From Wheels to Bikes

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Book Review - "It's All About the Bike"

"It's All About the Bike: The Pursuit of Happiness on Two Wheels" by Robert Penn. Published April 26th 2011 by Bloomsbury USA, 208 pages.

Book description at Goodreads.com.

YouTube video giving author's description of his book

Here's my review on Goodreads ~

The author describes some of the history, particularly the early history, of the development of cycling along with an account of his selection of the bits and pieces that are eventually assembled to make his dream bike including visits to manufacturers, all in less than 200 pages. Since I have a coffee table book that describes the history of just derailleurs, in my view he summarizes, generalizes, and leaves some (OK, a lot of) stuff out. For me, knowing something about the subject, it was an interesting read - I enjoyed it. I have to wonder how a reader who was interested in bikes but didn't know that much about the subject would find his explanations of certain slightly technical subjects. It would have been great to have more and better illustrations.

I read the U.S. edition. The dust cover of the U.K. edition included a color photo of this bike he went to so much trouble to have built; it seems odd to have left that off the dust cover of the American version. The British English was not fixed for the U.S. edition - I thought that was a standard process. "Tyre" etc. Not a big deal but seems odd. U.S. distances are supplied in addition to kilometers etc.

Even having read his book, I still don't quite understand what this was the ideal bike for (given that he has six other bikes of various types). It almost seemed like he wanted a randoneering (touring) bike, anyway something for long-long rides, but the subject of randoneering (with its rather different views of many of the choices he made) doesn't come up.

At the end he points out that the bike cost him $5,500. (He translated that to a U.S. measure, anyway). There are plenty of off-the-shelf bikes that cost more than that, so I think he must have got some special pricing on some of it. (Which is fine.)

I have a few other thoughts since I wrote the above ~

* Coming from the U.K., he really has a very European focus in the components he finds interesting. This isn't really a problem per se, but it would have been nice if he could have said a little more about some of the other sources that are important today. Yes, Campagnolo of Italy has made and continues to make great components, but they are mighty pricey and most people are making other choices - Shimano and increasingly SRAM.

* I still don't really understand his "dream bike" except that it is a really sturdy road bike made of steel. He says he figures he'll still be riding it when he is 70 down to the pub, but I am doubtful he'll want to ride what is essentially a racing bike to the pub then. He says nothing about randoneering bikes that seem a lot more "dream bike" to me, but perhaps this movement hasn't caught on in the U.K. (I don't think this fellow reads Bicycle Quarterly, the mother-ship journal of rando cycling.)

* With all the choices in the universe, he has his custom bike painted orange and blue - really, orange and blue? The Denver Broncos. Oh well.

* I also didn't get his choice of carbon fiber Cinelli handlebars for his steel bike, particularly since as I read the book, he got Cinelli Ram bars that integrate the stem and the bars, but on his site the photo shows carbon fiber handlebars with a standard stem. The photos of Cinelli Ram bars that I have seen are quite exotic - so much so that they would grab much of the attention on any bike you had them. Anyway, I must have misunderstood something, but I would have chosen something more traditional for the handlebars.

* The book is mostly about his quest for a perfect road bike of his own profile, but he does meet Joe Breeze of mountain biking fame and describes a pretty amusing outing with him, riding down a famous old mountain track. A lot of his descriptions of discussions with the people he meets who create (or whose companies create) the parts of his bike are engaging; really, that stuff is better than some of his descriptions of early cycling history.

He has photos of the bike

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

National Jukebox - 1901 Recording About Bicycling

Uncle Josh Weathersby on a bicycle, performed by Cal Stewart, January 8, 1901 - a two minute, 41 second recording from a 78 record of a then-humorist spoofing cycling. Part of the Library of Congress' new "National Jukebox" that streams audio recordings from the late 19th and early 20th century. There are a fair number of "spoken word" performances and not just music.

The full press release describing the National Jukebox project.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Quadricycle Fire Engine (1896)

Article in the April 25, 1896 issue of Scientific American.

Figure 1 - Quadricycle Fire Engine

A QUADRICYCLE FIRE ENGINE

We illustrate herewith a quadricycle fire engine that attracted considerable attention at the recent bicycle exhibition at Paris, and which presents unquestionable advantages over the hand engines in use in all places that are too small to afford the luxury of steam fire apparatus.

