Piece of History #1

This picture was taken at the Velorama Bicycle Museum in Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Three stories of bicycles from past to present, immaculately restored, in an old castle along the Waal river. Shown is a shaft drive bicycle. I didn't get the manufacturer or year of this one. I was much too fascinated by the construction and finish of the drivetrain. Sorry about that. From close to the turn of the century would be my guess. Another bicycle company from around this time, by the name of Pierce, developed a similar drivetrain in Buffalo, New York. I've also seen it called the Pierce Hygenic as well, due to the softail rear suspension. Here it goes by the Pierce Cushion. (Pierce later went on to create the Pierce Arrow Motor company. Here's a bit more on that). It had true rear suspension, with a spring inside a telescoping mechanism just above the wishbone seatstay bridge. Just above the rear axle, on the seatstays was one set of pivots, with a second pivot often concentric to the bottom bracket (crank) spindle. All the way back in 1901.