Westmount Historical Association presentation on Montreal Bicycle Club: 5 - Founding of the Montreal Bicycle Club

The Montreal Bicycle Club minute book begins with the sentence, I quote:

       "On 2 Dec 1878, Messrs C.J. Sidey and Horace S. Tibbs met by appointment at the house of the latter, 33 Chomedey Street in Montreal, and proceeded to the business of forming a bicycle club." 


      Both these men were immigrants from the United Kingdom. Tibbs had previously taken a 300 mile bicycle tour of England, Sidey had been president of the Edinburgh Amateur Bicycle Club. The following week A.T. Lane’s name was added as an additional founding member.

      There is a bit of a mystery as to why A.T. Lane was not initially included as a founding member. He was the proprietor Canada’s main bicycle shop, and it is possible that Tibbs and Sidey were amateur front men for his professional business enterprise.

 

     The club published its founding in various newspapers and the following month received a letter of congratulations from Charles Pratt along with a copy of the Boston club’s by-laws and regulations. From its beginning the Montreal Bicycle Club had both a British and American understanding of how a bicycle club should be run.

    The Bye-Laws they wrote that evening set out the rules by which the club was to operate. These rules included:

1. Only Amateurs could be members


      This later becomes an important issue to 19th century cycling. It’s interesting that the rule was included at a time when cycling was in its infancy and no professional riders even existed. To the British especially, being an Amateur added prestige as it implied class distinction as one did not depend upon the sport for income.



2. A dark blue KnickerBocker suit uniform was to be worn on all rides.

3. The riders were to be given ranks; Captain, Lieutenants, bugler, flag bearer and whipper in, whose role it was to pick up stragglers.


4. The rides were to be in formation, no going ahead of the captain without permission. There was also a system of whistles to notify when ride in single file, two abreast, dismount etc.


    Colonel Pope’s influence of the military cavalry can been seen in these founding Bye-Laws.



5. That the distinctive badge of the Club be A Silver Beaver, and the letters M.B.C. to be Embroidered in White Silk on the front of the cap.

     So in addition to Britain and the United States, the club also emphasized its Canadian roots. This early emphasis on Canada even predates the founding of the club with A. T. Lane choosing to make his first North American ride on Dominion Day, in 1874.



In 1885 however the club changed its symbol. If you look closely at the uniform, you may notice the winged wheel symbol on the cap.

    Many bicycle organizations used winged wheel symbols at that time. Perhaps like Karl Kron they believed that riding high wheel bicycle gave a feeling of flight. The Detroit Red Wings symbol is a direct descendant of the early symbol used by the Montreal Bicycle Club.