Monday, December 22, 2008

A Bicycle with an Identity Crisis

Shall I be extremely small or shall I be huge? I'm not sure. I'll be both.

Here's a picture of the guy, just in case you missed it all in the video.

Stuff like this always happens when we're with the @haugens. (@haugenpaul and @haugenjenn)

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2 comments:

Aron said...

For your historical pleasure:

The High Wheel Bicycle

In 1870 the first all metal machine appeared. (Previous to this metallurgy was not advanced enough to provide metal which was strong enough to make small, light parts out of.) The pedals were still atttached directly to the front wheel with no freewheeling mechanism. Solid rubber tires and the long spokes of the large front wheel provided a much smoother ride than its predecessor. The front wheels became larger and larger as makers realized that the larger the wheel, the farther you could travel with one rotation of the pedals. You would purchase a wheel as large as your leg length would allow. This machine was the first one to be called a bicycle ("two wheel"). These bicycles enjoyed a great popularity among young men of means (they cost an average worker six month's pay), with the hey-day being the decade of the 1880s.

Because the rider sat so high above the center of gravity, if the front wheel was stopped by a stone or rut in the road, or the sudden emergence of a dog, the entire apparatus rotated forward on its front axle, and the rider, with his legs trapped under the handlebars, was dropped unceremoniously on his head. Thus the term "taking a header" came into being.

http://www.pedalinghistory.com/PHhistory.html

There ya go!

12/22/2008 07:28:00 AM
Anonymous said...

That's too funny. We don't ride those in Alabama...hee hee :)

12/22/2008 12:04:00 PM

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