Bicycle Trick Riding, No. 2 (1899) User Reviews

Couldn't Do This on My Bicycle

[boblipton · 5/10 · 18 December 2010]

I used to bicycle everywhere until I was about 35 and I favored touring bikes that look like the one in this, but I couldn't do these tricks because of the bicycle: a chain drive and a front wheel too large to turn around completely.

This short is actually a study in motion and framing as Neidert rides his bicycle in a very tight circle -- at this stage moving the camera for a slow pan was a big deal. Technically this was not very interesting, so the intent was clearly to pep up a vaudeville program with an act at a cost lower than actually hiring the man: sort of franchising the act.

Good display of skills, but not very interesting to watch

[Horst_In_Translation · 2/10 · 14 October 2013]

We see a man named Eugen A. Neigert in this short film and he shows us some tricks on his bike. The film runs for about half a minute and in these thirty seconds, he manages to ride the bike backwards, shows us a twist of the front wheel and does some more tricks while sitting on the bike's handlebar. He seems to be enjoying it a lot and I wish I could say the same. However, it really is one of these example where it's not half as interesting to watch as to do what is displayed there. However, I'm not the greatest cyclist under the sun, so pretty certain I'll never reach his skillset. Not particularly interesting and there's better showreel shorts from the end of the 19th century out there.

Edison's Bicycle Trick

[Michael_Elliott · 7 August 2015]

Bicycle Trick Riding, No. 2 (1899)

This Edison short lasts around thirty seconds and features a man doing a couple tricks on his bicycle, just like the title tells us. Overall there's certainly nothing good, special or ground-breaking about this film but while I watched it I couldn't help but wonder how this got made. Did a cameraman see a guy out on the streets doing this trick and invited him to the studio? Did Edison put an ad in the paper telling all those who can do tricks to stop by? Was this bicycle trick the best they could find? I guess we will never know but the results are here for everyone to see.