There are about a billion bicycles in the world, twice as many as motorcars. Almost 400 million bicycles are in China. Every year some 50 million bicycles - and 20 million cars - are produced.
Although Leonardo da Vinci drew some rough sketches of a contraption that looked like a bicycle, the Frenchman De Sivrac built the first bicycle-type vehicle in 1690. It was referred to as a hobbyhorse. However, it did not have pedals. Those were added in 1840 by a Scottish blacksmith, Kirkpatrick Macmillan, who is credited with inventing the real bicycle.
On a penny-farthing bicycle, one pedal gave the wheel one turn. A lot of pedalling was needed to get around! With the advent of gears, bicycles could move as fast as cars.
Air-filled tyres were used on bicycles before they were used on motorcars.
The bicycle as we know it today - with two wheels of the same size - looks almost exactly the same as one from 1900.
The first five-seat bicycle, the quindem, was built in 1940.
The world speed record on a bicycle is held by John Howard, Olympic Cyclist and Ironman triathlon winner from the US. In 1985 he reached 245,08 km/h (152.2 mph), cycling in the slipstream of a specially designed car.
With the next few posts, I am going to wax philosophical on the very real issue of Americans losing jobs to foreign countries and make a case for the fact that when we lose jobs, we also lose our edge on bicycle innovation. To clarify, many of you may believe that when I say the word innovation, I mean something mechanically different than what came before. That is a valid argument. However, innovation, to me, can mean a different type of paint job, structural configuration, new rim styles, or just something that produces an emotional response that wasn't present before. I have commented on several occasions about my belief that the brand 'Next', produced by Pacific Cycles and sold at Wal-Mart are uninspiring, cheap and basically a piece of junk. I still hold that opinion. Even those bicycles can be reworked to a point that they do produce an emotional response and a need to own by the buying public.
Before I go any further note: I AM NOT SAYING THESE BIKES ARE THE FUNK!
I have posted several pictures that I came across during the research phase of my project for your review. I can't honestly say that they made me 'Freak Out' but they are very nice and different type of designs. The mountain bike in the top right hand corner has a very eye catching paint job, loud attention getting tires and the seat ties in nicely with the over all color scheme. The Design directly below this paragraph is sure to get the attention of any browser looking for something that is different and eye catching. The description says it is a Mountain Bike and my initial thought was "This doesn't look like a Mountain Bike". After further consideration I recanted my statement and thought "Who am I to say what a Mountain Bike should look like." Yes, me! Now if I am on the search for funk and innovation and I thought like that, what are people who design bikes and are in the business thinking?
Anyone can tell a company's overall thought process by the products they produce. A company's culture is determined by those in charge. 4 of the last 5 designs I have seen that emotionally move me have been produced by foreign companies. More about this in my next posting. Back to the title of this post. With the loss of jobs, comes the loss of inspiring thought to produce innovative products in any particular field. The bicycle industry was HUGE in this country during the hey-day of American Cycle Racing in the late 19th century. Bicycle factories where popping up all over the East Coast and HOOOTTT products soon followed. Innovations such as the 'Chain less Bicycle' which was developed specifically for Marshall 'Major' Taylor to smash all velodrome speed records came along.
We went from the old school 'High Wheel' Bicycles to what came to be known as 'Safety Bicycles' which survive even to this day. The auto industry came along a few years later and the hey-day of American Bicycle Racing had passed. Racing was still popular in Europe and Australia during these years but the damage was done to the American Bicycle scene. I do not know if we can get back there and take over the bicycle innovation business, but what I do know is that the American bicycle design crowd (myself included) should really take a hard look at what we are doing and how we are doing it.
Whoever you are, email me and let's get a dialogue going on what we can do to bring the funk back into the marketplace. Sit back and enjoy these CHINESE designs for now. I will post again soon and continue this dialogue. My next post will be a stunner to most of you. It deals with the obesity in this country and unfortunately with the fact that we have become and indoor culture and how this has affected our ability to innovate with bicycles.
Greetings readers. I haven't posted in awhile but the reason is simple. I have been having one of my 'Design Funk Phases' and have spent many hours over the last several weeks re sketching as many designs as possible from my 'Rough Sketch' book onto my large pad. I had an awesome vision just a few days ago while struggling with what form I wanted my 'Buffalo Soldier' design to take. The vision was for a series of bicycles to be known as 'I' Bike'. Oh my!!!!! 'I'Bike is a process that incorporates the latest shock spring systems on mountain bikes and combines funk, simplicity, and 'Bling' decor into 'I' which stands for 'Intelligent'.
I am not talking about designing an actual mountain bike because the truth is that I really only focus on junior, youth and adult cruisers, Mountain bikes simply do not 'Float my Boat.' Large nubby tires, all the gadgets such as gear shifts, brake lines, unemotional themes and crappy bike names go against the principle reason why I design. That principle is simplicity * urban lifestyle + natural design ability = 'FUNK!' The 'I' Series has the thought process of the original Star Trek Series which is "To go, where no other bike Designer has gone before." As I said earlier in this article, I have been busy also re sketching most of my original designs. They say that Mozart never had to erase any of his sheet music while writing it because it was perfect and not in need of revising. Well folks, I can't claim that kind of genius with what I do!
One thing I am very conscious of is trying to make any of my designs 'Too Perfect' by re sketching them over and over and over again. What I have found out during this process is that if I find myself doing this, it is only because of 2 reasons. #1- There was no inspiration for the design to begin with. When I am truly inspired and not just doing 'Busy Work', the whole thing comes together in an 1 hour to 1 1\2 hours max. That includes everything from the rear wheel to the head badge, there is no 2nd guessing. #2- It is just a crappy design. Not because their was not any inspiration, but because my concept, at its' root was wrong.
A counter argument to what I just said could go like this "If something is going to be great, alot of work HAS to go into it." I agree with that mostly, but remember this one thing, "Inspiration never has to be worked on, it just comes when it will and stays as long as it chooses." (That quote came from me!)
A Hoop-D is usually on it's last leg, about to break down and get this, any person who calls what they ride or drive this term will exchange it in a minute when something better comes along. I have over 100 designs and I must say that Hoop-D is one name I will never use on any of my products! Nobody sets out to drive or ride a Hoop-D, it is just something that life throws at them because they can't do any better. That word promotes under achievement in my opinion. The great thing is that one of the reasons I started this blog was not to criticize but to clear up such seemingly small things that could have a huge impact on the Urban Consumer and the way they view bicycle design.
Manufacturers, email me or comment on my page and I can give you some urban terms that will not only be cool, but very relative to your Urban Consumers. I have already used 100 such terms on my designs! Instead of Hoop-D, why not name your design 'Woom-Tee' which is short in urban areas for 'Woom-Tee-Woomp'. This expression is used in urban areas to mean the same thing Jerry Seinfeld means when he says 'Yada-Yada'. Both these terms are slang for etc,etc. Come on yall!?
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