The American factories were a few years late in making the switch from ordinary to safety bicycle, but they made very quick progress.
Victor was the first to introduce a safety in 1887, Pope (Columbia) followed in 1888 with the characteristic Veloce Columbia. The unusual rear mud guard is in fact part of the frame. The model you see in the pictures was made only one year: in 1889 it featured a ball head and tangent spokes and was called Columbia Light Roadster.
Click the picture for a link to better pictures. If the link doesn't work, please send me an e-mail.
Victor was the first to introduce a safety in 1887, Pope (Columbia) followed in 1888 with the characteristic Veloce Columbia. The unusual rear mud guard is in fact part of the frame. The model you see in the pictures was made only one year: in 1889 it featured a ball head and tangent spokes and was called Columbia Light Roadster.
Click the picture for a link to better pictures. If the link doesn't work, please send me an e-mail.
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| If you are interested in a whole bunch of Columbia highwheel and safety
advertisements, look at the ones I put on Flickr. Click
here. | Most of the above information was taken from the book 'Collecting and Restoring Antique Bicycles' by G. Donald Adams |