Tuesday, July 31, 2012
HiWheel Mounting Trouble in Europe
Wheelman Carrey Williams found these pictures of HiWheel riders having a hard time over here. He thinks it's in France:
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Friday, July 20, 2012
Thursday, July 19, 2012
How Ireland Killed the HiWheel & the Story of the Tire
In 1887, in Belfast, Ireland, veterinarian, John Boyd Dunlop, outfitted his child's bike with tires that held air. Soon he convinced local Irish bike club cyclists to use his tire with tube configuration on bikes they could touch their feet to the ground on. When these bikes then started out-speeding their HiWheel counterparts in race after race, the once invincible tall wheel bike was headed for the graveyard of history. In fact, by 1892, they had disappeared from the bicycle showrooms of America.
What had kept the HiWheel in favor since its inception in 1869, even though smaller wheeled bikes were catching up in speed, was its ride. Even as chains, which the Penny Farthing did not have, were becoming lighter and much reduced in size, making the shorter bikes faster and faster, the ride on a tall wheel was still far superior in its comfort. The farther one can get from the road, especially the rough roads of the late 19th Century, the less of its shock the cyclist will feel. Dunlop, in effect, leveled the playing field with his invention.
Soon, instead of only the fit, well heeled men of the day being able to ride bikes, women, kids and the fit and the unfit were all able to enjoy the bicycle. Bikes could be made to do work and run errands. They made it possible for most everyone to go much farther much faster. They gave women independence back at a time when a man's strength had before been needed to work with horses and buggies.
You can also read how his pneumatic tire found its way on to the automobile in the link that follows. I think you will agree that along with Edison's light bulb, Dunlop's invention joins the ranks of Goodyear's vulcanized rubber, Bessemer's steel and Drake's oil well as tools that have brought about quantum leaps in the advancement of civilization
What had kept the HiWheel in favor since its inception in 1869, even though smaller wheeled bikes were catching up in speed, was its ride. Even as chains, which the Penny Farthing did not have, were becoming lighter and much reduced in size, making the shorter bikes faster and faster, the ride on a tall wheel was still far superior in its comfort. The farther one can get from the road, especially the rough roads of the late 19th Century, the less of its shock the cyclist will feel. Dunlop, in effect, leveled the playing field with his invention.
Soon, instead of only the fit, well heeled men of the day being able to ride bikes, women, kids and the fit and the unfit were all able to enjoy the bicycle. Bikes could be made to do work and run errands. They made it possible for most everyone to go much farther much faster. They gave women independence back at a time when a man's strength had before been needed to work with horses and buggies.
You can also read how his pneumatic tire found its way on to the automobile in the link that follows. I think you will agree that along with Edison's light bulb, Dunlop's invention joins the ranks of Goodyear's vulcanized rubber, Bessemer's steel and Drake's oil well as tools that have brought about quantum leaps in the advancement of civilization
Read the whole Story about how the tire evolved...
NY Times Report on Danish Bike Highway Popularity
"Superhighway users can also look forward to some variation on the “karma campaign,” now under way in Copenhagen, in which city employees take to the streets with boxes of chocolate to reward cyclists who adhere to the five rules of cycling: be nice, signal, stay to the right, overtake carefully and, rather than let bicycle bells irritate you, do your best to appreciate them."
Monday, July 16, 2012
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Jim Redd - The Man who Started Chicago C-Mass
Before he moved to Ecuador, Jim started the monstrous Chicago Critical Mass bike ride. which, numbering in the many thousands, is one of the biggest in the world. He also rode for the NBG as a Mayors' Ride scout and led the team that developed NBG.BikeRoute.com, back in 2003, when it was a cutting edge web site..
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Monday, July 9, 2012
The City with Most Bike Lanes & Top 50 Best Bike Cities
Click HERE to see a slide show of America's top 50 bike friendliest cities. The slide show is at the bottom of the page, below the short two minute video about Chicago biking (which is ranked 5th).
Readers of my book, Awake Again, will recall all the trouble I had biking in Washington DC (pictured above), where my ride ended back in 1979. Now it is the 4th best biking city in the Nation
In the slide show, you will also learn that Tucson (12th ranked), at 620 miles worth, has the most bike lanes in the Nation.
THX 4 all of U!!
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