DOCSLIB.ORG

Cycling Innovations That Matter

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Cycling Innovations That Matter Cycle Sense By the time of the 1972-74 bike boom, a few key improvements had entered the market. SunTour and Cycling innovations Shimano produced derailleurs which, to the Euro-snobs’ dis- may, worked better than Campagnolo’s dated designs, and absolutely humiliated the offerings from Huret and Simplex. that matter But the shortcomings of the bikes sold during that boom were a key reason why sales fell by about half in 1975. The The sport’s most important market had become saturated with a toy people couldn’t use very well. advances in the last Most shops sold most customers the wrong frame size, especially if the customers were women. Touring equipment generation was rare, and most bike shops never put a triple-chainwheel bike on the sales floor. Cycling shoes were much harder to By John Schubert find than the racing bikes which begged for their use. Clothing was just as hard to find as the shoes, and it was still scratchy wool. Riders who wanted high performance few years back, I was chatting with a fellow were ushered into sew-up tire hell. (You youngsters will cycling journalist about how little we cared about never know the agony of trying to get those things to hold Seattle air, or to stay on the bike’s rims safely. Drat.) policeman a major industry-wide innovation that had every- one but us all thrilled. (I don’t remember which By the end of the 1970s, the all-important triple-chain- Paul Grady A wheel drivetrain became more widely available (but not yet one it was.) Since he was as unimpressed as I was, I asked was a pio- common), and shifting had improved to the point where it neer in him: What was the most important bicycle industry innova- developing tion in his lifetime? worked quite well. A few false starts had been made in car- bike cop “LED flashing lights,” he replied. bon fiber and aluminum frames, and there was one “true” technique. You might not agree with his answer, but it raised an start: Gary Klein had sold his first oversize aluminum ultra- intriguing question: Which rigid frames. If you were a friend of Joe Breeze or Gary advances have really mat- Fisher in Marin County, you might own one of the first two tered for cyclists? dozen mountain bikes ever made. For a starting point, I’ll In the 1980s, the pace of innovation increased radically. arbitrarily pick the time I The industry saw the mountain bike as its answer to market bought my first adult bike, saturation and its way out of a disastrous sales year in 1982 October 1965. While in the- (the fewest number of bikes sold since 1967), and worked ory you could enjoy a great harder on advancing mountain bike design than it ever had cycling experience in 1965, on road bikes. Meanwhile, aluminum, carbon fiber, suspen- it wasn’t practical for most sions and other innovations were taking hold. people. The number of bike What’s it all mean? Just how much better are today’s shops that knew how to sup- bikes than the ancestors I’ve described earlier? Here’s my port good quality cycling list of the innovations that have mattered: numbered in the dozens, at M Mountain bikes. The mountain bike is the biggest most, nationwide. single innovation in this generation. Whether or not you or I If you knew the benefits ride one, the importance they’ve had to the bike business of seeking out one of those worldwide is stunning. They shifted the center of innovation shops (I didn’t), you could and design from Europe to the U.S. They gave a positive, buy a European racing or sporting image to two attributes most customers badly want- touring bike, a Schwinn ed — flat handlebars and rugged wheels. Their off-road Paramount or one of a very capability has meant excellent exercise and recreation for a few U.S. custom-built bikes. hardy minority of their owners (the ones who actually leave PHOTO BYPHOTO GREG SIPLE You could have any frame the pavement). material you wanted, as long On the downside, the mountain bike has given cycling as it was steel, and wear any an overly macho image. Trail riding, which is a slow and kind of cycling clothing you benign activity (at least when I do it) is perceived more like wanted as long as it was scratchy wool. You could have a dirt motorcycling than like hiking, when exactly the oppo- 10-speed racing drivetrain, or 15-speed touring setup. The site is true. shifting was lousy, especially on the 15-speed setup with its Huret Luxe rear derailleur. Good pannier racks were sel- M Police bicycle patrols. Cops on bikes may be dom-seen. Despite all this, people went riding anyway. approachable, and two of them recently gave me trading Cycling’s too much fun to let mediocre equipment hold you cards with their pictures and biographies, but these guys are back. also deadly serious crime fighters. One of the guys who Adventure Cyclist • April 1999 Congratulations Louie and Becky! In 1995, Boeing engineer Louie LeGrand and school teacher Becky Anderson were married. Their only registry item? A Rodriguez tandem. Well, they got it! Their friends and family from all over the country called us to purchase things like, "the front hub", or "two water bottles, cages and the spokes please", or just "what can I buy for around $50?" The tandem registry was a success and culminated in a 7,280 mile trip around the perimeter of the United States in 1998. Since 1973, we have been building tandems in Seattle. That makes us one of America's oldest makers of tandems. We can can build a tandem for anyone's needs or wants. Contact us today for a free brochure. Rodriguez Tandems - Real Tandems for Real People! RODRIGUEZ TANDEMS • 206-527-1384 • FAX 206-527-8931 • http://www.rodcycle.com gave me his card showed me the techniques when the Bell V1-Pro became the first good the rider. Oversize aluminum does all these he uses to ride up to a criminal suspect and helmet that had enough ventilation. The sec- things. Aluminum will never completely use the bike as a tool to take the suspect ond occurred three years later, when Giro replace steel, which has the aura of old- down. It was, um, impressive. As you read Sport Designs, a company started in a fashioned craftsmanship, and which still this, somewhere in our fair land a bike cop garage, built the first seven-ounce “beer works quite well, but it’s coming close. is cuffing a bad guy who could have cooler” helmet and got Greg LeMond to M escaped from foot- or car patrols, and not wear it. Shortly after that, the beer cooler The end of European hegemony. too long ago bike cops apprehended a fugi- helmets added a valuable ounce of plastic in The Europeans started all the wonderful tive triple-murderer from my (gulp!) neck the form of a thin shell. cycling traditions: the racing clubs in of the woods. While a helmet is no substitute for care- France and Italy, the time-trialists and Police patrols weren’t what the Marin ful and skillful riding, it’s an immensely cyclotourists in England, and the wretched- County crowd had in mind when they col- valuable backup device. Bicycling is a hap- ly muddy spring races in northern and laboratively invented the mountain bike, but pier sport than it would have been if all Eastern Europe. But those traditions became this delightful unintended consequence those brain injuries hadn’t been prevented. too hidebound, and equipment design had stagnated badly. SunTour and Shimano makes our lives safer at the same time that M it makes police seem more human. Suspension. In the pre-suspension started an earthquake under Campagnolo’s years, many so-called technical “experts,” mighty pedestal, and companies like Fuji myself included, thought it would and Bridgestone toppled the mighty never be important on bicycles. Raleigh, Peugeot, Motobecane, and other Consider us chastened and proven premier European marques. Later, American wrong. Suspension has completely companies like Trek and Cannondale, and changed the face of mountain bike other Pacific Rim companies like Giant and riding, allowing riders better con- China Bicycle Corp. continued to shake the trol and less fatigue. And ever so ground. No one will ever be able to be so slowly, it is edging into the road complacent again. bike market. The day will come M when we all have suspension and Recumbents. The age of recumbents no longer have hand fatigue from a is a work in progress, but for the first time, long ride. in 1999, I can easily tell anyone who asks, “Look for a recumbent dealer in your PHOTO BYPHOTO GREG SIPLE M Seriously stiff and light town.” (There are probably about 1,000 frames. The traditional steel bike recumbent retailers among the nation’s M Helmets. Few people realize how is a good bike and an efficient 6,000 bike shops.) I doubt recumbents will long ago we Americans started yearning for structure. A framebuilder with good tech- ever be a dominant fad like mountain bikes a good bicycle helmet. The year was 1969, nique can take a Columbus SL tubeset and became, but their availability as an option and the Snell Memorial Foundation issued make a 54 cm racing frame weigh as little will usher in an era when shop personnel its first standard for bicycle helmets.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Richard's 21St Century Bicycl E 'The Best Guide to Bikes and Cycling Ever Book Published' Bike Events
    Richard's 21st Century Bicycl e 'The best guide to bikes and cycling ever Book published' Bike Events RICHARD BALLANTINE This book is dedicated to Samuel Joseph Melville, hero. First published 1975 by Pan Books This revised and updated edition first published 2000 by Pan Books an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Ltd 25 Eccleston Place, London SW1W 9NF Basingstoke and Oxford Associated companies throughout the world www.macmillan.com ISBN 0 330 37717 5 Copyright © Richard Ballantine 1975, 1989, 2000 The right of Richard Ballantine to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. • All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. • Printed and bound in Great Britain by The Bath Press Ltd, Bath This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall nor, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
    [Show full text]
  • Transience10
    a publication of ADVENTURE CYCLING ASSOCIATION AN EPIC ACT OF TRANSIENCE10 $6.95 OCT/NOV 2019 Vol.46 No.8 STACK LONG DAYS. CLIMB LIKE A MOUNTAIN GOAT. Saddle, back, neck and wrist pain no longer get a say in your plans. Our patented drive system brings together the best of traditional and recumbent touring bikes so you don’t have to sacrifice performance for comfort. But we should warn you, your cheeks may hurt from smiling. Adventure Cyclist readers get $100 off the Cruzbike of their choice Use code: ADVENTURE at C ruzbike.com Letter from the Editor online WHAT YEAR IS IT AGAIN? Revolution, evolution, and the march of progress PHOTO CONTEST OPEN NOW ➺I recently found myself standing on a quiet main ’Tis the season for submitting street in front of a small-town Montana theater. I’d your best images to the 11th been on the road for a while and small towns can start Annual Bicycle Travel Photo to look the same, but when I looked up at the marquee Contest. Winning images are published in the May 2020 and saw “Lion King,” for a moment I was sure of EDGERTONADAM neither where I was nor when. Adventure Cyclist, plus these Depending on the level of charity you’re inclined shots appear in our annual to employ, there are either no more ideas left, or we calendar. Send us your best simply evolve the same core idea over and over to at adventurecycling.org/ reintroduce it to new generations. I was certainly thinking about the photcontest now through spectrum of “invention” as I read Bob Marr’s story on page 20 about turn- November 30.
