Originally Posted by
cranky old dude
That certainly would be a good argument for running with fenders.
As I recall from my reading.... In the late 1800's and early 1900's roads were built in cities of the NE US for bicycle traffic and to allow better clean-up of horse droppings. Bicycle speed limits were enacted, posted and enforced by police on bicycles. Most folks couldn't afford an automobile until after Henry Ford's assembly line style of production made cars more affordable. I assume our friends and neighbors to the north experienced the same transition. Many old photos' that I've seen support this info that I seem to recall reading, as does Wikipedia "
Bicycles and horse buggies were the two mainstays of private transportation just prior to the automobile, and the grading of smooth roads in the late 19th century was stimulated by the widespread advertising, production, and use of these devices."
I understand trains and I understand horse and buggy or wagon but I don't believe transportation was limited to the cities. I thought people moved from state to state and used trains and wagons to transport people in mass or goods from one place to another. Interstate bicycles seemed few and far between.
I don't think we even had bike busses, bike beer wagons.
Bicycles in the US seemed more like inline skates today. Now in Asia and parts of europe you might have a point. But bicycle transportation's day in the sun was rather short lived with the coming of the steam and then ICE engine. Shoot the two most famous bike mechanics in the US aren't famous for bikes, they are famous for ICE powered flight.
As far as the western area having a sustainable lifestyle if I remember my anthropology correctly human civilazation developed far closer to the equator and the Latitudes of LA and Phoenix than the frozen north.
