In 1869, Eugène Meyer of Paris invented the high-wheeler (aka. the "penny farthing") and the wire-spoke tension wheel. This was one of the earliest predecessors to the modern bicycle. With front wheels up to 60 inches in diameter and a direct drive system, they were hard to mount and painful to crash because of the height and hard to ride because of the high center of gravity. Despite all that, the penny farthing took off in popularity. Next came the manufacturing of a rear-wheel, chain-drive bicycle with similarly sized wheels and pneumatic tires. These inventions made the bike even more popular because the idea of riding a bicycle with symmetrical wheels wrapped in tires filled with air was a lot more fun than bouncing around high above the street on solid tires. An effect of the huge popularity of bicycles was that cities and municipalities began paving roads to accommodate the flood of cyclists. That's right. Roads were built for bikes. Remember th...
Good follow up post to your last one about rock climbing. This provides a bit more insight into the sport, as well as a good idea of what to get if you are going to start climbing yourself. Good post!
ReplyDeleteThis post has lots of information and would be very helpful to someone who wants to start rock climbing. Nice post.
ReplyDeleteI really like this post because it is detailed and has a lo of good information for someone who wants to start rock climbing.
ReplyDeleteThat is really cool! I'm not much of a rock climber, but I have tried bouldering (I was not good at it), so I can see that grip would be necessary when you do it for a long time.
ReplyDeleteThis little series about bouldering is very interesting; do more posts on the equipment you use for bouldering.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the idea, I am now planning on having more equipment-oriented posts. In the next few weeks I will post on: A climbing harness, climbing/bouldering shoes, a climbing/bouldering training board, the climbing chalk I use, and other climbing/bouldering gear. (Not in that order)
DeleteCool! It was a great idea to post this after your blog post about rock climbing! Thi bag seems super convenient!
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