    [Show full text]
  • 4-H Bicycling Project – Reference Book
    4-H MOTTO Learn to do by doing. 4-H PLEDGE I pledge My HEAD to clearer thinking, My HEART to greater loyalty, My HANDS to larger service, My HEALTH to better living, For my club, my community and my country. 4-H GRACE (Tune of Auld Lang Syne) We thank thee, Lord, for blessings great On this, our own fair land. Teach us to serve thee joyfully, With head, heart, health and hand. This project was developed through funds provided by the Canadian Agricultural Adaptation Program (CAAP). No portion of this manual may be reproduced without written permission from the Saskatchewan 4-H Council, phone 306-933-7727, email: [email protected]. Developed in January 2013. Writer: Leanne Schinkel Table of Contents Introduction Objectives .................................................................................................................................................... 1 Getting the Most from this Project ....................................................................................................... 1 Achievement Requirements for this Project ..................................................................................... 2 Safety and Bicycling ................................................................................................................................. 2 Online Safety .............................................................................................................................................. 4 Resources for Learning ............................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Bike Boom: the Unexpected Resurgence of Cycling, 217 DOI 10.5822/ 978-1-61091-817-6, © 2017 Carlton Reid
    Acknowledgments Thanks to all at Island Press, including but not only Heather Boyer and Mike Fleming. For their patience, thanks are due to the loves of my life—my wife, Jude, and my children, Josh, Hanna, and Ellie Reid. Thanks also to my Kickstarter backers, listed overleaf. As much of this book is based on original research, it has involved wading through personal papers and dusty archives. Librarians in America and the UK proved to be exceptionally helpful. It was wonderful—albeit distracting— to work in such gob-stoppingly beautiful libraries such as the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, and the library at the Royal Automobile Club in London. I paid numerous (fruitful) visits to the National Cycling Archive at the Modern Records Centre at Warwick University, and while this doesn’t have the architectural splendor of the former libraries, it more than made up for it in the wonderful array of records deposited by the Cyclists’ Touring Club and other bodies. I also looked at Ministry of Transport papers held in The National Archives in Kew, London (which is the most technologically advanced archive I have ever visited, but the concrete building leaves a lot to be desired). Portions of chapters 1 and 6 were previously published in Roads Were Not Built for Cars (Carlton Reid, Island Press, 2015). However, I have expanded the content, including adding more period sources. Carlton Reid, Bike Boom: The Unexpected Resurgence of Cycling, 217 DOI 10.5822/ 978-1-61091-817-6, © 2017 Carlton Reid. Kickstarter Backers Philip Bowman Robin Holloway
    [Show full text]
  • Bicycling in Minneapolis in the Early 20Th Century
    ing in Minnea Bicycl polis n 2010, Bicycling maga- zine named Minneapolis the top bike-friendly city in the U.S., displacing Portland, Oregon, for the first time. On June 10, the Nice Ride bike-sharing program Idebuted, and within 20 days, more than 10,000 trips had been taken on its 450 bikes-for-rent. Earlier in the year, bicyclists were allowed to resume weekday daytime use of the pedestrian-bus mall on Nicollet Avenue, a historically significant cy- cling location, after a 12-year hiatus. These accomplishments built on the 2008 silver-level Bicycle Friendly Community Award from the League of American Bicyclists and the 2009 estimate by cycling experts that the city operated about 120 miles of bike paths and lanes. Minneapolis Mayor R. T. Rybak traced this enthusiasm for the bicycle back to the 1970s when the first on-street bike lanes appeared. In fact, the city’s love affair with the bicycle began much earlier.1 Well after the end of the 1890s’ “bicycle boom,” Twin Citians continued to ride; Mrs. John P. Upham, about 1917. ing in Minnea Bicycl polis in the Early 20th Century Ross D. Petty In 1916 the Minneapolis Tribune “this city”—presumably New York. velocipede seemed to fade from crowed that its hometown was once In early 1869 the Tribune predicted local interest, at least as reported in considered one of the greatest bi- that even though no mechanics in the Tribune. It appears that Min- cycle centers in the United States.2 Minneapolis were yet producing neapolitans were still using bicycles, Minneapolis also has the apparently velocipedes, some dozen probably however, because an 1873 ordinance unique distinction of being the only would be imported into the city by banned sidewalk riding.
