history of bicycles

[deechee]

Sorry if this has been discussed before but searching the threads with "history bicycles" isn't very useful.

After watching "Top Gear" last night (they tried to find the first car that influenced current car design (steering wheel, pedal layout etc.)), I realized I know very little about how the current bicycle came to be. I've learned a lot from you guys and your amazing bikes/builder stories but is there any book in particular that puts it all together? Its not just those funny cycles with the really big rear wheel but things like Colnago's racing history, why the drivetrain is on the right side etc. I'm very curious. Thanks

[bluehorseshoe]

Bicycle. David Herlihy. Yale Univ. Press.

Good read.

http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/b...=9780300104189

[deechee]

thanks! looks promising

[J.Greene]

I'm fairly certain it had something to do with a teenage boy and an unused prophylactic.

JG

[palincss]

Originally Posted by deechee

Sorry if this has been discussed before but searching the threads with "history bicycles" isn't very useful.

After watching "Top Gear" last night (they tried to find the first car that influenced current car design (steering wheel, pedal layout etc.)), I realized I know very little about how the current bicycle came to be. I've learned a lot from you guys and your amazing bikes/builder stories but is there any book in particular that puts it all together? Its not just those funny cycles with the really big rear wheel but things like Colnago's racing history, why the drivetrain is on the right side etc. I'm very curious. Thanks

This one http://www.sponend.org.uk/hist/hhstarly.htm was highly influential. Wikipedia also has an article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kemp_Starley

[obtuse]

why the drivetrain is on the right side?

so the fixed cog doesn't thread itself off.


jerk

[deechee]

thanks! that's so cool... rover cars were born from bikes

[rwsaunders]

Originally Posted by bluehorseshoe

Bicycle. David Herlihy. Yale Univ. Press.

Good read.

http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/b...=9780300104189

Looks interesting. I already forwarded this to the missus as a Christmas gift idea.

[george]

You may want to scan this site out. It has a nice timetable chart on milestone inventions in the evolution of our bicycle...

http://www.jimlangley.net/ride/bicyclehistorywh.html#

[Vancouverdave]

Can't get a better technical history than Frank Berto and Raymond Henry's "The Dancing Chain," especially for most things related to multiple-speed bikes and the inventors and manufacturers who pushed it along.
Combine with Jan Heine's "Golden Age of Handbuilt Bicycles" or the "Data Book" to get a sense that everything's already been invented, and it just keeps getting recycled.

[cadence231]

Originally Posted by bluehorseshoe

Bicycle. David Herlihy. Yale Univ. Press.

Good read.

http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/b...=9780300104189

It is exhausting!

I have been through it twice.

You will never complain about a rough road or rough bike again!

[davids]

Originally Posted by obtuse

why the drivetrain is on the right side?

so the fixed cog doesn't thread itself off.


jerk

I love learning shiet like this.