Scientific American Supplement, No. 447 (July 26, 1884)

friend on three wheels, but then he should not strike one where the tricyclist would strike a dozen. Properly ridden, neither class of machine can be considered dangerous; an accident should never happen except it be due to the action of others. People, carts, cattle, and dogs on the road are liable to such unexpected movements, that the real danger of the cyclist comes from the outside; to danger from absolute collapse, due to a hidden flaw in the materials employed, every one is liable, but, the bicyclist more remotely than the tricyclist, owing to the greater simplicity of his machine. The bicyclist, though he has further to fall in case of an accident from any of these causes, is in a better position than the tricyclist, for he is outside instead of inside his machine; he can in an instant get clear.

It would appear that many tricyclists consider accidents of the kind next to impossible, for in several machines the rider is so involved that an instantaneous dismount without a moment's notice, at any sp