Friday, March 23, 2007

Sweet Rickshaw

I like this one, too. This heralded the advances to the modern-day
bicycle. The "safety bike" is what put the high wheelers out of business.
Look at that chain!

Early track bike. Many of these beauties have their original
wood hoops on the wheels.

Smooth. Like buttah.

Here's another one where I need the museum guide again. I read that this
belonged to one of the period's best and finest riders, and he had it
made especially for him. Notice the reversed fork.

1 comment:

Ryan said...

The reversed fork on that last bike likely indicates this was a pacing bicycle, meant to be used in motorpaced races.

The reversed fork allows the rider to get just a bit closer to his pacer, thus improving the draft ever so slightly. Notice that the front wheel is also smaller than the rear wheel, which helps with the same thing.