A bicycle stays upright while moving forward by being steered so as to keep its center of mass over the wheels. It became the biggest bicycle manufacturing company in the world, making over two million bikes per year. These bicycles were difficult to ride due to their high seat and poor weight distribution.

Accessories

It is regarded as the first bicycle and von Drais is seen as the "father of the bicycle", but it did not have pedals. The "dandy horse", also called Draisienne or Laufmaschine ("running machine"), was the first human means of transport to use only two wheels in tandem and was invented by the German Baron Karl von Drais. The design of the bicycle was an advance on the velocipede, although the words were used with some degree of overlap for a time. The word bicycle first appeared in English print in The Daily News in 1868, to describe "Bysicles and trysicles" on the "Champs Elysées and Bois de Boulogne". The bicycle's invention has had an enormous effect on society, both in terms of culture and of advancing modern industrial methods. Bicycles are popular targets for theft, due to their value and ease of resale.

Popular in Grammar & Usage

The word was first used in 1847 in a French publication to describe an unidentified two-wheeled vehicle, possibly a carriage. These have allowed for a proliferation of specialized designs for many types of cycling. Doublet of chakra, chakram, charkha, chukker, cyclus, and wheel (see there for more). Definition of cycle noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary Rather than seeking to control or overexploit the environment, they adapted to its seasonal cycles and used periodic flooding as an opportunity. The second is evidence of a positive feedback cycle in which these fractures increased ice acceleration, which in turn caused further damage.

Seating

A number of formal and industry standards exist for bicycle components to help make spare parts exchangeable and to maintain a minimum product safety. Bike trainers are used to enable cyclists to cycle while the bike remains stationary. Training wheels are sometimes used when learning hot cycle tampa to ride, but a dedicated balance bike teaches independent riding more effectively. Front-mounted baskets, front or rear luggage carriers or racks, and panniers mounted above either or both wheels can be used to carry equipment or cargo.

By the turn of the century, cycling clubs flourished on both sides of the Atlantic, and touring and racing became widely popular. Among the earliest clubs was The Bicycle Touring Club, which has operated since 1878. This, in turn, required gearing—effected in a variety of ways—to efficiently use pedal power. His uncle, Josiah Turner, and business partner James Starley, used this as a basis for the 'Coventry Model' in what became Britain's first cycle factory. In 1868, Rowley Turner, a sales agent of the Coventry Sewing Machine Company (which soon became the Coventry Machinists Company), brought a Michaux cycle to Coventry, England. The first mechanically propelled, two-wheeled vehicle may have been built by Kirkpatrick MacMillan, a Scottish blacksmith, in 1839, although the claim is often disputed.

A recumbent bicycle has a reclined chair-like seat that some riders find more comfortable than a saddle, especially riders who suffer from certain types of seat, back, neck, shoulder, or wrist pain. Suspension seat posts and seat springs provide comfort by absorbing shock but can add to the overall weight of the bicycle. For racing bikes where the rider is bent over, weight is more evenly distributed between the handlebars and saddle, the hips are flexed, and a narrower and harder saddle is more efficient. Most bikes have two or three chainrings, and from 5 to 12 sprockets on the back, with the number of theoretical gears calculated by multiplying front by back. Bamboo, a natural composite material with high strength-to-weight ratio and stiffness has been used for bicycles since 1894. Historically, materials used in bicycles have followed a similar pattern as in aircraft, the goal being high strength and low weight.

• Most bikes have two or three chainrings, and from 5 to 12 sprockets on the back, with the number of theoretical gears calculated by multiplying front by back.
• Probably the best known and most widely used of these inventions, adopted well beyond cycling, is Charles Bennett’s Bike Web, which came to be called the jock strap.
• A number of cities around the world have implemented schemes known as bicycle sharing systems or community bicycle programs.
• Another basic maintenance item is regular lubrication of the chain and pivot points for derailleurs and brake components.

A pair of wheels may be called a wheelset, especially in the context of ready-built "off the shelf", performance-oriented wheels. Without a freewheel, coasting is impossible, so when the rear wheel is moving, the cranks are moving. A rear hub brake may be either hand-operated or pedal-actuated, as in the back pedal coaster brakes which were popular in North America until the 1960s. Upright handlebars, the norm in Europe and elsewhere until the 1970s, curve gently back toward the rider, offering a natural grip and comfortable upright position. The handlebars connect to the stem that connects to the fork that connects to the front wheel, and the whole assembly connects to the bike and rotates about the steering axis via the headset bearings.

In many jurisdictions, it is an offense to use a bicycle that is not in a roadworthy condition. They all experience the freedom and the natural opportunity for exercise that the bicycle easily provides. Ivan Illich stated that bicycle use extended the usable physical environment for people, while alternatives such as cars and motorways degraded and confined people's environment and mobility. (Ballantine, 1972) The bicycle is an inexpensive, fast, healthy and environmentally friendly mode of transport. One of the profound economic implications of bicycle use is that it liberates the user from motor fuel consumption. In line with the European financial crisis of that time, in 2011 the number of bicycle sales in Italy (1.75 million) passed the number of new car sales.

Vehicles

In Copenhagen, a cyclists' organization runs a Cycling Embassy that promotes biking for commuting and sightseeing. There are also cycling-specific multi-tools that combine many of these implements into a single compact device. Some brands of tires are much more puncture-resistant than others, often incorporating one or more layers of Kevlar; the downside of such tires is that they may be heavier and more difficult to fit and remove. A patch kit may be employed to fix the puncture or the tube can be replaced, though the latter solution comes at a greater cost and waste of material. Over the longer term, tires do wear out, after 2,000 to 5,000 miles (3,200 to 8,000 km); a rash of punctures is often the most visible sign of a worn tire. Most of the bearings on a modern bike are sealed and grease-filled and require little or no attention; such bearings will usually last for 10,000 miles (16,000 km) or more.