cycle articles
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?
Who invented the Draisienne, the earliest verifiable ancestor of the bicycle?
What characterized the drive system of the Ordinary or Penny-Farthing bicycle?
What significant engineering step was the Safety Bicycle platform built upon?
What specific model is often cited as codifying the safety bicycle layout featuring the chain drive?
According to one source, which inventor is credited with introducing *a* gear mechanism onto cycles around 1871?
What mechanical limitation did the direct drive system of the Penny-Farthing inherently create?
In which decade did practical and reliable multi-speed derailleur systems begin appearing consistently on racing bicycles?
What primary concept did the Draisienne establish for personal transport?
The chain drive represented a fundamental engineering trade-off by sacrificing which feature of the direct-drive Penny-Farthing?
What was a common solution cyclists used for speed control before reliable multi-speed derailleurs matured?
What was the greatest initial breakthrough in cyclist safety?
What defined the high-wheel design (penny-farthing) regarding speed achievement?
What was the phenomenon called when a rider on a high-wheel bike was thrown headfirst over the handlebars?
Which individual is often cited for making the safety bicycle design commercially successful?
What crucial mechanical addition enabled the safety bicycle to use equally sized wheels?
What was the immediate effect of John Boyd Dunlop's pneumatic tire development in 1888?
How did the first safety leap (frame geometry) differ from the second (pneumatic tires) in preventing accidents?
What signaled the evolution of cyclist safety moving outward from the machine itself?
What characterizes modern safety additions like LEDs and reflective gear?