10/22/2010

Biking Through the Ages | Chatenya Chauhan

MBA

BIKES THE HISTORY OF TRACK BIKES

The History of Track Bikes

MBA Track Bikes Page 2

The History of Track Bikes

MBA Track Bikes Page 3

Contents Introduction ........................................................................................... 5

Through The Years .................................................................................. 7

1816 ................................................................................................ 7

1839 ................................................................................................ 7

1861 ................................................................................................ 7

1868 ................................................................................................ 7

1870 ................................................................................................ 7

1870 ................................................................................................ 7

1874 ................................................................................................ 7

1879 ................................................................................................ 7

1880's .............................................................................................. 7

1888 ................................................................................................ 7

1891 ................................................................................................ 8

1890s .............................................................................................. 8

1894 ................................................................................................ 8

1896 ................................................................................................ 8

1920's & 30's .................................................................................... 8

1945 ................................................................................................ 8

1998 ................................................................................................ 8

Today ............................................................................................... 8

Trendiness Today .................................................................................. 11

References ........................................................................................... 13

The History of Track Bikes

MBA Track Bikes Page 4

The History of Track Bikes

MBA Track Bikes Page 5

Introduction

Bicycles initially served utilitarian purposes only, both as a means of

transport and a labour saving device, the craze for bicycle racing soon

spread, and cycling as a sport was born. From the 1870s, when cycling

was very much in its infancy, wooden indoor tracks were laid which

resemble those of modern velodromes, consisting of two straights and

slightly banked turns. The appeal of indoor track racing was that

spectators could be more easily controlled than at outdoor events, and

hence an entrance fee could be charged, making track racing a lucrative

sport for the organiser. Indoor tracks also enabled year-round cycling,

with winter often making it unsuitable for outdoor racing.

The most noticeable changes in a century of track cycling have concerned

the bicycles themselves, engineered to be lighter and more aerodynamic

to allow track cyclists to achieve ever-faster times.

The History of Track Bikes

MBA Track Bikes Page 6

The History of Track Bikes

MBA Track Bikes Page 7

Through The Years

There was a tendency for early road cycling to take place in and around

cities. The urban emphasis was largely due to the nature of the cycle

industry. Races were seen as an opportunity to showcase new bicycle

technology - a practice which still continues today - and proximity to the

buying public was thus essential. Road cycling was as much about

promotion and showmanship as sporting competition in the 1860s. And is

now re-emerging with fixed gear bikes.

1816

The Draisine is born, the first bicycle to benefit from steering

1839

Scotsman Kirkpatrick MacMillan creates a bicycle allowing propulsion that

is no longer a matter of pushing off with ones feet! It works a little like a

pedalo.

1861

Frenchmen Ernest and Pierre Michaux create the first crank-and-pedal

bicycle.

1868

May The first road race took place. The event was held in France, but was

won by an Englishman named Moore in a race of 1.2km.

1870

Starley invents the Penny Farthing - the first bicycle to use gears.

1870

Track races attracted crowds of 2000 people in the UK. The main early

centres for track racing were Birmingham, Sheffield, Liverpool,

Manchester and London.

1874

Designer James Starley invents the spoked bicycle wheel.

1879

The first chain-driven bicycle is invented.

1880's

First bike courier company in North America appeared. H.T. Baily opened

a non-stop delivery service that used couriers on bikes.

1888

First commercial pneumatic bicycle tire produced by John Boyd Dunlop.

The History of Track Bikes

MBA Track Bikes Page 8

1891

Pneumatic inner-tube perfected by the Michelin brothers. The use of air-

filled tyres reduced the weight of the bicycle and made it easier to reach

higher speeds.

1890s

Point-to-point rides were very popular with the general public, and a

growing body of competitive, amateur road cyclists provided plenty of

opportunities for marketeers to set up some early brand endorsements of

particular bicycles and tyres. Large crowds and publicity in the media had

turned road cycling into something of a national obsession in England at

the turn of the century.

1894

A railway strike had mail deliveries stopped in San Francisco. A Fresno

bike shop owner got the brilliant idea to set up a route from Fresno to San

Francisco, which had remarkable success. Big companies also started

using bicycles to do deliveries, at first including Western Union and

eventually even the US Postal Office. With the appearance of UPS and

DHL and other big delivery companies messenger services started to

suffer, but bicycle messengers still provide faster service for local

deliveries.

1896

Track Cycling event in the inaugural modern Olympic Games.

1920's & 30's

Bike messengers fleets run by some companies. Even though most

businesses called on specialized companies to take care of their needs,

Tamblyn Drug Stores, for instance, had one of the biggest bike

messenger "fleets".

1945

The best known messenger company after the Second World War was

founded by Carl Sparks, in San Francisco. Sparkie's later became Aero.

1998

Aero was bought by CitySprint.

Today

Bike messengers are as modern as they come: phones with internet

access, state of the art walkie-talkies or even gps devices (though most

use the good old paper maps), but the most important piece of their kit is

often a throwback to the past - fixed gear bikes.

The History of Track Bikes

MBA Track Bikes Page 9

Though fixed gear bikes (or fixies) might be viewed by outsiders as an

unnecessary headache bike messengers use them for a good reason:

when you cycle 80 to 100 miles everyday for work, the more pieces your

bike has the more chances there are for something to break down.

However, many messengers prefer to take it easy on their knees but still

keep it simple so they use single speeds. For those who don't know the

difference - a fixed gear is a single speed without a freewheel - on a fixie

the pedals will always spin while the bike is moving.

The History of Track Bikes

MBA Track Bikes Page 10

The History of Track Bikes

MBA Track Bikes Page 11

Trendiness Today

There are an increasingly visible band of chic city goers in New York,

London, Toronto and Sydney whooshing along clutching BlackBerrys and

clad not in spandex but in fluttery skirts, capes and kitten heels.

Roadways are the new runways for these style-obsessed cyclists, their

bikes no mere conveyance but a racy adjunct to their look. More than a

few are infusing what used to be an athletic or purely practical, pursuit

with eye-catching glamour and sex appeal.

In a city that elevates the pursuit of chic to stratospheric heights, voguish

cyclists on trendy track bikes like MBA are “part of a movement,” said

Chet Chauhan, executive at MBA Bikes, a surgeon turned Track Bike fan.

Their look, captured on websites like The Sartorialist and Bicycle Catwalk,

as well as Cycle Chic from Copenhagen, is part of “that whole sort of blog

style,” Hirschfeld said, one that is studied and much copied on

Manhattan’s streets.

Sophie Davey, an art dealer, rides to her gallery with patent-leather

wedge-heel shoes, (as well as clothes). More often she slips on heels to

“catch onto the pedals,” she said.

The History of Track Bikes

MBA Track Bikes Page 12

The History of Track Bikes

MBA Track Bikes Page 13

References

A Short History of Bike Messengers (and Their Fixies)

http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/41849/education/a_short_history_o

f_bike_messengers_and_their_fixies.html

Single-speed bicycle

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-speed_bicycle

Tire

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tire