Five things you didn’t know about… your bicycle
-
1. Dublin had the first bicycle tyres
The Frenchman De Sivrac built the first bicycle-type vehicle in
1690. It was referred to as a hobby horse, but it did not have pedals or tyres. The first practical pneumatic tyre was developed
in Dublin in 1887, by Scottish inventor John Dunlop for his son’s tricycle. Dunlop died in Dublin, and is buried in Deansgrange Cemetery.2. Bicycles are incredibly efficient
Bikes are extraordinarily efficient in both biological and mechanical terms. From a mechanical viewpoint, up to 99% of the energy delivered by the rider into the pedals is transmitted to the wheels, though the use of gears may reduce this by 10–15%.
3. Cycling can make smoothies
Inventors at Berkeley in California have come up with a “bike blender” — a bicycle that powers a fruit blender. If you don’t believe us, see bikeblender.com
4. Ireland is not very bicycle-friendly
There are about a billion bicycles in the world, twice as many as cars. But only 2% of people in Ireland use a bicycle as their main mode of transport compared with 40% in the Netherlands. China has almost 400 million bicycles, and there are over ten million in Beijing alone.
5. Handlebars have gone hi-tech
The latest bicycle handlebars have on-board computers which don't just measure how your bike is doing — they tell you about your immediate environment (for example, if ice patches are likely), your itinerary and your own physical state.
-
Learn more
Find out more about the new technologies in handlebars.