Nothing better than a bicycle… with an engine
IWAS interested to read recently that 2017 marked the 200th anniversary of the invention of the bicycle. It was not much like any of the lightweight multi-geared racing machines that swish past my house every day. Karl Von Drais’s Laufmaschine was made of wood and weighed 20kg and it had no pedals. The young German inventor described it as a “running machine”. The rider (or maybe I should say runner) sat astride the vehicle and propelled it along by running.
Millions of modern children own little black plastic motorbikes that work the same way and manage to produce the most irritating sound in the world. I think the hollow moulded plastic body acts as an amplifier.
The Laufmaschine must have been great fun on the downhills, but rather hard work when travelling uphill. The young inventor managed a speed of 12km/h, which was considerably faster than the average horse-drawn coach in those days. Von Drais took out a patent on his machine in 1818, but it was not a financial success and didn’t earn the inventor any money.
In spite of what some people may think, I was not around in 1817, but I have seen some dramatic changes in bicycle design over the years. I have also seen some dramatic changes in people’s attitudes towards bicycles.
Back in the early 1950s when I owned my first bicycle (second hand and passed on from the neighbour’s son, Stephen, known as Doppie) only farm labourers and children rode bikes. The farm workers rode heavy, single speed “dikwiel” bikes, on which they covered amazing distances on weekends, eating up the kilometres at a steady, unhurried pace. The farmers’ children aspired to lighter machines fitted with three-speed Sturmy-Archer gears. Adults drove cars.
Today bicycles are regarded as luxury sports equipment costing thousands of rand and made of the latest ultra-light materials and sophisticated engineering. They weigh about as much as a hat.
Most of the bikes that whizz past my house early in the morning have tyres about as thick as a pencil, but I have noticed an interesting development: several bicycle shops now stock machines with enormously fat tyres, about as heavy and thick as motorcycle tyres.
I’m not sure who would need tyres like that, unless they plan to ride in soft sand, but they look like hard work to me, even if they are fitted with complex gears.
I’m sure they will provide a lot of healthy exercise, and that’s a good thing in an age when most young people seem to spend their lives peering into small screens.
For my part, I have always enjoyed travelling on two wheels ever since I had that first bike of Doppie’s. But, being a lazy guy, I like to have an engine attached to those wheels, as my picture at the head of this column shows.
Last Laugh
“When my grandfather turned 60 his doctor told him cycling was an excellent way to keep fit. He started riding 20km a day.” “Has it worked?” “I don’t know. He’d be 75 now and we have no idea where he is.”