove the rule, and one admires her nerve in going in for a pastime – even moderately as she does – such as motor cycling. Even Mrs Kennard must confess (and should be proud of the fact, perhaps) that she is one of those ladies made of "sterner stuff," to which I referred.
With regard to your other contributor, who signs herself "Woman – an Engine Driver", I really cannot see what to answer to her gentle vapourings, as they are pointless. What has the price of motor bicycles got to do with the principle of the suitability or otherwise of motor cycling for ladies (beg pardon – women)? She seems to have gone to some trouble also to ascertain the number of lady (my mistake, I quite forgot – woman) motor cyclists in the British Isles. It would be interesting to learn how she made her census. I should be very sorry to be forced to the conclusion that "Woman – an Engine Driver," is a "new woman," but her concluding paragraph certainly points in that direction. She has entirely misunderstood my letter, and seems to have drifted into the question of that old chestnut, so-called "women's rights". I referred to motor cycling for ladies purely from a physical and constitutional point of view.
Neither of your correspondents has disproved my contention that motor cycling, i.e., the actual driving of a motor cycle, is particularly unsuitable as a pastime for the "gentler" sex. If they can do so, I will willingly concede my point. As a matter of fact, it is with tremulous feelings that I take the audacious liberty of crossing pens with your fair correspondents, and it is only my conviction that I am right which forces me to do so. SMJR
And you have to wonder how those pioneer women riders felt when they read the following...
It may interest your lady readers to know I have been using one of Messers Dunhill's patent safety pins for motor caps for some time, and am quite delighted with it. I had previously found it most unpleasant in windy weather having to hold my cap (or hat) to prevent it blowing up. I have used the pin on both hat and cap with the same result, and am sure every lady will be delighted with it. Helena
Right then. That deals with sexism; let's not forget sizeism.
The following facts about myself I thought might be of interest to your journal, as I have been told by lots of my friends that they believe it constitutes a record, as far as it goes. The record is this: my weight is 17st 13oz, and I am at the present time riding a 3½hp Bradbury. I have ridden it for hundreds of miles and have not as yet had to get off at any hills, but the thing which I want to know is, is there another motorcyclist in England whose weight is more than this? I have not yet come across any other rider approaching this weight, and I should be extremely obliged if you would bring this the notice of the readers of your journal, as it is a certainty I shall never be able to establish a record for speed, but I think I can easily establish one for weight.
Jas W Woodhall
Motorcyclists have always been obsessed with how big it is and how fast it goes. This sensible chap was writing in 1930.
I endorse 'Unapproachable's' claim of a 44mph average from London to Leeds a being quite practicable. The Great North Road is a marvellous road for high averages, there being few towns and many long straight stretches. A friend of mine on a 500 ohv machine averaged 46mph from Egdware to York via Tadcaster on a Saturday afternoon, and an Austin Seven did the journey at exactly 40mph.
That it would be easy to maintain a high average on a big machine is evident, since on a 250 I have averaged 36 from York to London, the point being that I was doing a steady 40 all the way, and never once exceeded 45.
I think that on a 500 ohv in the early morning London to York could be done in four hours, or 50mph. GJ592
Quieten down and pay attention at the back there – it's time to brush up on your classics with this tetchy etymological lecture from the year before World War 2 broke out. For some years powered bicycles were known as Wilfreds (after a popular cartoon character) but I wonder what Mr Kendrick would have thought of the word 'moped'? Mr Ruff had clearly pissed on Mr Kendrick's battery; that accusation of "slight exaggeration" sounds like fightin' talk...
Power Cycles: The ‘What Shall We Call Them?’ Discussion Continued
When Mr AM Ruff writes that the word ‘velocycle’ is “a hybrid of the deepest dye” he slightly exaggerates. The first part is undoubtedly from the Latin, but so is the tail. ‘Cyclos’ is a Latin word borrowed from the Greek ‘Kuklos’, nevertheless it is a good Latin word. I ascertained this before submitting the suggestion, for I agree that two languages should not be blended in one word, though it has been done in the common English word ‘bicycle’. The Greek prefix is ‘di-‘ — ‘bi-‘ is Latin.
‘Velocycle does not sound foreign, and it is not foreign. Latin is part of our English language. Anglo-Saxon is one only of many other languages which have been fused into our English tongue.
Though away from the point, I would point out that ‘brake’ (Old French), ‘hub’ (origin unascertained, its first traced use was in 1649), ‘tire’ (an abbreviation of ‘attire’, derived from Old French), and ‘frame’ (Old Norse) are not “good old Anglo-Saxon words”, while the ‘foreign’ words ‘engine’ (traced back to 1330), ‘car’ (to 1382), ‘valve’ (to 1387) and ‘motor’ (to 1586) have been long enough in use to have ceased to be foreign.
When I wrote that ‘velomoteur’ looks foreign, so that it would be preferable not to adopt it, I had in mind the fate that has befallen the name of the variable cycle gear known as ‘derailleur’. To hear this anglicised in painful, yet speak of a “de-ray-ee-eh” gear and you are either not comprehended, or marked down as trying to be superior. ‘Velomoteur’ is, and looks, alien and would not be gracious to our tongue. HJ Kendrick,
Coventry Next time you're pulled over by a bike cop, remember that there was a time when some enthusiasts thought that police officers simply didn't belong on motor cycles. This reasoned argument dates from 1903.
Policemen on Motor Bicycles
Motor cyclists have been considerably amused by an appeal made by a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons to the Secretary of State that he would take into consideration the desirability of establishing a force of motor cycle policemen, these men to be employed for restraining furious driving in crowded streets.
It is evident that Mr Cathcart Watson, the member in question, is not a practical motor cyclist, and it would appear from the official reply that was given him that this fact was recognised, as it was simply stated that the matter would be left to the discretion of the police authorities.
We would be the last to cavil at new uses for motor cycles, but we do not think any good purpose would be served by mounting police upon them in the way suggested, as it appears that the idea of Mr Watson is not so much the prevention of furious driving by horse drivers as the chasing of motor cars. In other words he would check one evil by substituting another, as it stands to reason if the alleged furious driver is to be caught the motor cycle policeman must ride at a higher speed still; and asuming the pace to be dangerous on the part of the motor cars, that of the policemen will be still more dangerous.
As things are at present we do not think any good purpose would be served by the use of the motor cycle in crowded thoroughfares by policemen. On less frequented roads, of course, it has great possibilities, whether ridden by a police official or by any other person who is desirous of expeditiously getting over the ground.
Introduction