As shown by our engravings (Figs. 1 and 2), the engine consists of two tandem bicycles coupled by crosspieces in front and behind and having but a single steering post in front. The free space between the two frames is occupied at the front by a hose reel, in the center by a rotary pump, and at the back by a coupling that allows the pump to be put in communication with a water tap.

This entire affair weighs scarcely more than 180 or 188 pounds, which represents about 88 pounds per man. [This per man figure does not seem right, whether the riders' weight is factored in or not, but is what is stated in the original.] It will be seen that upon such a machine four trained cyclists can reach a fire at a speed that could never be attained by fire engines drawn by horses.

Figure 2 - Ready for Operations

As soon as the engine has reached a favorable position, the four men jump from their seats, and, while two of them adjust the couplings, a third unreels the hose, and the fourth, turning down the jointed support, raises the back of the machine and throws the pump into gear.

The four men afterward get into their saddles and pedal in situ with a mean velocity that causes the pump to discharge about 4,500 gallons an hour in the form of a stream 100 feet in length in a horizontal direction and about 75 feet upwardly. These figures are those obtained at the trials made at the Palace of Industry on the 23d of last December.

All the preparatory maneuvers require scarcely more than two or three minutes. If, on another hand, we take into consideration the fact that such machines, propelled by men with some little training, can reach a fire in a quarter or a third of the time made by ordinary hand engines, we shall realize how great an interest attaches to the use of them in country places where a fire so easily assumes the importance of a disaster by reason of the tardiness with which the first help comes. Everything, therefore, leads to the belief that this invention is destined to completely revolutionize the fire apparatus of small towns and villages.

An interesting notion - I don't believe this caught on in the U.S. In a radius of travel less than a couple of miles and with relatively flat terrain, this could make sense, but notwithstanding the advantages of quick response cited, one can imagine fire fighting personnel would prefer not to pedal to fires.

Video from Library of Congress showing the competing horse-centric approach

Advertisement for the Side-by-Side Tandem (1896)

In an earlier post I described and presented information about the Punnett Tandem Bicycle as described in the September 4, 1896 Scientific American - in the same issue at the back is an ad for this bicycle.

Forty pounds in weight and only $150!

While it is supposed to be reasonably easy to mount this thing, one can't help noticing that both gentlemen mentioned in the ad are noted for trick riding.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Black Bicycle Mfg. Co. - 1896 Bicycle Factory

The Black Bicycle Mfg. Co. in 1896, external view

The January 4 1896 issue of Scientific American has illustrations showing scenes from the Black Bicycle Manufacturing Company factory and some description of the manufacturing process in an accompanying article.

THE TRIBUNE BICYCLE

Within the past three years, the American bicycle Industry has grown up to dimensions which fairly entitle it to be considered representative of the country and of the day. Every day sees hundreds of wheels of high and low grade made in the factories of this country for the American and foreign market. Three years ago the English bicycle was considered by many the best wheel, and the possessor of such was apt to consider himself better equipped than his friend who rode one of American manufacture. Now, all is changed. A visitor to England or to the Continent, if a cycling enthusiast, cannot fail to be impressed by the superiority of American wheels as contrasted with the foreign ones, and no wheelman really an fait in his subject would dream of buying his wheel abroad, so superior is the American make. The industry has brought about an enormous development in the manufacture of special tools and of parts of bicycles.

Assembling the Bicycles

Many assumed bicycle manufacturers simply buy these parts and do their own assembling. But for the production of the absolutely high grade American bicycle, a factory is required which will turn out practically all the parts of the wheel manufactured, for unless such is done one concern cannot be answerable for the perfection of the whole machine.

We select as the representative of such a factory the works of the Black Manufacturing Company, of Erie, Pa., a company which produce the highest grade of wheel and which put it on the market purely on its merits without the adventitious advertisement of paid riders. The wheel made by this company, the "Tribune Bicycle," embodies the best possible practice and is correspondingly free from structural variations of unproved merit.

Milling Machine

The tubing, whose walls are of 20 gage thickness, is of American make, the company having found that English tubing could not be obtained of sufficiently even quality. At the junctions of the tubes forged connections are employed. These are received in a solid state and are machined out, drilled and turned, until only a shell of the original material is left. Each connection has projecting nipples which enter the ends of the tubes, and the whole is so accurately made that when the ends of the tubes are placed over the nipples the frame will hold itself together without further fastening. The tubes are of uniform diameter throughout and are simply cut of proper length, so that their natural strength is unaffected. The most striking instance of the preparation of the forged connections is in the crank bracket. This is received as a massive forging weighing 3 pounds 2 1/2 ounces, in general shape a cylinder, with four solid projections. This is put into the finishing machine and finished. It comes out with the solid cylinder drilled out so as to present a large aperture through which the crank shaft is to go. and its ends faced off and finished for the reception of the ball races: The four projecting nipples are drilled out and are also turned down on the outside so as to fit accurately the outside of the tubing. The bracket now weighs 8 ounces; all the rest has been converted into drill chips. One of the typical connections is that used for the head of the rear forks, which forging we specially illustrate, in order to show how solid a construction is given to this vital point.

