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Curious, isn’t it? Applying an essentially post-modernist approach (Wordle.net) to one of the fundamental texts of 19th century French modernism (albeit in translation) reveals the basic themes of the essay but completely loses the vision, vigour and force of the original. Figures…!
Read the original Baudelaire essay here.
Other things I’ve Wordled can be found here and here.
r:B
If you’re quick, you might still catch a re-run of Hugh Laurie reading Jerome K Jerome’s Three Men on the Bummel on BBC Radio 7. Classic period bicycling chuckles…
BTW…found the stirrup clips for “The Sun”. :c)
r:B
Whilst perusing some fascinating 19th century material on chainless bicycle solutions, I happened across this drawing of the Hildick Chainless Bicycle Gear.
The Hildick Chainless Bicycle Gear (1898)
Given the main reason for replacing the bicycle chain is to obviate a messy, potentially dangerous and fragile drive system, the decision to opt for a large, open gear and all the greasy, moving parts that entails seems somewhat eccentric. In case you haven’t worked it out, the inner ring of the mechanism is fixed and the outer ring runs on bearings, something like a giant freewheel. In its favour, it looks as though it could have been retro-fitted to any standard, chain-driven bicycle.
It made me reflect on something I’d once read Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway, say about the South Pointing Chariot invented by the ancient Chinese – a cart which, through an assembly of differentials, pinions and annular gears, would always point an indicator stick South, no matter in which direction it was driven. The odd thing is that the Chinese had already discovered the magnetic properties of lodestones and thus had a ready method of detecting North even when unable to use astronomical navigation. They had essentially reinvented the problem! Now, if only someone had pointed Mr Kamen towards the bicycle he might have saved himself a lot of bother.
To me, the most elegant solution for a chainless bicycle offered in the late 1890s was the bevel-geared shaft-drive system by Sterling and others in the USA, possibly because it looks so much like the hand-operated food mixer I remember mentally disassembling as a child. Unfortunately, it would probably have limited serviceable life due to gear wear – the bevelled teeth providing such a small point of contact that they would be unable to take the full leverage of the crank over a prolonged period – but it does offer some inspiration.
The Sterling bevel-geared Chainless Crank Bracket (1898)
What if the crank axle were a fixed worm gear so that there was more metal in constant contact with the drive shaft and hence a more evenly spread load? This after all is the chief benefit of a chain – the spread load of numerous teeth being driven at once. Would the gear ratio be too low to be practical? It would certainly take up less space in the bottom bracket…
If we revert to a chainwheel and chain, with the appropriate constraining rollers, there is no reason at all we could not have a chaindriven system which was completely enclosed in the chainstay!
Any thoughts?
UPDATE: Appears that UK company Zero Bikes have already resuscitated the shaft-driven chainless bicycle. I really should keep up to date!
UPDATE 2: OK! There’s also Dynamic Bicycles in the USA. Jings! I’m so out of touch!
UPDATE 3: Yes…and also from Beixo in the Netherlands. This post is now closed!
r:B
I don’t like to appear parochial or churlish – no, really! – but this week I find myself somewhat replete with churl. (Not much about bicycles unless you count a chap who can allegedly cycle very quickly and repeatedly in circles…)
“…there are two sorts of cyclist, the romantic one and the matter-of-fact one. The romantic cyclist admires the color, the delicacy of the wheels and frame, the feel of the saddle. He carries no map, no compass, no watch, delighting in the wind on his face and the pleasures of the countryside. The practical cyclist studies gear ratios, tubing lengths…map distances. Nevertheless, these opposing attitudes are bounded by the bicycle itself which is a combination of mechanical, visual, and experiential factors. It is a model of “human” technology, with its beauty and utility. And both the romantic and matter-of-fact cyclist are, so to speak, common sense aesthetes.”
– Robert Poole, “Bloomsbury and Bicycles”
ELH, Vol. 56, No. 4, (Winter, 1989), pp. 951-966
Seems that BBC Radio 4 are featuring a work by a fellow slow bicyclist as their Book at Bedtime this week.
I believe that even if you’re a Johnny Foreigner you can still benefit from the largesse of us BBC license payers and listen to it using the very computer at which you’re sitting.
I’ve not read the book yet but I thoroughly enjoy her blogging. I’m looking forward to it!
R:B
