Which gearing system generally offered very high durability because it was sealed from dirt and weather?
Answer
Internal Hub Gear.
Internal hub gears function by housing the entire set of gears—which might offer three speeds like a high gear, direct drive, and a low climbing gear—within the sealed casing of the rear wheel hub. This location protects the complex mechanical components from external environmental factors such as rain, mud, road grime, and accidental impact. This robustness made the internal hub particularly favored by utility cyclists and commuters who required low maintenance and reliable operation over long periods without specialized tuning.
Related Questions
What characterized James Starley's 1871 invention described as the first gear cycle?What inherent limitation defined the direct-drive pedals on the 'boneshaker' or 'penny-farthing'?What two fundamental features did the safety bicycle introduce to enable widespread practical gearing?Which gearing system generally offered very high durability because it was sealed from dirt and weather?Besides making hill climbing easier, what primary speed goal did early gearing systems help riders achieve?How does the external derailleur system physically accomplish shifting between different gear ratios?What practical difficulty often caused many cyclists to stick with fixed-gear bikes for decades?What refinement, developed in the mid-to-late 20th century, made derailleur shifting nearly foolproof?What was the initial function of the earliest devices separating pedal speed from wheel speed?Which cycling niche ultimately favored the external derailleur system over the internal hub gear?According to the comparison table, which system generally carried more weight?