Cycling Humanum Est

	Aventures Bicyclétales ...
	Travel towards the unknown, meet people, respect the Earth !!
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Why on a bicycle ?

I so agree : Cycling Humanum Est ... it's human to cycle. What's more natural indeed ?

Some people went as far as to call the bicycle the ultimate invention, the one which could –and should- have stopped both the scientific and technical perpetual advances, for humanity's sake. Progress should have stopped when bicycle was invented !! This statement deserves a bit of time to think it through. So use your brain … you, here, in front of your computer screen !

Others, certainly not without some talent for poetry, called it the result of pure reason applied to movement. Geometry in the service of humanity ! The best example of an interaction entirely positive and ecologically harmless between technology and art, material and mind !

We have to admit that the bicycle is the means of transport the most civilized known to date. Other ways to move and travel become everyday more nightmarish. Only the bicycle remains pure to the heart.

Cycling Humanum Est

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So YES, Cycling Humanum Est and NO, spending hours at the wheel, wasting oil, making noise and polluting the air, this is not Humanum at all !!

But what do we know about the bicycle ?

The bicycle, bike, or cycle, is a pedal-driven, human-powered vehicle with two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other.

First introduced in 19th-century Europe, bicycles now number approximately one billion worldwide, providing the principal means of transportation in many regions, notably China and the Netherlands.

In both biological and mechanical terms, the bicycle is extraordinarily efficient. In terms of the amount of energy a person must expend to travel a given distance, investigators have calculated it to be the most efficient self-powered means of transportation. From a mechanical viewpoint, up to 99% of the energy delivered by the rider into the pedals is transmitted to the wheels, although the use of gearing mechanisms may reduce this by 10-15%. In terms of the ratio of cargo weight a bicycle can carry to total weight, it is also a most efficient means of cargo transportation.

A human being traveling on a bicycle at low to medium speeds of around 10-20 mph (15-30 km/h), using only the energy required to walk, is the most energy-efficient means of transport generally available. It was also calculated that from a food-energy conversion into movement perspective, it is more efficient than any living organism in this world (most efficient/km living organism is the swift and second is the salmon ...).


1. man on a bicycle	2. swift	3. salmon

Historical data about the bicycle

Several innovators contributed to the history of the bicycle by developing precursor human-powered vehicles, including the velocipede. The documented ancestors of today's modern bicycle were known as pushbikes, Draisines or hobby horses. To use the Draisine, first introduced to the public in Paris by the German Baron Karl von Drais in 1818, the operator sat astride a wooden frame supported by two in-line wheels and pushed the vehicle along with his/her feet while steering the front wheel.

Scottish blacksmith Kirkpatrick MacMillan refined this in 1839 by adding a mechanical crank drive to the rear wheel, thus creating the first true "bicycle" in the modern sense. In the 1850s and 1860s, Frenchmen Pierre Michaux and Pierre Lallement took bicycle design in a different direction, placing the pedals on an enlarged front wheel. Their creation, of wrought iron and wood, developed into the "penny-farthing" (more formally an ordinary bicycle frame on which were mounted wire spoked wheels with solid ), featuring a tubular steelrubber tires. These bicycles were not, however, for the faint hearted, due to the very high seat and poor weight distribution.

The subsequent dwarf ordinary addressed some of these faults by reducing the front wheel diameter and setting the seat further back, necessitating the addition of gearing, effected in a variety of ways, to attain sufficient speed. However, having to both pedal and steer via the front wheel remained a problem. This problem was solved by introducing the chain drive connecting the pedals held with the frame to the back wheel. These models were known as dwarf safeties, or safety bicycles, for their lower seat height and better weight distribution. Starley's 1885 Rover is usually described as the first recognizably modern bicycle. Soon, the seat tube was added, creating the double-triangle diamond frame of the modern bike.


Draisines	Penny farthing	Safety bicycle

New innovations increased comfort, and ushered in a second bicycle craze, the 1890s' Golden Age of Bicycles. In 1888, Dunlop introduced the pneumatic tire, which soon became universal. Soon after, the rear freewheel was developed, enabling the rider to coast without the pedals spinning out of control. Derailleur gears and hand-operated cable-pull brakes were also developed during these years, but were only slowly adopted by casual riders. By the turn of the century, cycling clubs flourished on both sides of the Atlantic, and touring and racing were soon extremely popular.

In 1903 Le Tour de France was created.

Human powered vehicles and recumbent bicycles first appeared in the 30s.

Derailleur gears became common in the 50s

Human powered vehicles came back to life in the early 80s.

In 2007, Le Tour de France was offcially declared dead, murdered by a combination of money, greed and cheatings ... but the bicycle concept remains well alive, more than ever, as proved the successful launch of the Velib' parisien in Paris, following on this road now a long list of other European cities ...

Sources : Wikipédia and own research.

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Aventures Bicyclétales ...

Cycling Humanum Est