Being one of the most basic human supercharged vehicles, the bicycle has two wheels attached to a vehicle that
is driven by a pedal. Bicycles were first presented in the 19th century and it is claimed that presently there are approximately about
one billion bicycles worldwide, outnumbering motorcars 2 to 1. In many regions of the earth, bicycles are the main method of transport. Although
the essential use of the bicycle is as a means of transport, it has developed other uses including recreational activities, fitness actions
law enforcement diligences and competitive sports.

The Story of Bicycles

Ever since the chain driven model was presented to the market, the primary
innovation of the bicycle had remained unchanged up to day. But, other advances such as using computers to pattern
and check the stability have been made to the bicycle from its manufacturing process. These methods have greatly aided the spawn of
particularized bicycles for particular purposes such as racing, utility and law enforcement uses. In addition, many of the parts that played a
major role in the development of cars for instance, ball bearings, pneumatic tires and spoke tensioned wheels were initially intended for
the bicycle.

Things to Look in a Bicycle

When relating to bicycles, the dynamics of the bicycle should be thought first. A bicycle has to maintain its center of gravity over the wheels in order to stay upright or balanced.
Therefore, it achieves this by the moving forward using the steering which is commonly provided by the rider
and sometimes even by the bicycle itself. In addition in order to successfully navigate a turn, the combined or full center of mass
of both the bicycle and the rider must lean into the turn. A technique referred to as counter-steering is used to attain this task by directly turning the handlebars with the reaches
or indirectly leaning or slanting the bicycle.

Bicycle can be classified as an exceedingly
streamlined machine looked at in both biological and mechanical view point. When
comparison the energy an individual must spend to travel a given distance, the bicycle is stated to be the most efficiently
operating self supercharged method of transportation. The bicycle wheels carry nearly 99% of the energy because the rider exerts energy to pedals. But in
bicycles that have gear mechanisms, the energy needed will be diminished Nevertheless the air drag faced by the rider will
always remain a problem. At higher speeds, importantly greater power outputs are needed to overcome the air drag. When a rider is sitting in an upright position, the
body of the rider accounts for nearly 75% of the total drag experienced by the bicycle and rider combined. Nevertheless, the exerted drag can be importantly
reduced by placing the rider in a supine or a prone position and by covering the bicycle with fairing that is aerodynamic.

The main
features of a bicycle are frame, steering mechanisms, seating, drivetrain, suspension, wheels and brakes. Some
bicycles use optional mechanics to get advantage for the dynamics of the bicycle. By using gears, the efficiency of the bicycle can be increased by descreasing effort and increasing output.

Share this These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • OnlyWire
  • Socialize-It
  • bodytext
  • del.icio.us
  • Furl
  • StumbleUpon
  • Propeller
  • YahooMyWeb
  • Reddit
  • Slashdot
  • Ma.gnolia
  • RawSugar