Drivetrain & Gearing | Bicycle Technology and Patents

SlowWheel Cycling innovation

Nathan Womack is a serious bike rider, serious enough that he wanted to ride at a training pace on rides with his girlfriend. The trouble was that his preferred pace for training for triathalons was about 20 mph, and his
girlfriend’s pace is more like 15 mph. He had the bright idea of making a wheel that would give him some resistance in his rides, so that his speed would equal his girlfriends speed, yet give him the training he wanted.

His solution developed into a bike product called the SlowWheel. The SlowWheel is a replacement rear wheel for a bicycle that allows the rider to increase the resistance of the wheel (in order to slow the rider down). Using the SlowWheel, Nathan and his girlfriend are able to ride together, and both get a workout! The wheel can also be set to no resistance at all, for maximum speed.

Additionally, Nathan looks to have a children’s model out (for children under 5) that will go on a small bike with training wheels to help "slow" the child down as they learn to ride a bike. This will help in coordination as well as be an incredible safety device (as the children will not be able to get going so fast they get out of control).

Restored Motobecane Grand Record

My fun project of late has been restoring my old bike to its former glory. In 1973 I bought my first real road bike, a Motobecane Grand Record. I rode it everywhere, including to work, which was 17 miles one way. As I had kids, this became the kid hauler, the trailer hauler, the bike for family rides through the orchard country of Wenatchee and Yakima. When I went to law school in Moscow, a town full of gravel roads, the Motobecane hauled me to classes. After hanging in the garage for 12 years in Boise, down it came for a rebirth.

The Grand Record has some good features and was toward the top of the line of the Motobecane brand. I have since learned that many people think that French road bikes of that period were the pinnacle of road bike design, and have a different and desireable feel compared to more contemporary road bikes. The Grand Record has tubes made of Reynolds 531 double butted tubes, and fancy Nervex lugs holding the tubes together. It has some components made by Campagnolo, the premier bike components manufacturer. Other componenets are so-so, but thanks to ebay I can upgrade them as part of the overhaul.

This is the way the frame looked "before".