{"id":19835,"date":"2018-10-28T09:55:47","date_gmt":"2018-10-28T13:55:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hawkdog.net\/wordpress\/?p=19835"},"modified":"2018-10-28T15:53:38","modified_gmt":"2018-10-28T19:53:38","slug":"extra-ordinary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/hawkdog.net\/wordpress\/archives\/19835","title":{"rendered":"Extra-Ordinary"},"content":{"rendered":"

I fell over this hilarious thought experiment<\/a> recently and thought I’d post on it as it touches on a couple of interesting topics: bike history and bike gearing.<\/p>\n

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The big advancement ordinarys incorporated that put them miles ahead of their boneshaker predecessors<\/a> was Eugene Meyer’s wire-spoke tension wheel. Lower weight and comfort – the boneshaker was instantly obsolete. The high-wheeler’s time at the top of the bike heap was brief – Meyer’s bike was introduced in 1869 and the first safety bicycle (what we think of when we say bike), the Rover<\/a>, hit the pavement in 1885. In 1888 John Dunlop used pneumatic tires on a trike and the increased comfort for riders of small wheels was the high-wheel’s death warrant. Of course (because we are kooky primates), people still race Ordinarys – skip ahead to the 9 minute mark for actual racing action. And kudos to the small person wearing pink cowboy boots!<\/p>\n