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Duryea Day 2006 —
The Story in Pictures
Part 2 of 2 —
© Tue Sep 5 2006
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Last year, Bob Swaim, of
Coopersburg,
brought a half-a-dozen of the bicycles in his
unusual collection to Duryea Day 2005. He was planning
a return engagement for this year's event — but
it looks like you'll have to wait until
2007 for another looksee.
What does he have ? Of course:
tandems,
recumbents, and
miniatures — but also the
Loveseat, the
Wobble-wheel,
and even a Conference Bike (shown at far right).
The bicycle is a relatively new mode of transportation
— only about 200 years old. But they
were not very popular during their first half-century
— mostly due to the fact that they had no
pedals. You actually propelled the device with your feet
pushing off on the ground.
It was fairly silly.
In the 1860's, the bike finally got pedals, attached directly
to the front wheel — which meant that turning was a
problem. Your legs got in the way. Another
drawback was that the ride was a boneshaker. The entire
contraption was made of wood — no metal
— no rubber.
But in 1870, things began to look up. By this time,
the field of metallurgy had advanced to the point where lightweight
alloys with sufficient strength had become available to replace the
wood with steel.
By 1880, the standard bike was the
high-wheeler
— we have one in our Museum —
with the front wheel being about
4½ feet
in diameter, and the rear wheel only about
18 inches
across. It was not too unusual to see a number
of them on the streets — but only with
wealthy young men as their riders. They were
unbelievably dangerous; impossible to ride wearing
a skirt; and cost an average worker six month's pay!
But the 1890's were the beginning of the
bicycle as we generally know it today. Just prior
to the beginning of that decade, a design — aptly
named the safety bicycle — was introduced,
which featured the two wheels returned to matching sizes; the
drive wheel moved from front to rear, by means of chain and
sprockets; brakes were added; and the tires went from
their former wood, metal, or hard rubber to pneumatic
tires — soft rubber, filled with air.
Safer. Easier to ride. And more
comfortable. So. Demand went up.
Price came down. Popularity went up —
and sales. By 1897, about 4 million Americans were
riding bicycles regularly — nearly 7% of
everyone between the ages of 5 and 65.
••• With the advent of the automobile,
bicycle riding in the U.S. declined substantially. But,
by the 1970's, it had become
quite popular again,
with 75,000,000 Americans doing some biking.
In the past hundred years, the basic materials for
bicycles have gone
through steel, aluminum, titanium, and carbon fiber
— with all four versions still being
produced today. You may occasionally find a
contemporary woodie
— but their production run is usually by onesies.
Many communities have built bike trails in recent
decades. One of them in
Berks County
goes for almost
20 miles,
from near Blue Marsh Lake to the Douglassville Hotel.
Except for a few breaks, you can even do the additional
38 miles
from there to
Philadelphia
while free from 4-wheelers to contend with.
On Thursday, June 8, 2006, locals were treated to nearly
200 cyclists in the inaugural running of The
Reading Classic, a
75-mile
bicycle race which drew around 15,000
spectators. It was won by 29-year-old Greg Henderson
of New Zealand with a time of 2:52:37 — an
average speed of
26.07 miles per hour
for the 75-mile course, which even included one lap up the base
portion of Duryea Drive. •••
At the awards ceremony,
Henderson received a check for $6,200
— which is just slightly less than the average
cost of a racing bike.
Reading Mayor Tom McMahon,
who presented Greg with a key to the city, said everything went
well, and The
Reading
Classic will be dittoed for at least the next two years
— in 2007 and 2008.
This year's Awards sponsor was
Raybestos Brakes.
Thank you to all who helped in any way on the preparations for
Duryea Day 2006.
We especially acknowledge our partner of many years, the
Pottstown Region
AACA.
It is their members
whose experience, and energy, and smiling faces make the car show,
the flea market, the car corral, and many other aspects of Duryea
Day, a memorable event every year.
We would also like to thank our prime sponsor for this
41st Annual Duryea Day:
National Penn Bank
— along with our other sponsors,
National Penn Investors Trust Company,
Arnold's Karting Center,
Raybestos Brakes,
Dayco Products, and
Quigley Chevrolet.
And this year's photographer would especially like to thank
his chauffeur, Tom Fahy of
East Falls,
a recurrent volunteer to the Boyertown Museum of Historic Vehicles.
Thanks to all — See ya next year.
— Museum Webster
Conundrum
Of course, now the big question is: Is the 2007
Duryea Day to be called the 42nd Annual, or only the
41st Annual ?
••• We've never had to face this
conundrum
before — as this is the phirst yeer we've
been REIGN DOUBT !
Suggestion
Seeing as this is a mere
quasi-story
about Duryea Day — you just might
like to do a couple of things.
Duryea Day 2005 - The Story
in Pictures
Duryea Day 2004 - The Story
in Pictures
Duryea Day 2003 - The Story
in Pictures
#2 — Come to Duryea Day 2007
— Saturday, September 1st, 2007.
This Duryea Day 2006
Story in Pictures (Part 2 of 2)
was last updated and verified as being
accurate information as of
Thursday, October 19, 2006.
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