Once the bicycle with two similarly sized wheels and rear-wheel drive became familiar transport, the chain was still not the only design on offer. In 1897, Pope Manufacturing introduced a shaft-driven Columbia bicycle. A surviving 1898 Columbia Model 60 in a museum collection shows that makers kept experimenting with bicycle construction even after the safety bicycle had become established.
The appeal of a chainless machine was easy to explain: a rider’s clothing would not brush against an oily chain. The drive shaft and bevel gears also required less maintenance than a chain. To a cyclist today, those sound like useful improvements, yet an attractive idea on paper does not automatically deliver a better experience at a price people will accept. This example shows how bicycle design has always been shaped by practical use as well as engineering ambition.
According to the museum’s account, the shaft drive was heavier, lost some power and cost more; early chainless bicycles failed to catch on with buyers. This is therefore a story of a bold alternative competing with a familiar, affordable solution, rather than a lost miracle invention. More than a century later, the episode still illustrates a simple point: a technical novelty matters most when ordinary riders can feel its benefit in everyday travel.