There is nothing ‘ordinary’ about this 1890 Clipper Light Roadster Bicycle, an early high-wheeler, frequently referred to as a Penny-Farthings or Ordinary. Invented in 1870 by James Starley of Coventry, England, the two-wheeled Ordinary bicycle changed the world. The Penny-Farthings’ pedals were directly attached to the front wheels, and each turn of the pedal took the rider forward 13 feet. Larger wheels allowed the passenger to go further with less energy expended, a physics axiom with profound implications.

The Ordinary had a high center of gravity that made the rider prone to taking a "header" over the handlebars if the wheels hit something that caused the wheels to stop turning. Despite this catapulting peril, the wheels of change began turning. By 1883, the Cyclists’ Touring Club of Britain had over 10,000 members yearning to pedal about town. Ideas for the development of new bicycle designs and motorbikes spurred innovations in this emotionally turbulent era.

The Light Roadster Ordinaries targeted younger customers and were offered in wheel sizes from 48” to 60” to accommodate the varying heights of different riders. Several of the early American bicycle manufacturers also tinkered with four-wheeled automobiles, and because of this duality, Light Roadster badges appeared on both automobiles and bicycles for a brief time period. Early motoring manufacturers, such as the Pope Company, aspired to lure their bicycling customers to the company’s more expensive four-wheeled vehicles.

In America, the center of bicycling mania was Boston, Massachusetts. This particular Ordinary is badged as a Clipper Light Roadster and is believed to have been manufactured by the Overman Wheel Company of Boston.

One of the shocking social ramifications of the Ordinary craze was that women began casting off their long skirts and donning pants to ride the newfangled contraptions. Pants were an exhilarating new-found freedom for the female sex and added impetus to the burgeoning women's suffrage movement, a trend that some bicycle manufacturers later regretted, although they gained more customers.

While women held assemblies for the right to vote, Thomas Stevens, 29, an avid sportsman, set off from San Francisco in April 1884 with the lofty goal to bicycle alone around the world. No one had even crossed the United States on a bicycle during this period, and Stevens found the going very tough as he fought his way eastward across the Great Plains.

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What a ride it was. Few roads existed in America, and he resorted to carrying his 1883 Columbia Expert Ordinary with its solid tires almost half of the journey. When he was lucky, he could ride down the center of railroad tracks that were still being laid across the vast plains. His daily target was to cover 40 miles a day, but he was hard-pressed to meet his goal on several occasions.  He carried with him only a small case containing his journal, matches, map, and a folded piece of canvas that he could use to shelter himself. The cross-country trek took four months, but in August, a footsore Stevens arrived in Boston, took a winter break in New York, then sailed across the Atlantic to resume his grand tour.

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As bicycling was more popular on the European continent, Stevens had many bicycling enthusiasts helping him on his journey eastward from Liverpool across France and Germany until he reached the outskirts of Kurdistan and Turkey. People there were less familiar with machinery, and their immense curiosity slowed his progress as people demanded to understand how this new invention worked. Not speaking the local languages, he was forced to provide ample demonstrations and even allowing some to ride his precious transportation before he was allowed to travel eastward.

The sudden appearance of a Raj’s magnificent road running from Peshawar to Calcutta spurred Steven’s enthusiasm to pedal the length of the private road despite the debilitating midday heat. Servants of the Raj’s revitalized Stevens from his heat stroke with a complimentary brandy and soda. From Calcutta, he boarded another boat for the long trip to Hong Kong.

Although Stevens could more easily imagine his journey’s end from the relative comfort of Hong Kong, the reality of crossing China by bicycle was clearly a daunting task. His bicycle’s alien machinery brought suspicion and fear from the Chinese, and government officials objected to the mobs Stevens’s bicycle attracted. To solve the standoff between the government and the crowds, Stevens was taken by boat to Shanghai, where he could more easily access Japan, the final leg of his great journey. 

Fortunately, his presence in Nagasaki, Japan, was politely welcomed and celebrated. It seemed the best was saved for last. Bicycling was a pleasure in Japan. The enthusiastic hospitality of the Japanese accompanied Stevens all the way to his departure port, Yokohama. 

When Stevens arrived in San Francisco, his global trek—from 1884 to 1886—was complete, but his trip gave global residents a glimpse of future transportation that proved unstoppable. Thomas Stevens was the first man to bicycle around the world.

Anyone else up for a ride?

A great read, the source material for this article is “Wheeling Around the World” by Macmillan Publishing Company, a book based off Thomas Stevens’s two-volume account of his epic journey, Around the World on a Bicycle.

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