History Of Bikes
History
Multiple innovators contributed to the history of the bicycle by developing precursor human-powered vehicles. The documented ancestors of today’s modern bicycle were known as push bikes (still called push bikes outside of North America), draisines, or hobby horses.
A penny-farthing or ordinary bicycle photographed in the Škoda museum in the Czech Republic
In the early 1860s, Frenchmen Pierre Michaux and Pierre Lallement took bicycle design in a new direction by adding a mechanical crank drive with pedals on an enlarged front wheel. It featured a tubular steel frame on which were mounted wire spoked wheels with solid rubber tires. These bicycles were difficult to ride due to their very high seat and poor weight distribution.
Bicycle in Plymouth, England at the start of the 20th century
The dwarf ordinary addressed some of these faults by reducing the front wheel diameter and setting the seat further back. Having to both pedal and steer via the front wheel remained a problem. J. K. Starley, J. H. Lawson, and Shergold solved this problem by introducing the chain drive (originated by Henry Lawson’s unsuccessful “bicyclette”), connecting the frame-mounted pedals to the rear wheel. These models were known as dwarf safeties, or safety bicycles, for their lower seat height and better weight distribution. Starley’s 1885 Rover is usually described as the first recognizably modern bicycle. Further innovations increased comfort and ushered in a second bicycle craze, the 1890s’ Golden Age of Bicycles. In 1888, Scotsman John Boyd Dunlop introduced the pneumatic tire, which soon became universal. Soon after, the rear freewheel was developed, enabling the rider to coast.
Performance
The bicycle is extraordinarily efficient in both biological and mechanical terms. The bicycle is the most efficient self-powered means of transportation in terms of energy a person must expend to travel a given distance. In terms of the ratio of cargo weight a bicycle can carry to total weight, it is also a most efficient means of cargo transportation.
Air drag, which is proportional to the square of speed, requires dramatically higher power outputs as speeds increase. A bicycle which places the rider in a seated position, supine position or, more rarely, prone position, and which may be covered in an aerodynamic fairing to achieve very low air drag, is referred to as a recumbent bicycle or human powered vehicle. On an upright bicycle, the rider’s body creates about 75% of the total drag of the bicycle/rider combination.
In addition, the carbon dioxide generated in the production and transportation of the food required by the bicyclist, per mile traveled, is less than 1/10th that generated by energy efficient cars.
Suspension
Bicycle suspension refers to the system or systems used to suspend the rider and all or part of the bicycle. This serves two purposes:
* To keep the wheels in continuous contact with rough surfaces in order to improve control.
* To isolate the rider and luggage from jarring due to rough surfaces.
Bicycle suspensions are used primarily on mountain bicycles, but are also common on hybrid bicycles, and can even be found on some road bicycles, as they can help deal with problematic vibration. Suspension is especially important on recumbent bicycles, since while an upright bicycle rider can stand on the pedals to achieve some of the benefits of suspension, a recumbent rider cannot.
Accessories, repairs, and tools
Touring bicycle equipped with head lamp, pump, rear rack, fenders/mud-guards, water bottles and cages, and numerous saddle-bags.
Puncture repair kit with tire levers, sandpaper to clean off an area of the inner tube around the puncture, a tube of rubber solution (vulcanising fluid), round and oval patches, a metal grater and piece of chalk to make chalk powder (to dust over excess rubber solution).
Some components, which are often optional accessories on sports bicycles, are standard features on utility bicycles to enhance their usefulness and comfort. Kick stands keep a bicycle upright when parked. Front-mounted baskets for carrying goods are often used. Technical accessories include cyclocomputers for measuring speed, distance, etc. Other accessories include lights, reflectors, security locks, mirror, water bottles and cages, and bell.
Many cyclists carry tool kits. These may include a tire patch kit (which, in turn, may contain any combination of a hand pump or CO2 Pump, tire levers, spare tubes, self-adhesive patches, or tube-patching material, an adhesive, a piece of sandpaper or a metal grater (to roughing the tube surface to be patched), and sometimes even a block of French chalk.), wrenches, hex keys, screwdrivers, and a chain tool. More specialized bicycle components may require more complex tools, including proprietary tools specific for a given manufacturer.
Some bicycle parts, particularly hub-based gearing systems, are complex, and many cyclists prefer to leave maintenance and repairs to professional bicycle mechanics.
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