Rear Fork

The frame has now to he brazed together. The pieces are placed in a massive iron jig or template, adapted to receive them and retain them in position, and which holds horizontally the entire frame. This template is mathematically accurate. While held therein, holes are drilled through the connections and tube ends and pins are driven in, pinning all the parts together. When removed from the jig the frame is perfectly rigid. It now goes to the braziers, who, with the best quality of brass and with large gas blowpipes, braze all the the liquid spelter penetrating all the join even running out around the pins. The frame next goes to the filers, after the borax has been brushed off it, who with file and emery paper, go over all the connections and over the tubing, polishing it all, and removing every excrescence, which, it will be observed, gives the frame an absolute hand finish over all its surface.

Brazing Room

The forks taper toward the end, and to produce this taper cold swedging is employed. The swedging machine carries a heavy head like a lathe head or chuck, which rotates in a horizontal axis, and within which are eight hammers, which by the action of the machine move in and out in radial directions. A piece of cold tubing pushed into the machine and fed up by hand is subjected to a multiplicity of blows and has its diameter rapidly reduced, the workman being able to give it any desired taper. The metal thus tapered is flattened and bent to the proper curve to give one side of the fork.

Cold Swaging Machine
[For someone who doesn't know what "swaging" is - like me - you can read something about it in Wikipedia.]

The cups and cones for the ball bearings are made on automatic turret lathes, the turret carrying in some cases as many as five tools. A bar of tool steel which may be 20 feet long is introduced into the machine and is gradually and automatically fed up to the tools, which shape and cut off from it bearing after bearing, which drop from it every few seconds without any attention from the workman. A liberal supply of oil is kept in constant circulation through the machine, falling upon the cutting tools. The bearings thus finished are purposely left 0 005 of an inch too large. They are then screwed on a mandrel in a special lathe and the final finish is given by hand. They are then tempered by secret process with sperm oil and polished, coming out with a beautiful straw color, equal in finish to any steel tools made. The standard finish of the machine is black enamel and nickel plate. The enamel is put on in four coats, two of India rubber enamel and two polishing coats, the frame being rubbed down with rottenstone between the applications. This gives a finish equal to a piano body. To secure evenness the enamel is applied by dipping in a tank of the compound, after which the parts are hung up and allowed to drip to remove the surplus before baking. All nickel plated parts are first copper plated. This prevents water or moisture from getting under the nickel and rusting the steel and thereby causing a separation of the coating.

[Factory Floor]

The aim of the constructor of this typical American wheel has been to secure simplicity and produce an absolutely standard article. Its criterion is its quality pure and simple. There are, however, some novelties introduced that are especially worthy of illustration. One of these affects the crank and crank shaft mechanism, the crank being secured to the shaft in a new way. V-shaped teeth are formed upon the crank shaft and upon the aperture in the pedal arm. This aperture in the pedal arm is split and provided with a tightening screw. To attach the ciank arm to the shaft, it is thrust over the end of the shaft and the tightening screw is turned up, when it is secured as rigidly as if all were one piece of metal. Those who have struggled with the old-fashioned cotter will realize the advantage of this crank, which is instantly released with two or three turns of a screw.

The handle bar is made adjustable by an arrangement of equal simplicity and efficiency. The socket in the head which receives it is threaded. On the center of the handle bar is brazed a sleeve threaded with the same pitch of screw. The socket is split and provided with a tightening screw. The screw is loosened, the handle bar thrust through the socket and screwed into place. When at the desired angle the screw is tightened and the whole becomes practically one piece of metal. By reversing the handle bars, they can be used in up-tumed or downturned position.

The sprocket wheels ought not to be spoken of as a novelty now. They are cut to the cycloidal or theoretically correct curve, which avoids all friction of the chain against the teeth. This has long been the specialty of the Black Manufacturing Company, but now the system has spread among other companies, and cycloidal sprockets are characteristic of several other first-class wheels.

