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This give a synopsis of the heritage of bicycles and so to the developement of MBA Track Bikes
Citation preview
10/22/2010
Biking Through the Ages | Chatenya Chauhan
MBA
BIKES THE HISTORY OF TRACK BIKES
The History of Track Bikes
MBA Track Bikes Page 2
The History of Track Bikes
MBA Track Bikes Page 3
Contents Introduction ........................................................................................... 5
Through The Years .................................................................................. 7
1816 ................................................................................................ 7
1839 ................................................................................................ 7
1861 ................................................................................................ 7
1868 ................................................................................................ 7
1870 ................................................................................................ 7
1870 ................................................................................................ 7
1874 ................................................................................................ 7
1879 ................................................................................................ 7
1880's .............................................................................................. 7
1888 ................................................................................................ 7
1891 ................................................................................................ 8
1890s .............................................................................................. 8
1894 ................................................................................................ 8
1896 ................................................................................................ 8
1920's & 30's .................................................................................... 8
1945 ................................................................................................ 8
1998 ................................................................................................ 8
Today ............................................................................................... 8
Trendiness Today .................................................................................. 11
References ........................................................................................... 13
The History of Track Bikes
MBA Track Bikes Page 4
The History of Track Bikes
MBA Track Bikes Page 5
Introduction
Bicycles initially served utilitarian purposes only, both as a means of
transport and a labour saving device, the craze for bicycle racing soon
spread, and cycling as a sport was born. From the 1870s, when cycling
was very much in its infancy, wooden indoor tracks were laid which
resemble those of modern velodromes, consisting of two straights and
slightly banked turns. The appeal of indoor track racing was that
spectators could be more easily controlled than at outdoor events, and
hence an entrance fee could be charged, making track racing a lucrative
sport for the organiser. Indoor tracks also enabled year-round cycling,
with winter often making it unsuitable for outdoor racing.
The most noticeable changes in a century of track cycling have concerned
the bicycles themselves, engineered to be lighter and more aerodynamic
to allow track cyclists to achieve ever-faster times.
The History of Track Bikes
MBA Track Bikes Page 6
The History of Track Bikes
MBA Track Bikes Page 7
Through The Years
There was a tendency for early road cycling to take place in and around
cities. The urban emphasis was largely due to the nature of the cycle
industry. Races were seen as an opportunity to showcase new bicycle
technology - a practice which still continues today - and proximity to the
buying public was thus essential. Road cycling was as much about
promotion and showmanship as sporting competition in the 1860s. And is
now re-emerging with fixed gear bikes.
1816
The Draisine is born, the first bicycle to benefit from steering
1839
Scotsman Kirkpatrick MacMillan creates a bicycle allowing propulsion that
is no longer a matter of pushing off with ones feet! It works a little like a
pedalo.
1861
Frenchmen Ernest and Pierre Michaux create the first crank-and-pedal
bicycle.
1868
May The first road race took place. The event was held in France, but was
won by an Englishman named Moore in a race of 1.2km.
1870
Starley invents the Penny Farthing - the first bicycle to use gears.
1870
Track races attracted crowds of 2000 people in the UK. The main early
centres for track racing were Birmingham, Sheffield, Liverpool,
Manchester and London.
1874
Designer James Starley invents the spoked bicycle wheel.
1879
The first chain-driven bicycle is invented.
1880's
First bike courier company in North America appeared. H.T. Baily opened
a non-stop delivery service that used couriers on bikes.
1888
First commercial pneumatic bicycle tire produced by John Boyd Dunlop.
The History of Track Bikes
MBA Track Bikes Page 8
1891
Pneumatic inner-tube perfected by the Michelin brothers. The use of air-
filled tyres reduced the weight of the bicycle and made it easier to reach
higher speeds.
1890s
Point-to-point rides were very popular with the general public, and a
growing body of competitive, amateur road cyclists provided plenty of
opportunities for marketeers to set up some early brand endorsements of
particular bicycles and tyres. Large crowds and publicity in the media had
turned road cycling into something of a national obsession in England at
the turn of the century.
1894
A railway strike had mail deliveries stopped in San Francisco. A Fresno
bike shop owner got the brilliant idea to set up a route from Fresno to San
Francisco, which had remarkable success. Big companies also started
using bicycles to do deliveries, at first including Western Union and
eventually even the US Postal Office. With the appearance of UPS and
DHL and other big delivery companies messenger services started to
suffer, but bicycle messengers still provide faster service for local
deliveries.
1896
Track Cycling event in the inaugural modern Olympic Games.
1920's & 30's
Bike messengers fleets run by some companies. Even though most
businesses called on specialized companies to take care of their needs,
Tamblyn Drug Stores, for instance, had one of the biggest bike
messenger "fleets".
1945
The best known messenger company after the Second World War was
founded by Carl Sparks, in San Francisco. Sparkie's later became Aero.
1998
Aero was bought by CitySprint.
Today
Bike messengers are as modern as they come: phones with internet
access, state of the art walkie-talkies or even gps devices (though most
use the good old paper maps), but the most important piece of their kit is
often a throwback to the past - fixed gear bikes.
The History of Track Bikes
MBA Track Bikes Page 9
Though fixed gear bikes (or fixies) might be viewed by outsiders as an
unnecessary headache bike messengers use them for a good reason:
when you cycle 80 to 100 miles everyday for work, the more pieces your
bike has the more chances there are for something to break down.
However, many messengers prefer to take it easy on their knees but still
keep it simple so they use single speeds. For those who don't know the
difference - a fixed gear is a single speed without a freewheel - on a fixie
the pedals will always spin while the bike is moving.
The History of Track Bikes
MBA Track Bikes Page 10
The History of Track Bikes
MBA Track Bikes Page 11
Trendiness Today
There are an increasingly visible band of chic city goers in New York,
London, Toronto and Sydney whooshing along clutching BlackBerrys and
clad not in spandex but in fluttery skirts, capes and kitten heels.
Roadways are the new runways for these style-obsessed cyclists, their
bikes no mere conveyance but a racy adjunct to their look. More than a
few are infusing what used to be an athletic or purely practical, pursuit
with eye-catching glamour and sex appeal.
In a city that elevates the pursuit of chic to stratospheric heights, voguish
cyclists on trendy track bikes like MBA are “part of a movement,” said
Chet Chauhan, executive at MBA Bikes, a surgeon turned Track Bike fan.
Their look, captured on websites like The Sartorialist and Bicycle Catwalk,
as well as Cycle Chic from Copenhagen, is part of “that whole sort of blog
style,” Hirschfeld said, one that is studied and much copied on
Manhattan’s streets.
Sophie Davey, an art dealer, rides to her gallery with patent-leather
wedge-heel shoes, (as well as clothes). More often she slips on heels to
“catch onto the pedals,” she said.
The History of Track Bikes
MBA Track Bikes Page 12
The History of Track Bikes
MBA Track Bikes Page 13
References
A Short History of Bike Messengers (and Their Fixies)
http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/41849/education/a_short_history_o
f_bike_messengers_and_their_fixies.html
Single-speed bicycle
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-speed_bicycle
Tire
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tire