There are dozens if not hundreds of patents on lawnmowers combined with a bicycle frame and propulsion. Some date from the 1880s! Here is a typical one.
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Maria Parker, mother of 2, recently set a new record for miles traveled in 12 hours. She stopped before the 12 hours were up, and covered 241.01 miles. As noted on the Cruzbike site, “She not only set the recumbent 12-hour course record for women, but she went farther than any previous female road biker had ever done in this race. She also went farther than any woman on any recumbent bike at any UMCA non-drafting 12-hour event. At Bike Sebring in Florida, which appears to be the place where 12-hour records are set for recumbent male riders, the 12-hour record for a recumbent woman is 137 miles.”
The men’s record is 241.5 miles in 12 hours. I commute on my trike about 355 days a year (all days except when snow is plowed onto the shoulder of the road), and I need to pick up mail, and have sufficient storage to carry my cold weather gear home, on days when I don’t wear it on the ride home. I had a rack, and panniers, and they worked fine, but I wanted something lighter and that didn’t make the Speed look like a utility truck. I got the $14 Nashbars triangular frame bags at Bruce’s suggestion, and they are great for summer commuting. I still needed a little more storage for winter use. I saw all the room under the seat and thought I could use a PVC pipe to use that space. But I found a Pickett blueprint carrier which is very light, and with its screw top lid is totally waterproof.
It can carry my rain pants (in stuff sack), my rain coat, gloves, and head covering. They also have extension sections, so I can add another section for longer loads. it would also be perfect for carring lunch, as long as its a round lunch, like bagels, hot dogs, donuts, etc. This tube setup seems light and aerodynamic, and is working well.
 A stuff sack in the tube. It holds about 3 stuff sacks like this. I got a chance to try a new version of the lighted flagpole made by Arizona Whip. It has all 20 of the LEDs at the top end of the clear lexan flagpole, just under the flag. This version has blinking lights on one side, with the yellow ones blinking alternately with the red ones. The other side is red and yellow LEDs, on all the time. My neighbors who see me on my commute say I look like a UFO on my Catrike Speed. Excellent, that is just what I was going for!  Arizona Whip on Catrike Speed Recumbent Trike  The Arizona Whip in motion The pic below is more or less what the Whip looks like coming down the road, but with a long shutter speed the LED lights leave streaks across the picture.
Ths Whip from the rear.
The Wright brothers’ Van Cleve mark lives on in a modern namesake, the Van Cleve bike built by Cycles Gaansari of Springboro Ohio. Here is what Gary Boulanger of Cycles Gaansari adds: Much is known about the Wright Brothers’ aviation results, but little has been told about how the men designed and tested their theories, and how big a role bicycle technology played in their research and development. Like most self-sufficient and frugal bicyclists, the brothers scrounged discarded bike components to make something useful out of something lying around the shop. In this case, it wasn’t a fixed gear or townie bike, but the airplane that was created, born from Wilbur’s vision for flight in the 1890s.
Cycles Gaansari was born from the need to provide reliable service, durable goods, and exciting products to the Greater Dayton cycling community. We’re housed in a former livery stable/barn built in Springboro in the 1850s, just three miles south of the Wright Brothers Airport, and across the street from the Jonathan Wright House, now a popular bed & breakfast, built by the founder of Springboro in 1815.
To many, the bicycle is a tool for transportation, adventure, freedom, and recreation. Little did the inventors of the bicycle know what impact they’d have on millions of people. Then again, little did two bicycle manufacturers from Dayton, Ohio realize where their dream of manned flight would catapult both them and the fruit of their labor.
Here is a rear suspension bike from 1891 which used springs in a tube to give some give to the rear wheel.
Catrike Maintenance and Repair topics are listed below. If I have a blog post on one of these topics, this contents list will serve as a link to each topic. These posts are authored by participants in the Catrike Message Board. Submissions of posts by any Catrike rider for inclusion here are welcomed. FYI, Catrikes are recumbent tricycles, with more information available at the Catrike Performance Trikes site.
Basic Setup and Maintenance” Catrike Performance Trike Official 2004 Manual Catrike Performance Trike Official 2006 Manual Catrike Performance Trike Official 2007 Manual Troubleshooting section: rear wheel squeek: lube rubber weather seal Upgrades: Facing the bottom bracket edges Discussion of After market items and FAQs: Jerry’s flags James Starley’s Rover of 1885 was the first successful bike in which pedals and a crank drove the rear wheel with a chain, but he was not the first with that design. In 1879 Englishman Harry Lawson designed and patented a version of a large front wheeled bike with a smaller rear wheel driven by cranks and a chain. Lawson’s bike was not very well received, and he went on to design bikes using levers for power transmission. The Bicyclette was a commercial failure, but he had hit upon a superior design feature.
This artwork of the Bicyclette is a version featured on cigarette cards. This and other bicycle art is found at bicyclegifts.com. Framed versions of these beautiful cigarette cards, posters , cards, and other bicycle art recognize that brilliant design is art. Bruce (trikebkdr) has started a new forum called Trike Doctor which specializes in trikes and their repair issues. This is the same Bruce who has authored several posts on this site, including the now famous Bad Case of Drillium post. Here is a picture of Bruce’s 22 lb 3 oz Catrike, which started life weighing 35 lbs! I like it! Looks like a seat, a chain, and cables will finish it. Plus helium in the tubing.
This morning I caught the first episode of MAKE: Television on PBS. The first half of the episode includes a piece on Cyclecide, “an inventive band of performance artists who build outrageous bicycle contraptions straight out of the dump.” It is beautifully entertaining piece on how creatives and “makers” are reusing what others view as trash.
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