By: David V. Herlihy (for Pedal Chile)

I recently received an email from Jesse Wright of Pedal Chile asking me about the historical distinction between a bicycle “saddle” versus a bicycle “seat.” As he has pointed out, both terms are now used interchangeably.

I had to admit that I hadn’t given this interesting question much thought. But his query has prodded me to look deeper into this “pressing” matter.

Here are my tentative conclusions.

In case you missed it

Part 1, “Why is a Bicycle Seat Called a Saddle”

definitions: seat vs saddle

First, let’s dispense with basic definitions of the key terms. A “seat” is essentially a generic term for any place where one can park one’s derriere. A “saddle,” in contrast, is a particular kind of seat, namely, one specifically constructed (generally of leather) to rest on the back of an animal.

And so it is a given that a bicycle must have a seat for its driver. But since when was that seat commonly described as a saddle, and why was that concept introduced in the first place?

velocipede

Jesse is undoubtedly correct that the notion of a two-wheeler having a “saddle” dates back to its original configuration: i.e., the kick-propelled “running machine” introduced by the German baron Karl von Drais in 1817.

Within two years, variations of this invention, also known as a “velocipede” (from the Latin for “fast feet”) were introduced in Great Britain and United States, where their seats were commonly  called “saddles.”

Here, for example, is an excerpt from a London paper published in March, 1819:

Now why did the press refer to this particular kind of seat as a saddle? As Jesse explains in his article, the answer is quite straightforward. The original velocipede was in essence a mechanical horse—indeed, it was commonly referred to in English as a “hobby horse.” And given that one straddled a two wheeler as one would a horse, it is hardly surprising that its leather seat would be equated to its equestrian counterpart.

hobby horse craze fades away

As I note in my first book Bicycle: the History, the hobby horse craze soon faded, but the elusive quest for a practical human-powered vehicle would continue to unfold for decades. The focus of the experimentation, however, shifted from two-wheelers to vehicles having three or four wheels, designed for one or more drivers or passengers, and powered by various combinations of hand-levers and treadles. The term “velocipede” thus evolved into a generic expression for any such “locomotive” vehicle.

In the 1840s and 1850s, Great Britain was the principal “hotbed” of velocipede experimentation. A few artisans, notably Willard Sawyer of Dover, even managed to run a regular business making and selling treadle-driven “quadricycles.” But while these vehicles were also called “velocipedes,” they were apparently no longer said to have “saddles,” but rather “seats.”

Checking the digital British Newspaper Archives 1820-1867, I came across no reference to a “velocipede saddle.” I did, however, find a few mentions of “velocipedes seated for two.”

The reason for the disappearance of the term “velocipede saddle” is self evident: the multi-wheeled “velocipedes” characteristic of this period were essentially mechanical carriages, not horses. They were generally not “straddled” like a horse, nor were their seats fixed to a perch, as they had been on the original velocipede. Rather, the driver or drivers (and any passengers) were seated in a sort of chair or bench supported by the vehicle’s floorboards.

The notion of a “velocipede saddle,” would, however, make a comeback in the late 1860s after France introduced a new kind of two-wheeler with pedals attached to the front hub. As its popularity grew and spread around the world, the term “velocipede” would once again refer primarily to a two-wheeler. And so, once again, it made sense to designate the seats of these two-wheelers as “saddles.” In fact, one of the first articles published in a U.S. newspaper describing the novelty already invoked the notion of a saddle. The New York Sun declared in October 1868 that “a skillful practitioner starts his velocipede with a push, then springs into his saddle…”

The simpler term “bicycle” is now coined

Around this time, the simpler term “bicycle” was coined to designate the new style of two-wheeler, supplanting the term “velocipede” within a few years. Still, the notion of a “saddle” obviously continued to apply in connection with two-wheelers, however they were called.

Of course, bicycle “saddles” were still essentially “seats”, and so one also finds ample examples of that term in use during the “boneshaker” era (the unflattering term for the first generation bicycle, introduced retrospectively).

A quick search of the Library of Congress’s digital newspaper archive (known as “Chronicling America”) suggests that the terms “saddle” and “seat” were virtually interchangeable between 1868 and 1869. In that period, I found 23 articles in which “saddle” and “velocipede” (or “bicycle”) appeared within ten words of each other. A similar search, substituting “seat” for “saddle,” yielded 39 hits.