Cycloidal Sprocket

We also illustrate the system of truing up the wheel. Each wheel is mounted on a gaging frame, and the workman, by setting up and loosening the nipples, brings the rim into an absolutely perfect plane. The steering arrangement of the tandem machine deserves attention. Sprockets are carried by the front and rear steering posts, and these sprockets are connected by chains and rods so as to insure unity of steering action between the front and rear handle bars.

Wheel bearings

What I have done here is bring together the illustrations that were on the cover of the issue and with the article with my hand-corrected version of the OCR'ed text, but some errors likely remain (alas) - if you come across a mistake, let me know in the comments and I'll fix. Thanks!!

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Side-by-Side Tandem (1896)

From the January 4, 1896 issue of Scientific American

Full text of the article describing this side-by-side tandem bicycle that goes with the above illustration:

THE PUNNETT COMPANION SIDE SEATED BICYCLE.

The bicycle has now reached a typical construction from which there seems to be slight tendency to deviate. Absolute novelties beyond the details are more and more rare. The companion side seated bicycle which we represent is. however, one of the novelties of the year. The tandem bicycle, which has met with considerable success where the desire is to have company on a ride, is more or less criticised on account of the position of the riders, one of whom must be behind the other. In the bicycle which we illustrate it is proposed to have the two riders seated side by side, as in the old-fashioned "sociable" tricycle, and yet to have the two riders carried by two wheels only. The two cuts are self-explanatory. The long axle of the rear wheal enables the use of two sprockets at its extremities so far apart as to permit of each one being acted upon through a separate pair of sprockets, each actuated by a separate rider. There is a triple head and a duplex frame, the latter carrying two saddles placed side by side at a proper distance apart for two riders to occupy also side by side.

It is said that a difference of 100 pounds weight in the two riders is not noticeable, and that a person who is ignorant of riding can be taken out on this wheel with perfect safety. The system of mounting is peculiar. For the first one who mounts, the wheel is inclined to one side and this rider takes his or her place on the lower saddle. The machine is then pulled back to an upright position and the second rider mounts by the pedal, and so the start is made. The dismount is made in the same way, reversing, of course, the operations. The two saddle posts are connected, it will be observed, by a crossbar. At the center of the crossbar is a special socket. When a single person fa riding the wheel the saddle is transferred to the central position and the rider sitting there drives the machine by one of the right hand and one of the left hand set of pedals. This, of coruse, produces considerable lost motion in the pedal action, but it at least is possible for a single rider to take care of and to drive the wheel to and from the place of appointment with his friend. It is not a wheel depending absolutely on the presence of two riders. The wheel shown in the illustrations is made by the Punnett Cycle Mfg. Co., Rochester, N.Y.

I can't work out if this really could work or not - apparently it did, but it seems difficult to manage, to say the least.

Original article is here

Cycles with Guns (1896)

Two "Army Bicycles" shown at trade show at Madison Square Garden

Article text that accompanied above illustrations is below, from Scientific American, February 8, 1896.

NEW ARMY BICYCLES
The new army tandem and the model 40, mounted with a Colt's automatic machine gun which have been made by the Pope Manufacturing Company, were exhibited at the Madison Square Garden Cycle Show and attracted great attention.

The tandem is one of the Pope Company's regular model 43s taken directly from stock and finished plainly in enamel and nickel. On the front handle bars are tightly strapped two army overcoats, and on the rear bars a pair of blankets. Resting safely in brackets on either side of the machine is a twelve shot repeating rifle, and hanging on each seat post a Colt quick action revolver of the latest pattern. In addition to this there is a case of signal flags extending almost the whole length of the machine, but not interfering with the riders in the least; and this is the case with all the equipments, being as well and safely placed, ready for use in a moment, and yet causing not the slightest interference.

The Colt automatic gun mounted on the model 40 is the one recently adopted by the government for our navy. This gun weighs between thirty-nine and forty pounds, shoots two hundred and fifty or five hundred times—being automatically fed—and is remarkably accurate. It is fastened securely to the head of the machine, can be easily directed at any angle, and does not interfere with the rider or affect the steering of the machine.

These two wheels are as perfectly equipped with the necessary accouterments of war as would seem possible, and the interest which army people and civilians alike have shown in them leads one to believe that it will not be long before the wheel will form a very effective adjunct to regular army service.

For good or bad, cycles as a part of warfare didn't catch on. Original article is here.