The safety bicycle was now available to nearly everyone and started a cycling craze in the 1890s. This had a huge social impact, particularly on women.
The restrictive Victorian clothing of the time, including corsets and long, heavy, many-layered skirts and petticoats, inhibited women's movement and symbolised the constrained lives they were expected to lead. Cycling required a practical dress and 'bloomers' - baggy trousers cinched at the knee, became popular despite a huge uproar. It is hard for us to understand now, just how radical and shocking a change this was.
The new freedom, symbolised and driven by these garments, gave women a sense of independence and capability and changed attitudes towards female athleticism and 'proper' behaviour. Their physical horizons broadened and they wanted to be involved in work outside the home and political and social issues. The bicycle was hugely important to the suffragette movement.
There was some concern that bike riding might be 'stimulating' for women and 'hygienic' saddles, high stems and upright handlebars were introduced to reduce the contact women had with the saddle. Some were also worried that cycling would affect a woman's delicate constitution, including exposure to the elements which 'may suppress or render irregular and fearfully painful the menses' and adversely impact her future health.
Despite the uproar, the 'New Woman' was emerging.