Tuesday 25 January 2011

Cycling to the moon (in just over 200 years) When did the bike become too fast?

Today's blog is a bit of a history lesson finishing with the latest in technology. Did you know that the word bicycle comes from a combination of two Latin words? Bi for two and cycle for circle or wheel. So much kudos has been placed on the invention of the bike that some people claim that Leonardo Da Vinci (before designing the puzzle that caused Robert Langdon so much grief in the Da Vinci code) dreamed up the earliest design, while others say the design was inserted by an over enthusiastic monk  reviewing his papers. Imagine! Such was the desire to claim the first bike design.

The first official bike was the Draisienne or hobby horse, a bike with no pedals that you scooted along on.
The hobby horse


People being people, racing soon followed and over the next fifty years some of the most famous races of today developed with people pushing themselves to their limits to reach the highest speeds and longest distances in set times. The six day events and the Madison appeared and were probably the most popular sport of the day. Cities competed with one another to provide the best roads for cyclists who often travelled hundreds of miles to ride a smooth surface [much as we do today for a good sportive].
Blacksmiths put together the latest ideas in bike design with the more famous of these going on to manufacture the motorcar. The basic shape of frame the 'diamond' we use today was invented by William Starley in 1885 patented as the Rover safety bike in Coventry, it was the first bike with two wheels the same size, the rider over the centre and able to touch the ground with both feet. In 1896 he floated the Rover cycle company. In 1904 it became the Rover motor company taking cycle technology into the motorcar. As a piece of trivia, when Starley died every bike manufacturer in the country closed on the day of his funeral which was attended by over 20,000 people. The point is his design has remained the same while lesser engineers such as the Wright brothers (who started by building bikes) and Karl Benz motorcar have all moved forward in design specification while the bike is pretty much the same, just the material differs. Rover wasn't the only bike manufacturer  to move into cars, many others did the same including Peugeot that moved into cars and bikes, dropped bikes and are now back designing and building bikes. Others included Bianchi, Singer, Opel, Morris, Hillman, Humber, Winton and Willys
Many other engineering designs sprang up from the bike, gears were added in 1868 to the bike now called the velocipede and a whole new range of competition emerged in the velodrome. Changes in cogs followed in the quest for speed. A Swiss textile manufacturer living in Manchester invented the chain to allow variable gears - his name - Reynolds (heard of them?) The bike designers invented wire spokes, pneumatic tyres, ball bearings, steel tubing and differential gears all of which were borrowed by the motorcar industry. Bike mechanics included Henry Ford, Charles and Frank Duryea and William Hillman, you may have heard of them.

So onto my point, without the bike would we have put a rocket on the moon? Think about the advances mentioned above and how many of them are in the rocket ship. Still not convinced? Campagnolo as well as designing the campio corsa -the first derailleur - also built the chassis for a NASA satellite launched in 1969.

I could go on and usually do... so if someone trivialises the bike to you, ask them if they enjoy their car, flying on holiday and satellite TV...I'm sure you can think of many more. If they do then tell them they are welcome to whatever it it is they love.

So where next? Well look at this.









This is Cervelo's latest offering http://www.cervelo.com/en_us/bikes/2011/P4/  Let me leave it to the manufacturer to describe this piece of art

The world's first fully-integrated aero TT/Tri bike

While outlandish claims fly in the world of “superbikes”, the quiet redesign of the P4evo keeps it firmly atop the ranks for the ultimate in TT/Tri bike design. 25 upgrades including a better IBT rear brake, ICS3 cable routing, more secure seatpost clamping and improved downtube & seattube shapes help it to remain the fastest in our latest test of all the newest TT/Tri bikes. Faster than ever while easier to set-up and maintain, a golden combination.
The P4 is part of the P-series, made for the timed solo effort from prologue to the Race Across America and from sprint triathlon to Ironman.
Experience:
1. Cervelo’s tried and true geometry, putting the rider in a fast and comfortable position.
2. Aerodynamic design to reduce drag resistance and increase speed.
3. Handling and stiffness characteristics straight from the road models.

MAIN TECHNOLOGIES

 
Not yet accepted (my belief) by the cycling authorities - it is so fast... it is limited to triathletes and those interested in pure speed. Here's a thought though, Lance Armstrong used a helmet in a Tour of France that was banned right up to the day he used it when setting the fastest team time trial in history. Just think, at some point this speed machine will be made legal, think how difficult it will become to get hold of one and how much more they may charge..... At the moment they are less than you think.   Is this the first real progression since the diamond frame?
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