“high wheeler” era: 1870s & 1890s

Using the same resource to check the use of these terms during the era of the second generation bicycle, the “high wheeler” of the 1870s and 1880s, I find even greater parity. Between 1870-1890, I got 300 hits for bicycle (or velocipede) “seats,” versus 321 instances of bicycle (or velocipede) “saddles.”

Clearly, the notion of a bicycle having a “saddle” as opposed to a “seat” remained strong from 1868 through at least 1890. Again, though, this finding is not terribly surprising if we consider that throughout this period bicycles typically had their seats affixed to the vehicle’s perch (or its “backbone,” as it was commonly called during the high wheel era).

But why would the notion of a “saddle” have continued into the era of the third-generation bicycle, originally called a “safety.”? That is, the familiar configuration with two equal sized wheels, the rear one driven by a chain?

True, the bicycle would remain a vehicle that one “straddles” like a horse. But its seat would no longer be attached to a “backbone” in the same way that a saddle rests on the back of a horse. Rather, a modern bicycle seat is affixed to a post. And in this context, as Arthur Peck duly noted in his 1896 patent application, “Bicycle-Saddles, [are] more properly speaking, bicycle-seats.”

To understand why the notion of a “bicycle saddle” has persisted to this day, let us turn once again to Chronicling America First, let’s verify that the term remained in use during the bicycle boom. And here I get a rather surprising result: between 1890 and 1900, I find 3,734 instances of “bicycle saddle” versus “only” 1,936 invocations of “bicycle seats.” This suggests that the term “bicycle saddle” not only held its own during the bicycle boom, it actually became the expression of choice!

Running a similar search for 1900 though 1963 (the most recent year available) I find 2,909 instances of “bicycle saddles” versus 3,033 instances of “bicycle seats.” That’s a virtual “dead heat” (to borrow another equestrian expression!)!

And it all but confirms Jesse’s conclusion that the terms “bicycle saddle” and “bicycle seat” have indeed long been interchangeable.

But the question remains: why has the notion of a bicycle “saddle” persisted for so long during an era in which the expression “bicycle seat” is arguably more appropriate?

Brooks company of Birmingham & saddles

Perhaps the stored history of the Brooks company of Birmingham, England offers some clues. It was founded in 1866 by J. B. Brooks to manufacture saddles for horses. In 1878, when he was in his early thirties, Brooks took up high-wheel riding. He soon found his seat unsatisfactory, however, and so he began to produce what would become his company’s mainstay: bicycle “saddles.” Of course, his business flourished during the safety boom. Interestingly, though, he continued to bill his product as a “saddle,” not as a “seat.” Even after he died in 1921, the company would consistently advertise bicycle “saddles.”

Conclusion

So here’s my “working” theory to explain the enduring popularity of the term “bicycle saddle”: its longterm survival was assured during the 1890s boom because it offered long-time cyclists a way to signal that they were no “johnny-come-lately”s to what had become a wildly popular sport.

That is, the vernacular might speak of bicycle seats (recall, for example, the immortal line from Harry Dacre’s smash hit of 1892, Daisy Bell: “you’ll look sweet upon the seat of a bicycle built for two”). But for those thoroughbreds more attuned to the bicycle’s equestrian roots, “saddle” was—and remains—the preferred term.

Read Part One

About the author

David V. Herlihy is a prominent bicycle historian and author. He is notable for writing Bicycle: The History and the Lost Cyclist: The Epic Tale of an American Adventurer and His Mysterious Disappearance. David graduated from Harvard and is also an alumnus of the Harvard Cycling Club.

Image sources:

• “Cleveland Model 69 Bicycle, 1899.” Smithsonian Institution [link] (fig.3)

• “Draisine, ca. 1818.” Smithsonian Institution. [link] (fig.1)

• Spencer, C. (1877). The modern bicycle : containing instructions for beginners, choice of a machine, hints on training, road book for England, Wales, &c., &c. London: Frederick Warne And Co. ; New York.

• “Tricycle, ca. 1875.” Smithsonian Institution [link] (fig.2)

• ‌“Velocipede, ca 1869.” Smithsonian Institution. [link] (fig.4)‌