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One way to lighten a bike is to get rid of the chain. But if the cranks are attached to the axle of the wheel, then the wheel has to be very large in order to get any speed out of the bike. That is the design need that drove the velocipedes to have huge front wheels, and that design presented serious problems. Here is a design that does away with the chain, and has front wheel drive. However the crank is geared, and the power is transmitted via planetary gearing to the front wheel.
The first tricycle that I have found with the two wheels in front and the larger wheel in back (the tadpole configuration) was patented in England before 1876, and sold as by the Rudge company. The seat was like a carriage seat, with coil springs to absorb shocks. The large rear wheel was the drive wheel, and the front wheels were for steering. This model is propelled by levers and cranks, but this mode was later replaced by the chain and crank. Between 1880 and 1890, this form of bike was one of the most popular cycles in England, being even more popular than two wheelers.
One way to provide some suspension to a bike is to have a seat post with a spring or other shock absorber in it. Joseph Smith patented one such device in 1899.
The style of recumbent tricycles with two wheels in the front and one in the rear is called a tadpole recumbent, because like a tadpole, the big end is at the front. Here is a very low slung tadpole configured recumbent, patented in 1975, and it has the rear wheel as the drive wheel, with the chain passing alongside the seat. The two front wheels are the steering wheels, and steering is by an underseat control. In this style of bike, the rider is way more comfortable, with no leaning forward, no saddle soreness, and no weight on his wrists. The wind resistance is also quite a bit less, which is why recumbents can be as fast or faster than upright two wheelers on flat terrain, even though they are generally heavier. A really cool tadpole trike is the TerraTrike, and they have all kinds of information on their site at WizWheelz. A TerraTrike is shown below the 1975 tadpole.
Recently my 15 year old daughter has "adopted" my wife’s nice road bike, and has been doing some great rides around town on it. So I thought I’d look for another road bike of about the same size to have a road bike available for both of the ladies in my life. I thought I’d go check out a thrift store bike yard, because my partner Steve found a great mountain bike out there. I went to the bike enclosure of the thrift store, and ran into Steve and his wife Jody, who were scouting for a kids bike. We prowled around together looking for gems, and seeing mostly junk. Steve and Jody left with a nice kids bike, and I saw an aero brake lever on a handlebar, under a pile of nasty bikes. I unraveled the stack of nasty bikes, and got more and more excited as I freed the bike at the bottom of the pile. I saw a Campagnolo brake, then finally got the entire bike free to look it over. It was a Fuji, with double butted steel tubing, and about the right frame size for my wife. It had Campy hubs, cranks, brakes, headset, shifters, bottom bracket and skewers, and Cinelli stem and bars. The saddle was suede, and it had Shimano pedals. Since one tire was gone, and it was pretty dirty and greasy, the lady at the gate of the bike yard put a price of $5.00 on it. I tried not to jump for joy, paid my $5, and took the bike home to clean it up. It was like Christmas in July, and with new tires and a little soap, the old bike looks pretty decent. This bike was the JACKPOT! Judging from ebay prices, any of the Campy parts would go for $75 to $125, and the whole bike might run $500+ on ebay.
Here is an interesting belt drive bike from 1890. New Jersey manufacturer Hezekiah Bradley Smith patented a steam powered tricycle in 1889. He also built the American Star Bicycle, which sold for $150 in a time when an average income for a man was $500. Smith did very well with his manufacturing business, and was elected to Congress in 1879. He purchased the town of Shreveville New Jersey and invested vast sums of money to make it an industrial center. He renamed the town Smithville, and the town still hosts the company Smith founded, the Smith Machine Co. One type of recumbent bike is called a long wheelbase recumbent, and this is an example which was patented in 1981. There are several commercial models using this general configuration, such as excellent bikes by RANS.
This model also has under seat steering, with a linkage to the front wheel, which is still a popular mode of steering.
In the era when alternatives were being tried to the "ordinary" bicycle, many new configurations were tried. One was that made by the Star Company, of H. B. Smith. In this design, the small wheel was in front, with the intent of reducing the number of headers that riders suffered. The Star Bicycle was used by Lucius D. Copeland as a frame for his steam engine.
I am declaring the 1973 Motobecane restoration done! I have not been riding it lately because the Catrike Speed is so much fun. I got a Motobecane headbadge, decals, a Cinelli stem, and Campy seatpost. The saddle is the original Brooks Professional, and was always pretty comfortable. The aero brake hoods are an upgrade from the original centerpulls.
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