Being one of the most basic human power-driven vehicles, the bicycle has two wheels attached to a vehicle that
is driven by a pedal. presented during the 19th centuries bicycles are known to outdo the
full number of motor vehicles by a ratio of 2 to 1. Bicycles being the main method of transport in many corners of the globe, the bicycle is also majorly used for other recreational actions and for the purpose of fitness and even in the case of law enforcement actions such as petrolling an area.
The Story of Bicycles
Since the inception of the chain-driven model in around 1885, the key pattern and the shape of a
typical bicycle has remained relatively unchanged. But, other advances such as using computers to innovation
and check the stability have been made to the bicycle from its inventing process. These methods have greatly aided the spawn of
particularized bicycles for particular purposes such as racing, utility and law enforcement uses. Additionally, the concept of the bicycle has up to a great extent extended its contribution for the development of automobiles by introducing concepts such as ball bearings, pneumatic tires and spoke tensioned wheels.
Features of a Bicycle
When mentioning to bicycles, the dynamics of the bicycle should be considered first. A bicycle has to maintain its center of gravity over the wheels in order to stay upright or balanced.
Therefore, it attains this by the moving forward using the steering which is ordinarily provided by the rider
and sometimes even by the bicycle itself. In addition in order to successfully pilot a turn, the combined or full center of mass
of both the bicycle and the rider must lean into the turn. A technique mentioned to as counter-steering is used to attain this task by directly turning the handlebars with the hands
or indirectly leaning or slanting the bicycle.
Bicycle can be classified as an highly
cost-efficient 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
working self powered method of transportation. Nearly, 99% of the energy is carried to the wheels of the bicycle when a
rider exerts energy into the pedals. However when gears mechanics are used this figure may drop by 10-15%.A rider using a bicycle
feels air drag or the resistive force that is exerted by air. When the speed is high, a lot of energy will be needed
to overcome this airdrag resulting in an exhaustive ride for the rider. However, the exerted drag can be significantly
decreased 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. Certain bicycles may include optional
mechanics such as gearing which uses different sizes of gears to obtain a mechanical advantage from the bicycle. By using gears, the efficiency of the bicycle can be increased by descreasing effort and increasing output.