Sylph was a brand of bicycle designed by Charles Duryea in the late 1800s.[1] They were initially manufactured by Ames Manufacturing Company, in Chicopee, Massachusetts, starting in 1890, and then by Rouse and Hazard, in Peoria, Illinois, from 1892 to 1898.[2]

Sylph Bicycle Brand Advertisement

Notoriety edit

  • One Sylph model had a smaller wheel in front and handlebars mounted below the seat that came up on either side of it.[1]
  • A photograph of a "Duryea Sylph springframe safety bicycle" was used by David V. Herlihy for his 'Bicycle, The History'.[3]
  • Rouse and Hazard manufactured 200,000 Sylph bicycles between 1894 and 1898[4]
  • The Sylph brand won "top honors" at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893.[2]
  • The Sylph model A incorporated a spring suspension it the frame.[5]

Gallery edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b Ratay, Richard (July 3, 2018). Don't Make Me Pull Over! An Informal History of the Family Road Trip. Schribner. p. 16.
  2. ^ a b "Cycling's roots run deep at Illinois Cycle & Fitness". Journal Star. August 27, 2013. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  3. ^ Herlihy, David V. (2004). Bicycle, The History. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-10418-9.
  4. ^ Sweet, Chris (January 12, 2016). "Peoria's Early Cycling History". Retrieved May 27, 2020 – via SlideShare.
  5. ^ "Iron Age, Volume 48, Issue 1, The Sylph Cycle". August 27, 1891. Retrieved May 27, 2020.