10/22/2010
MBA BIKES
THE HISTORY OF TRACK BIKES
Biking Through the Ages | Chatenya Chauhan
The History of Track Bikes
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The History of Track Bikes Contents Introduction ........................................................................................... 5 Through The Years .................................................................................. 7 1816 ................................................................................................ 7 1839 ................................................................................................ 7 1861 ................................................................................................ 7 1868 ................................................................................................ 7 1870 ................................................................................................ 7 1870 ................................................................................................ 7 1874 ................................................................................................ 7 1879 ................................................................................................ 7 1880's .............................................................................................. 7 1888 ................................................................................................ 7 1891 ................................................................................................ 8 1890s .............................................................................................. 8 1894 ................................................................................................ 8 1896 ................................................................................................ 8 1920's & 30's .................................................................................... 8 1945 ................................................................................................ 8 1998 ................................................................................................ 8 Today............................................................................................... 8 Trendiness Today .................................................................................. 11 References ........................................................................................... 13
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The History of Track Bikes Introduction Bicycles initially served utilitarian purposes only, both as a means of transport and a labour saving device, the craze for bicycle racing soon spread, and cycling as a sport was born. From the 1870s, when cycling was very much in its infancy, wooden indoor tracks were laid which resemble those of modern velodromes, consisting of two straights and slightly banked turns. The appeal of indoor track racing was that spectators could be more easily controlled than at outdoor events, and hence an entrance fee could be charged, making track racing a lucrative sport for the organiser. Indoor tracks also enabled year-round cycling, with winter often making it unsuitable for outdoor racing. The most noticeable changes in a century of track cycling have concerned the bicycles themselves, engineered to be lighter and more aerodynamic to allow track cyclists to achieve ever-faster times.
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The History of Track Bikes Through The Years There was a tendency for early road cycling to take place in and around cities. The urban emphasis was largely due to the nature of the cycle industry. Races were seen as an opportunity to showcase new bicycle technology - a practice which still continues today - and proximity to the buying public was thus essential. Road cycling was as much about promotion and showmanship as sporting competition in the 1860s. And is now re-emerging with fixed gear bikes. 1816
The Draisine is born, the first bicycle to benefit from steering 1839
Scotsman Kirkpatrick MacMillan creates a bicycle allowing propulsion that is no longer a matter of pushing off with ones feet! It works a little like a pedalo. 1861
Frenchmen Ernest and Pierre Michaux create the first crank-and-pedal bicycle. 1868
May The first road race took place. The event was held in France, but was won by an Englishman named Moore in a race of 1.2km. 1870
Starley invents the Penny Farthing - the first bicycle to use gears. 1870
Track races attracted crowds of 2000 people in the UK. The main early centres for track racing were Birmingham, Sheffield, Liverpool, Manchester and London. 1874
Designer James Starley invents the spoked bicycle wheel. 1879
The first chain-driven bicycle is invented. 1880's
First bike courier company in North America appeared. H.T. Baily opened a non-stop delivery service that used couriers on bikes. 1888
First commercial pneumatic bicycle tire produced by John Boyd Dunlop. MBA Track Bikes
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The History of Track Bikes 1891
Pneumatic inner-tube perfected by the Michelin brothers. The use of airfilled tyres reduced the weight of the bicycle and made it easier to reach higher speeds. 1890s
Point-to-point rides were very popular with the general public, and a growing body of competitive, amateur road cyclists provided plenty of opportunities for marketeers to set up some early brand endorsements of particular bicycles and tyres. Large crowds and publicity in the media had turned road cycling into something of a national obsession in England at the turn of the century. 1894
A railway strike had mail deliveries stopped in San Francisco. A Fresno bike shop owner got the brilliant idea to set up a route from Fresno to San Francisco, which had remarkable success. Big companies also started using bicycles to do deliveries, at first including Western Union and eventually even the US Postal Office. With the appearance of UPS and DHL and other big delivery companies messenger services started to suffer, but bicycle messengers still provide faster service for local deliveries. 1896
Track Cycling event in the inaugural modern Olympic Games. 1920's & 30's
Bike messengers fleets run by some companies. Even though most businesses called on specialized companies to take care of their needs, Tamblyn Drug Stores, for instance, had one of the biggest bike messenger "fleets". 1945
The best known messenger company after the Second World War was founded by Carl Sparks, in San Francisco. Sparkie's later became Aero. 1998
Aero was bought by CitySprint. Today
Bike messengers are as modern as they come: phones with internet access, state of the art walkie-talkies or even gps devices (though most use the good old paper maps), but the most important piece of their kit is often a throwback to the past - fixed gear bikes.
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The History of Track Bikes
Though fixed gear bikes (or fixies) might be viewed by outsiders as an unnecessary headache bike messengers use them for a good reason: when you cycle 80 to 100 miles everyday for work, the more pieces your bike has the more chances there are for something to break down. However, many messengers prefer to take it easy on their knees but still keep it simple so they use single speeds. For those who don't know the difference - a fixed gear is a single speed without a freewheel - on a fixie the pedals will always spin while the bike is moving.
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The History of Track Bikes Trendiness Today There are an increasingly visible band of chic city goers in New York, London, Toronto and Sydney whooshing along clutching BlackBerrys and clad not in spandex but in fluttery skirts, capes and kitten heels. Roadways are the new runways for these style-obsessed cyclists, their bikes no mere conveyance but a racy adjunct to their look. More than a few are infusing what used to be an athletic or purely practical, pursuit with eye-catching glamour and sex appeal. In a city that elevates the pursuit of chic to stratospheric heights, voguish cyclists on trendy track bikes like MBA are “part of a movement,” said Chet Chauhan, executive at MBA Bikes, a surgeon turned Track Bike fan. Their look, captured on websites like The Sartorialist and Bicycle Catwalk, as well as Cycle Chic from Copenhagen, is part of “that whole sort of blog style,” Hirschfeld said, one that is studied and much copied on Manhattan’s streets. Sophie Davey, an art dealer, rides to her gallery with patent-leather wedge-heel shoes, (as well as clothes). More often she slips on heels to “catch onto the pedals,” she said.
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The History of Track Bikes References A Short History of Bike Messengers (and Their Fixies) http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/41849/education/a_short_history_o f_bike_messengers_and_their_fixies.html
Single-speed bicycle From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-speed_bicycle
Tire From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tire
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