When cycling was the fashionable craze ...

  In this  poster of 1880s, we see  an aristocrat  walking towards his cycle for mounting it for a ride. A lackey is seen holding it for him.  Humber was a British cycle maker ( from 1880s to  1932) . 

In 1880s, the bicycle was as pampered as the horse it partly displaced. In fact, cycle was in many ways, treated like a horse those days. One fad was to paint it in the family colors and protect it with a similarly painted cover a night. Then it was brought into the grand entrance lobby. A lackey would bring it round to the front door to be mounted by the master. There was excessive attention to dress too, one had to look one’s best as he mounted the bicycle and cycled it around. Only the aristocrats could do it.

 H. G. Wells wrote, “The world is divided into two class: those who ride bicycles and those who don’t” 

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