    [Show full text]
  • Bike Banter Old Spokes - FLC Seniors Cycling Club Newsletter Issue 8– July 20, 2020
    Bike Banter Old Spokes - FLC Seniors Cycling Club Newsletter Issue 8– July 20, 2020 Inside this issue: Got a favorite poem? Reflections to share? ➢ Level 3 Fine Start to the Season Send to: [email protected] ➢ How Did the Netherlands Become the #1 Bicycling Nation? (#3 in the series) Our Editorial Team: ➢ OK E-Bikers! Pamela Lester, Publisher ➢ Animals Pandemic Style Peter Bradbury, Feature Writer ➢ NEW Classisfed Ads Section Richard Stothard, Distribution ➢ 60s Blast from the Past Peter Whitehead, Facebook Coordinator ➢ Reflections LEVEL 3 FINE START TO THE SEASON I led the first Level 3 event of the season, on Saturday, July 4. It was the first ride I had designed myself entirely; I was pleased with the outcome. The 41 km route circled the city center, taking in Confederation Park and the University in the North, and the Elbow River and an ice cream shop in the South. I could not find a place serving Samosas, and it was too early in the ride to stop at the Shawarma place on 16th Ave. I took a picture of the hardy group at the top of Tom Campbell’s Hill. From left to right, they were Peter Ripley, Brenda Ballantyne, Mike Massecar, Rene Starrat, Marisa Poon Tip, Rodney Mohr, and Lorraine Mohr. We were a full complement of eight. Notice the social distancing; I promise you we kept our distance, not just in the photo. One can’t cycle in both the North and South sides of the Bow River valley without encountering hills, so I was forgiven. However, I suffered a rebellion in Shaganappi Park.
    [Show full text]
  • Citychangercargobike
    CityChangerCargoBike D.2.2. Local Analysis Report CityChangerCargoBike – D.2.2. – Local Analysis Report Grant agreement no: No 769086 Project acronym: CCCB Project title: CityChangerCargoBike Description of document Start date of the action: 01.09.2018 Duration: 36 months End date of the action: 31.07.2021 Version: V3 Due date: 5 months Prepared by: Ioana Cioloca (AIM) Checked by: Valentin Voinica (AIM) Susanne Wrighton (FGM) Vitali Naumov (PK) Project coordinator: Susanne Wrighton 0043 316 810 451 23 Status: Final Dissemination level: Public www.cyclelogistics.eu www.cyclelogistics.eu 2 / 121 CityChangerCargoBike – D.2.2. – Local Analysis Report Project partners Partner Organisation Country no. FORSCHUNGSGESELLSCHAFT MOBILITAET – Austrian Austria 1 Mobility Research FGM – AMOR Gemeinnuetzige GMBH COPENHAGENIZE APS Denmark 2 European Cyclists’ Federation ASBL Belgium 3 LOGISTICS FEDERATION EUROPEAN CYCLE LOGISTICS United Kingdom 4 POLITECHNIKA KRAKOWSKA Poland 5 Cambridgeshire County Council United Kingdom 6 AYUNTAMIENTO DE DONOSTIA / SAN SEBASTIAN Spain 7 GEMEENTE UTRECHT Netherlands 8 OSLO KOMMUNE Norway 9 STAD MECHELEN Belgium 10 CAMARA MUNICIPAL DE LISBOA Portugal 11 EUROMETROPOLE DE STRASBOURG France 12 CENTRO DE ESTUDIOS AMBIENTALES Spain 13 MUNICIPALITY OF ALBA IULIA Romania 14 GRAD DUBROVNIK Croatia 15 COMUNE DI RIMINI Italy 16 Miasto Gdynia Poland 17 OBSHTINA VARNA Bulgaria 18 DIMOS DRAMA Greece 19 MESSENGER A.S. Czech Rep. 20 Document history Date Person Action Prepare Template for D2.2; sent to 19.10.2018 Ioana Cioloca – Comm. Expert &PR partners 04.12.2018 Susanne Wrighton/ Vitalii Naumov Feedback/ FGM & PK D2.2 – Template and explanations sent to 07.12.2018 Valentin Voinica – Project Manager partners 15.01.2019 Valentin Voinica – Project Manager Remainder 18.02.2019 Ioana Cioloca – Comm.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 a Short History of Bicycling
