06-04-2020, 11:04 AM
Hi Duncan
Those bikes with curved tube were inflicted on women for well over 50 years. Some were even less braced than that illustrated. The frames are horrendeously floppy, esp with a laden basket. My mother like many others rode hers to work every day for 20 years and never experienced an easily controlled reasonably rigid bike. Unless you live somewhere dead flat most 3 speed bikes can be much improved by lowering the overall gearing somewhat. (Bike gears are reckoned as the equivalent penny farthing diameter. The typical single speed was about 70 inches.)
Those bikes with curved tube were inflicted on women for well over 50 years. Some were even less braced than that illustrated. The frames are horrendeously floppy, esp with a laden basket. My mother like many others rode hers to work every day for 20 years and never experienced an easily controlled reasonably rigid bike. Unless you live somewhere dead flat most 3 speed bikes can be much improved by lowering the overall gearing somewhat. (Bike gears are reckoned as the equivalent penny farthing diameter. The typical single speed was about 70 inches.)