carlfogel@comcast.net
12-31-1969, 08:00 PM
To remind those who have forgotten bicycle history, the first bicycles
were velocipedes, which looked like ungainly safety bicycles with
pedals on the front wheel, like the picture in the middle of this
page:
http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/pageviewer?frames=1&coll=moa&view=50&root=%2Fmoa%2Fscia%2Fscia1020%2F&tif=00380.TIF&cite=http%3A%2F%2Fcdl.library.cornell.edu%2Fcgi-bin%2Fmoa%2Fmoa-cgi%3Fnotisid%3DABF2204-1020-26
The front wheel was as large as possible, partly to roll over bumps
more easily, but mostly to give higher gearing.
The highwheeler was the natural evolution from the velocipede. The
seat moved up on top of a much bigger wheel and the rear wheel
dwindled down to almost nothing, like this:
http://i12.tinypic.com/4tz3tp0.jpg
By sitting almost on top of the front wheel, the rider could handle a
larger wheel than he could when sitting back between two wheels on a
velocipede, but he tended to pitch over the top, face-first, whenever
things went wrong.
So chains and rear drive were added to the old velocipede design, and
the modern safety bicycle was born:
http://www.scienceandsociety.co.uk/results.asp?image=10307348&wwwflag=2&imagepos=135
With all that in mind, try to figure out what the hell the lower
right-hand picture on the next link shows.
(No, not the fellow, chased by the dog, who's inside the huge Hemmings
unicycle. Go down to the bottom of the page and look at the
uncaptioned right-hand picture of the one-wheel velocipede.)
At first I thought that the lower right-hand picture of the weird bike
with one wheel was some kind of bizarre velocipede trainer, but that
didn't make sense.
See if you can guess what the one-wheel velocipede is before you read
the text:
http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/pageviewer?frames=1&coll=moa&view=50&root=%2Fmoa%2Fscia%2Fscia1020%2F&tif=00153.TIF&cite=http%3A%2F%2Fcdl.library.cornell.edu%2Fcgi-bin%2Fmoa%2Fmoa-cgi%3Fnotisid%3DABF2204-1020-12
Here's the original Harper's Weekly illustration, second from the
bottom:
http://www.rarenewspapers.com/view/173280
(Not Harper's Monthly--that's a different magazine.)
And this drawing shows some details barely visible in the first
picture:
http://books.google.com/books?id=NJU1AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA112&lpg=PA112&dq=harper's+%22ice+velocipede%22&source=web&ots=7zBJdX67mE&sig=HgFti40orhEXrW5CM9zo91AMeXc#PPA111,M1
Incidentally, that strange cross-piece sticking out in front is just
an early coasting peg. The coasting peg made sense before that
one-wheel velocipede was modified, but it became utterly useless after
the bike was altered.
Here's an example of a normal velocipede coasting peg in action:
http://books.google.com/books?id=NJU1AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA112&lpg=PA112&dq=harper's+%22ice+velocipede%22&source=web&ots=7zBJdX67mE&sig=HgFti40orhEXrW5CM9zo91AMeXc#PPA85,M1
Of course, modern fixie riders don't use coasting pegs. The pegs were
darned useful and appeared on most early fixed-gear safety bicycles,
but they don't work when the rider is bent over drop handlebars.
Cheers,
Carl Fogel
were velocipedes, which looked like ungainly safety bicycles with
pedals on the front wheel, like the picture in the middle of this
page:
http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/pageviewer?frames=1&coll=moa&view=50&root=%2Fmoa%2Fscia%2Fscia1020%2F&tif=00380.TIF&cite=http%3A%2F%2Fcdl.library.cornell.edu%2Fcgi-bin%2Fmoa%2Fmoa-cgi%3Fnotisid%3DABF2204-1020-26
The front wheel was as large as possible, partly to roll over bumps
more easily, but mostly to give higher gearing.
The highwheeler was the natural evolution from the velocipede. The
seat moved up on top of a much bigger wheel and the rear wheel
dwindled down to almost nothing, like this:
http://i12.tinypic.com/4tz3tp0.jpg
By sitting almost on top of the front wheel, the rider could handle a
larger wheel than he could when sitting back between two wheels on a
velocipede, but he tended to pitch over the top, face-first, whenever
things went wrong.
So chains and rear drive were added to the old velocipede design, and
the modern safety bicycle was born:
http://www.scienceandsociety.co.uk/results.asp?image=10307348&wwwflag=2&imagepos=135
With all that in mind, try to figure out what the hell the lower
right-hand picture on the next link shows.
(No, not the fellow, chased by the dog, who's inside the huge Hemmings
unicycle. Go down to the bottom of the page and look at the
uncaptioned right-hand picture of the one-wheel velocipede.)
At first I thought that the lower right-hand picture of the weird bike
with one wheel was some kind of bizarre velocipede trainer, but that
didn't make sense.
See if you can guess what the one-wheel velocipede is before you read
the text:
http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/pageviewer?frames=1&coll=moa&view=50&root=%2Fmoa%2Fscia%2Fscia1020%2F&tif=00153.TIF&cite=http%3A%2F%2Fcdl.library.cornell.edu%2Fcgi-bin%2Fmoa%2Fmoa-cgi%3Fnotisid%3DABF2204-1020-12
Here's the original Harper's Weekly illustration, second from the
bottom:
http://www.rarenewspapers.com/view/173280
(Not Harper's Monthly--that's a different magazine.)
And this drawing shows some details barely visible in the first
picture:
http://books.google.com/books?id=NJU1AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA112&lpg=PA112&dq=harper's+%22ice+velocipede%22&source=web&ots=7zBJdX67mE&sig=HgFti40orhEXrW5CM9zo91AMeXc#PPA111,M1
Incidentally, that strange cross-piece sticking out in front is just
an early coasting peg. The coasting peg made sense before that
one-wheel velocipede was modified, but it became utterly useless after
the bike was altered.
Here's an example of a normal velocipede coasting peg in action:
http://books.google.com/books?id=NJU1AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA112&lpg=PA112&dq=harper's+%22ice+velocipede%22&source=web&ots=7zBJdX67mE&sig=HgFti40orhEXrW5CM9zo91AMeXc#PPA85,M1
Of course, modern fixie riders don't use coasting pegs. The pegs were
darned useful and appeared on most early fixed-gear safety bicycles,
but they don't work when the rider is bent over drop handlebars.
Cheers,
Carl Fogel