The Grand Tours #1

Shortly after people invented a bike they wanted to compete with each other so the races were organized. Over time more and more cyclists were interested in racing and also spectators were plenty so staged tours were introduced. They became more and more popular and everyone wanted to compete in the tours. Among many races the biggest three attracted most attention, have become famous and started being called the Grand Tours. Launched every year since they were first staged except of World Wars years, tours gained lots of fans. They are Le Tour de France (since 1903), Giro d'Italia (since 1909)  and Vuelta a Espana (since 1935). They are similar in technical point of view, they are multi-week races and they have daily stages. 21 days of riding and two days of rest. The whole event takes a little bit more than 3 weeks. But these races are completely different by organization, it's history, culture and traditions.These races are so famous that fans go a week before and camp near the route to have the best view. They support their idols and favourite teams. It's part of life in those countries.


I will write more about those tours in next post.

Recent inventions to make your life easier.

Each technological branch receive constant improvement and upgrade through people's creativity. Numerous inventions are probed and some get to mass production. Also some inventions were embedded into the bike world over past few years. Some of them I personally use and can't think of not having them.


Dropper seatposts - Why would you want to change the height of your seat during a ride? When you climb uphill you need to have the most efficient power transfer. When your seat is high you can straighten your legs and use all your power for pedalling. When you go downhill you don't need any pedalling power but you have to be able to balance and shift your body weight on the bike which allows for taking on obstacles more safely. Seat high up obstructs your movements. Every rider will benefit from lower positioned seat on any trail more demanding than just going down a curb. A dropper post enables you to adjust the seat on the fly - you just push a button on your handlebar and your seat goes up or down. It takes about 2 seconds to adjust your bike for the needs of a trail, something absolutely unthinkable without a dropper post.

Disc brakes - a very effective braking system which has been there for cars and motorcycles for years so why not bikes? Before disk brakes arrived into bikes there was a Cantilever system of brakes and V-brakes. Both of them required a special wheel. Two pads clamped on the rim and that slowed the bike down. Hydraulic disc brakes offer much more stopping power, are much more effective so you don't have to press the lever with all your strength. Also they are much more mud and dirt resistant. After a day out in mud and rain V-brakes lose all their stopping power, sometimes halfway down the slope. For riding in the mountains effective and reliable braking system is crucial. Brakes which clamped on the rim couldn't provide that.

http://enduro-mtb.com/en/best-dropper-seatpost-can-buy/ 
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/disc-brakes.html 

The History of Bicycles #2

The engineering concept most similar to bikes we use nowadays was a "Safety Bicycle" which was created in 1885. Over the next 100 years lots of inventions were embedded into bicycles. Some of them were good, some were bad and same were very weird. Nonetheless, thanks to them we can now use the technology which makes riding safer and more convenient. Below I have put together the list of most valuable and the weirdest inventions that came to the bike world.

Pneumatic tires - first invented and applied in 1888 by a Scottish veterinarian named Goodyear. Before that bikes had hard-rubber tires. Air-filled tires made riding smother and more comfortable.


The first derailleur - mechanism which moved chain from one sprocket to another to change gears was called "The Gradient" which was devised in the UK in 1896. Interestingly the cyclists didn't like and approve of it. They saw it as an unfair dilution of real human power. The gear mechanisms were not allowed in big races like the Tour de France until 1937.

Cycles Hirondelle Retro-Direct - was made in 1925 in France. This bicycle had a very complicated chain movement. It had two opposite direction freewheels system. Which allowed to use 2 gears without a derailleur mechanism. The gears were engaged by changing the pedalling direction. With pedalling backswords the bigger sprocket freewheel was engaged which gave a slower gear. With pedalling foreword the smaller sprocket freewheel was engaged for a faster ride. But with pedalling backwards we use completely different muscles so it was not as easy as we think it was.The invention was clever but shortly afterwords the derailleurs came to mass-produce and become a standard

Book "Cyclepedia A Tour Of Iconic Bicycle Designs" Michael Embacher