    1 A short history of bicycling Introduction Those who are ignorant of history are not, in truth, condemned to repeat it, as George Santayana claimed. However, people do spend a great deal of time reinventing types of bicycles and of components, and one purpose of this necessarily brief history is to give would-be inventors a glimpse of some of their predecessors. Sir Isaac Newton said that we make advances by standing on the shoulders of giants, but we must first know that there were giants and what they accomplished. Another purpose is to kill the many-headed Hydra of bicycling myths. People invent these myths—for instance, that Leonardo da Vinci or one of his pupils invented the chain- driven bicycle—for nefarious or self-serving or humorous purposes, and the myths are immediately picked up by journalists and enthusiasts and almost instantly become lore, however false. Historians repeatedly denounce the fakes, but the amateur historians continue to report them as if they were true. These people seem to practice a crude form of democracy: if they read something in ten publications and the contrary in one, then the one reported most often is, they believe, correct. We have become the disciples of a group of cycle-historians that has become a powerful international movement having scholarly proceedings and meetings. Derek Roberts, the founder of the group, has written correc- tion sheets for every new book incorporating cycling history, pointing out inaccuracies in detail. John Pinkerton encouraged Roberts to gather these together and published Cycling history—myths and queries (1991) in a fur- ther attempt to stem the tide of inaccurate versions of history.
    [Show full text]
  • Schwinn Bicycle History
    Living History of Illinois and Chicago® Living History of Illinois and Chicago® – Facebook Group. Digital Research Library of Illinois History® Living History of Illinois Gazette - The Free Daily Illinois Newspaper. Illinois History Store® – Vintage Illinois and Chicago logo products. Arnold, Schwinn and Company, Chicago, IL In the late 1880's Ignaz Schwinn was working in a machine shop making components for high-wheelers (also called Penny Farthings because of their giant front wheel and tiny rear wheel) in Germany. In 1889 he jumped on the diamond frame bandwagon and convinced local manufacturer Kleyer Bicycle Works to begin building Schwinn's own design of diamond frame. The Schwinn design was a success and Ignaz was put in charge of the planning and building of a new factory for the bike. He was 29. Two years later Ignaz Schwinn was on a boat for America. The restless young Schwinn went to work on Fowler bicycles at Chicago's Hill Cycle Manufacturing Company. Then he spent two years building a bicycle factory for International Manufacturing Company. In 1894, Ignaz Schwinn met Adolph Frederick William Arnold, a German born investor who had made his fortune in the Chicago meat packing industry. Arnold knew a craze when he saw one and Chicago was ripe. By 1897, an estimated 1 in 7 Chicagoans owned a pair of wheels. America had 300 bicycle manufacturers, but as many as 2/3 of the bikes made in this country were being manufactured within 150 miles of Chicago. This was America's first bicycle boom. 1 Living History of Illinois and Chicago® Living History of Illinois and Chicago® – Facebook Group.
