Groupset generally refers to all of the components that make up a bicycle excluding the bicycle frame, fork, stem, wheels, tires, and rider contact points, such as the saddle and handlebars. Disc brakes are more common for mountain bikes, tandems and recumbent bicycles than on other types of bicycles, due to their increased power, coupled with an increased weight and complexity. While some women's bicycles continue to use this frame style, there is also a variation, the mixte, which splits the top tube laterally into two thinner top tubes that bypass the seat tube on each side and connect to the rear fork ends.
The seat stays connect the top of the seat tube (at or near the same point as the top tube) to the rear fork ends. The chain stays run parallel to the chain, connecting the bottom bracket to the rear dropout, where the axle for the rear wheel is held. In terms of the ratio of cargo weight a bicycle can carry to total weight, it is also an efficient means of cargo transportation. This lean is induced by a method known as countersteering, which can be performed by the rider turning the handlebars directly with the hands or indirectly by leaning the bicycle. The combined center of mass of a bicycle and its rider must lean into a turn to successfully navigate it.
Wheels and tires
- Since cyclists’ legs are most efficient over a narrow range of pedaling speeds, or cadence, a variable gear ratio helps a cyclist to maintain an optimum pedalling speed while covering varied terrain.
- Dérailleur gears and hand-operated Bowden cable-pull brakes were also developed during these years, but were only slowly adopted by casual riders.
- Bicycle helmets can reduce injury in the event of a collision or accident, and a suitable helmet is legally required of riders in many jurisdictions.
Furthermore, it was considered "unladylike" for women to open their legs to mount and dismount—in more conservative times women who rode bicycles at all were vilified as immoral or immodest. The rear triangle consists of the seat tube and paired chain stays and seat stays. If the rider is sitting upright, the rider's body creates about 75% of the total drag of the bicycle/rider combination. 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%. Short-wheelbase or tall bicycles, when braking, can generate enough stopping force at the front wheel to flip longitudinally. Soon, the seat tube was added, which created the modern bike's double-triangle diamond frame.
Maintenance and repair
To slow down, the rider applies resistance to the pedals, acting as a braking system which can be as effective as a conventional rear wheel brake, but not as effective as a front wheel brake. Bicycle brakes may be rim brakes, in which friction pads are compressed against the wheel rims; hub brakes, where the mechanism is contained within the wheel hub, or disc brakes, where pads act on a rotor attached to the hub. Differing saddle designs exist for male and female cyclists, accommodating the genders' differing anatomies and sit bone width measurements, although bikes typically are sold with saddles most appropriate for men. Mountain bikes generally feature a 'straight handlebar' or 'riser bar' with varying degrees of sweep backward and centimeters rise upwards, as well as wider widths which can provide better handling due to increased leverage against the wheel. The most common options are either a rear hub or multiple chain rings combined with multiple sprockets (other combinations of options are possible but less common). With a chain drive transmission, a chainring attached to a crank drives the chain, which in turn rotates the rear wheel via the rear sprocket(s) (cassette or freewheel).
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The great majority of modern bicycles have a frame with upright seating that looks much like the first chain-driven bike. Less common are tandems, low riders, tall bikes, fixed gear, folding models, amphibious bicycles, cargo bikes, recumbents and electric bicycles. Unicycles, tricycles and quadracycles are not strictly bicycles, as they have respectively one, three and four wheels, but are often referred to informally as "bikes" or "cycles". Several components that played a key role in the development of the automobile were initially invented for use in the bicycle, including ball bearings, pneumatic tires, chain-driven sprockets, and tension-spoked wheels. Track riders are still able to slow down because all track bicycles are fixed-gear, meaning that there is no freewheel.
In many jurisdictions, it is an offense to use a bicycle that is not in a roadworthy condition. They all experience the freedom and the natural opportunity for exercise that the bicycle easily provides. Ivan Illich stated that bicycle use extended the usable physical environment for people, while alternatives such as cars and motorways degraded and confined people's environment and mobility. (Ballantine, 1972) The bicycle is an inexpensive, fast, healthy and environmentally friendly mode of transport.
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Los Angeles removed a small amount of seating on some trains to make more room for bicycles and wheel chairs. Suspension is especially important on recumbent bicycles, since while an upright bicycle rider can stand on the pedals to achieve some of the benefits of suspension, a recumbent rider cannot. Track bicycles do not have brakes, because all riders ride in the same direction around a track which does not necessitate sharp deceleration.
Very few bicycle components can actually be repaired; replacement of the failing component is the normal practice. Note that when a chain becomes badly worn, it will also wear out the rear cogs/cassette and eventually the chain ring(s), so replacing a chain when only moderately worn will prolong the life of other components. A bicycle is relatively simple compared with a car, so some cyclists choose to do at least part of the maintenance themselves. Like all devices with mechanical moving parts, bicycles require a certain amount of regular maintenance and replacement of worn parts. A number of formal and industry standards exist for bicycle components to help make spare parts exchangeable and to maintain a minimum product safety. Bike trainers are used to enable cyclists to cycle while the bike remains stationary.
One of the profound economic implications of bicycle use is that it liberates the user from motor fuel consumption. In line with the European financial crisis of that time, in 2011 the number of bicycle sales in Italy (1.75 million) passed the number of new car sales. Morris Motors Limited (in Oxford) and Škoda also began in the bicycle business, as did the Wright brothers. Bicycles helped create, or enhance, new kinds of businesses, such as bicycle messengers, traveling seamstresses, riding academies, and racing rinks. In addition, by serving as a platform for accessories, which could ultimately cost more than the bicycle itself, it paved the way for the likes of the Barbie doll. In addition, bicycle makers adopted the annual model change (later derided as planned obsolescence, and usually credited to General Motors), which proved very successful.
In cities where bicycles are not integrated into the public transportation system, commuters often use bicycles as elements of a mixed-mode commute, where the bike is used to travel to and from train stations or other forms of rapid transit. Children's bicycles may be outfitted with cosmetic enhancements such as bike horns, streamers, and spoke beads. It is more common to see bicycles with bottle generators, dynamos, lights, fenders, racks and bells in Europe. Some components, which are often optional accessories on sports bicycles, are standard features on utility bicycles to enhance their usefulness, comfort, safety and visibility. Road bicycles use tires 0.7 to 1.0 inch (18 to 25 mm) wide, most often completely smooth, or slick, and inflated to high pressure to roll fast on smooth surfaces. Basic mountain bicycles and hybrids usually have front suspension only, whilst more sophisticated ones also have rear suspension.
Vehicles
For most of the history of bicycles' popularity women have worn long skirts, and the lower frame accommodated these better than the top-tube. The more common types include utility bicycles, mountain bicycles, racing bicycles, touring bicycles, hybrid bicycles, cruiser bicycles, and BMX bikes. These models were known as safety bicycles, dwarf safeties, or upright bicycles for their lower seat height and better weight distribution. A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike, push-bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, with two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other.
