If I have overlooked anything typical in the modified bicycle class,
I hope some one will afterward supply the omission, and point out any
peculiarities or advantages.

That very peculiar machine, the center-cycle, seems to combine many of
the advantages of the bicycle and tricycle. On it the rider can remain
at rest, or can move backward; he can travel at any speed round curves
without an upset being possible; he can ride over brickbats, or
obstructions, not only without being upset, but, if going slowly,
without even touching them. As this machine is very little known, a few
words of explanation may be interesting.

In the first place, the rider is placed over the main wheel, as in the
bicycle, but much further forward. There are around him, on or near the
ground, four little wheels, two before and two behind, supported in a
manner the ingenuity of which calls for the utmost admiration. Turning
the steering handle not only causes the front and rear pairs to turn
opposite ways, but owing to their swiveling about an inward pointing
axis, the machine is compelled to lean over toward the inside of the
curve; not only is this the case, but each pair rises and falls with
every inequality of the road, if the rider chooses that they run on the
ground; but he can, if he pleases, arrange that in general they ride in
the air, any one touching at such times as are necessary to keep him on
the top of the one wheel, on which alone he is practically riding. He
can, if he likes, at any time lift the main wheel off the ground and run
along on the others only. The very few machines of the kind which I have
seen have been provided with foot straps, to enable the rider to pull as
well as push, which is a great advantage when climbing a hill, but this
is on every machine except the Otto, of which I shall speak later,
considered a dangerous practice.