sixtiescycles

A little context will help explain the fascinating design of this bicycle. Place yourself in 1895 America: pneumatic safety bicycles in general, and tandems in particular, were only recently invented, and numerous novel designs were produced to address the mutual needs of customers, manufacturing capabilities, and marketing. Victor was one of the top American brands at the time, and the "Victoria" tandem was a very expensive bicycle; thus the marketing targeted an upper-crust clientele.

It was also the height of the Victorian era, and social decorum dictated that no proper lady would go out in public without a full-length dress, hence the step-through style frame and skirt guard in front to keep her long skirt out of the chain. Why, though, does the lady sit in front? Social moors at the time also insisted that you'd never have the man preceding the lady, whether as pedestrians or on a bicycle. Plus, women of high social status usually wore large, flamboyand hats in public. Thus, not only is the lady in front but the man's position is high enough that he can see over her hat! But, heaven forbid you relinquish control of the bike to the frail woman, so the steering is connected: the handlebars turn together. Also note the (original) coasting pegs on the front fork so the lady can put her feet up at any time so as to avoid the indignity of breaking a sweat.

In answer to your question, it's all a matter of communication which direction you turn, and when the communication breaks down (!) it comes down to who's stronger. Whilst learning to ride the machine (realize, the it was never rideable in our lifetimes before being restored) in downtown Christchurch before departing on our tour we had a couple humorous incidents--humorous only in that nobody got hurt and the tandem didn't get damaged in the process! We were riding with our group along one of the many busy cycle paths in town, approaching a street crossing with a bollard (post) in the middle of the path on the opposite side of the street. We were approaching at a slight angle--not perpendicular--and traversing the street I said, "Left side," but halfway across I wrestled the (rear) handlebars to steer us around the right side of the post. Terry exclaimed, "I thought you said 'left'!" and I replied, "The other left!" The second incident was a bit more serious and involved a similar street crossing-with-bollards, but in this case the crossing was at a much sharper angle, plus one of our penny farthing-riding friends had stopped to direct traffic on the opposite side, thus blocking the more-direct right-side-of-the-post option. We swung wide to the left to get lined up for the sharp right turn onto the path, and in so doing got the tandem leaning much farther to the right than intended. Heading for the bollard, I realized I was about to slam into it with my right leg, so I lifted up and off the back of the bike and yelled, "She's all yours!" Poor Terry; she careened right off the path and took a good digger into the grass. Fortunately, both bike and lady were essentially unscathed, although to this day you can still see a tiny scrape at the top of the right seat stay where the post took off a little black paint. Come visit us in Boulder and we'll show you the evidence!

I've put thousands of miles on various penny farthings (highwheelers), too, and IMHO the Victoria is a much more difficult machine to handle! As with riding a penny, we walked a number of hills over the course of our eight-day tour in NZ; more so on the downs than the ups--the brakes (front spoon and rear coaster) on the Victoria being meant for nothing more serious than perambulating around a mostly-level park on a warm Sunday afternoon. We've often imagined this same tandem making the rounds in Wash Park in Denver, its original home, back in the Gay Nineties. We ride it occasionally around Boulder, but enjoy it daily as the centerpiece in our living room. Glad you like it, too.

Dave Walker & Terry Malouf