When Karl set out to bike around the world, he didn’t have much experience riding a bicycle. Leaving his hometown of Truro, Nova Scotia was only his third time riding a bike. By today’s standards, that’s quite old, considering most children learn how to ride a bike as early as five years of age. But to make it to age 21 years old without riding a bike was less unusual in 1899 because no one had ridden a bicycle in the style that we know it today. It was a relatively new invention.

The bicycle evolved dramatically in the 1890s, and the new design had wheels of equal size — as opposed to the penny farthing — and inflatable tires — as opposed to wooden or solid rubber tires. The bicycle was safer, cheaper and therefore accessible to everyone, and it sparked a craze.

By 1898 there were over 25 Canadian Bicycle Manufacturers. Hotels set up special rates for cyclists travelling cross-country, competitions ensued with racing events on horse tracks, the route to the Klondike Gold Rush was packed with cyclists biking to make their fortunes. Then there were all the ancillary businesses: cycling schools, manuals on riding a bike and courtesies for the road, bike clubs and competitions, bicycle suits — options for lightly lined for summer riding or double seated pants for extra comfort. It was a two-wheel revolution, making it the perfect mode of transportation for Karl to travel around the world.

The Whig newspaper reported that when Karl rode through Kingston, he was on an 1897 New Barnes Bicycle. The bike weighed twenty-four pounds plus an extra twenty pounds to account for Karl’s attached leather baggage box containing his belongings. The news article indicated that it was beginning to look like the “bike and the rider had some interesting but perilous experiences.” You may recall one of those experiences from Karl Chronicle Post #33 while Karl was travelling to Rivière-du-Loup and a dog attacked his bike, taking a spoke out of his wheel.

Karl needed a new bike.

In his letter to sister Mattie, written from Colborne Ontario, Karl writes that one handlebar of his bicycle was nearly broken off and was hard to use. He had plans to get his handlebars changed and offered to then send the bike back to Nova Scotia for his brother Herbert, unless, of course, Mattie wanted it. He indicated that while he was in Belleville, he had two bicycle dealers wooing him, particularly a man from the Brantford company who offered a “new wheel” if he was interested.

Karl promptly accepted the offer and placed a sign on the bicycle that read: “Karl M. Creelman Around The World".

The Brantford Company was the Goold Bicycle Company, established in 1888 by Brantford-born Edward Goold and colleague William Knowles. By 1891, the company employed 50 men. It manufactured 1,500 bicycles a year and two years later, a new large factory was built in Brantford with over 350 men employed producing up to 100 bicycles a day. The bikes were sold at Goold retail outlets in Toronto, Montreal, Saint John, Winnipeg, Sydney (Australia) and Capetown (South Africa).

The most popular was the Brantford “Red Bird” made in three different grades selling at $60, $75, and $100. The Goold Bicycle Company had a savvy marketing plan emphasizing that the bikes were Canadian-made and of superior construction. The ads for the Red Bird in the newspapers were geared to patriotism, and one read: “The Red Bird is Canadian, not because there happens to be dollars in it, but because it was born that way, being originated in Canada and having grown to years of maturity in the land of its nativity. Red Birds are built in a Canadian factory erected by Canadian capital. Employers and employees alike, are Canadians, and every dollar paid for Red Bird bicycles remains in the country. The Red Bird stands high in the estimation of the cycling public both at home and abroad, a fitting example of Canadian skill and enterprise.”

And if that angle didn’t appease the consumer, the alternative ad was the acknowledgement that Red Bird bikes might cost more than some inferior wheels, but that is because of their superior construction. “Buying a poor bicycle is like buying a poor watch or a poor horse, penny wise and pound foolish. Poor watches make rich watchmakers, poor horses produce wealthy veterinary surgeons, and a poor bicycle is a constant source of revenue to the bicycle repairman. If all bicycles were made of as good materials as the Brantford, RED BIRD, as carefully constructed, as thoroughly tested before leaving the factory, the bicycle repairman would soon become extinct, but, unfortunately, they are not and he continues to thrive and multiply in numbers. To ride the entire season without a cent for repairs is the rule with RED BIRD riders.”

So it was subsequently reported by the Brantford Courier that after Karl arrived in Brantford, he was then moving forward riding the famous “Red Bird” bicycle. The newspaper reported: “He got as far as Brantford on another wheel and broke down, but he now hopes to circle the globe without any further trouble.”

So dear reader, time will tell while we continue on our journey how Karl’s Canadian Red Bird fared.