    [Show full text]
  • Bicycles, Transportation Sustainability, and Quality of Life
    University of Vermont ScholarWorks @ UVM Transportation Research Center Research Reports 1-15-2014 Bicycles, Transportation Sustainability, and Quality of Life Luis Vivanco University of Vermont, [email protected] Phoebe Spencer University of Vermont Richard Watts University of Vermont Stephanie Kaza University of Vermont Joshua Farley University of Vermont Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/trc Recommended Citation Vivanco, Luis; Spencer, Phoebe; Watts, Richard; Kaza, Stephanie; and Farley, Joshua, "Bicycles, Transportation Sustainability, and Quality of Life" (2014). Transportation Research Center Research Reports. 173. https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/trc/173 This Report is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks @ UVM. It has been accepted for inclusion in Transportation Research Center Research Reports by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ UVM. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A Report from the University of Vermont Transportation Research Center Bicycles, Transportation Sustainability, and Quality of Life TRC Report 14-001 | P Spencer, R Watts, L Vivanco, S Kaza, J Farley | January 2014 UVM TRC Report # 14-001 Bicycles, Transportation Sustainability, and Quality of Life UVM Transportation Research Center January 15, 2014 Prepared by: Phoebe Spencer, MS Richard Watts, Ph.D. Luis Vivanco, Ph.D. Stephanie Kaza, Ph.D Joshua Farley, Ph.D University of Vermont Transportation Research Center Farrell Hall 210 Colchester Avenue Burlington, VT 05405 Phone: (802) 656-1312 Website: http://www.uvm.edu/trc Acknowledgements The Project Team would like to acknowledge the efforts of Brian Flynn, Sc. D.; Greg S. Dana, M.P.A.; and Anne L. Dorwaldt, M.A. for assistance with data collection.
    [Show full text]
  • HG Wells and the Bicycle
    English Books English 4-13-2017 The aW r of the Wheels: H.G. Wells and the Bicycle Jeremy Withers Iowa State University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/engl_books Part of the English Language and Literature Commons, and the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine Commons Recommended Citation Withers, Jeremy, "The aW r of the Wheels: H.G. Wells and the Bicycle" (2017). English Books. 2. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/engl_books/2 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the English at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in English Books by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Contentd List of Illustrations tX Acknowledgments Xt Introduction 1 1. Nature 23 2. Arrogance 53 3. Warfare 75 4. Hypermobility 107 5. Commodification 127 6. Automobility 154 Conclusion 176 Notes 183 Bibliography 213 Index 225 1ntPoduction H. G. Wells was obsessed with transportation. Throughout his vast corpus-over a hundred published books, thousands of articles and essays, dozens of short stories-readers encounter references to a staggering array of transport technologies. Tanks rumble across the pages of the short story "The Land Ironclads." Londoners desperately attempt to flee the walking Martian tripods by means of boats, car­ riages, and trains in The War ofthe Worlds. Elevated moving sidewalks slide citizens around the city in The Sleeper Awakes, a work that-like the novel Tono-Rungay and the story "The Argonauts of the Air"­ also showcases an intense interest on the part of Wells in the devel­ opment of aeronautics.
    [Show full text]
  • Anyone Can Attest to Their Popularity These Days, but Bicycles Have Had Their Ups and Downs Over the Years...And They Go Back a Lot of Years!
    by Mike Prero Anyone can attest to their popularity these days, but bicycles have had their ups and downs over the years...and they go back a lot of years!. There are several early, but unverified, claims for the invention of bicycle-like machines. The earliest comes from a sketch said to be from 1493 and attributed to Gian Giacomo Caprotti, a pupil of Leonardo da Vinci. In 1998, Hans-Erhard Lessing described this as a purposeful fraud. However, the authenticity is still vigorously maintained by followers of Prof. Augusto Marinoni, entrusted by the Commissione Vinciana of Rome with the transcription of da Vinci's Codex Atlanticus. Later, and equally unverified, is the contention that Comte de Sivrac developed a célérifère in 1791, demonstrating it at the Palais-Royal in France. The célérifère supposedly had two wheels set on a rigid wooden frame and no steering, directional control being limited to that attainable by leaning. A rider was said to have sat astride the machine and pushed it along using alternate feet. It is now thought that the two-wheeled célérifère never existed (though there were four-wheelers) and it was instead a 1886 Swift Safety Bicycle misinterpretation by the well-known French journalist Louis Baudry de Saunier in 1891. The first verifiable claim for a practically used bicycle belongs to German Baron Karl von Drais, in Germany. Drais invented his Laufmaschine ("running machine") of 1817 that was called Draisine (English) or draisienne (French) by the press. Karl von Drais patented this design in 1818, which was the first commercially successful two-wheeled, steerable, human-propelled machine, commonly called a velocipede.
    [Show full text]