![\"bookcover\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.spanner.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/bookcover.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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There are two distinct elements, on the one hand you’ve got a detailed mechanical engineering textbook, and on the other, a fascinating insight into the development of human powered vehicles and how they evolved into the classic designs we’re still using today.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Wacky Races? We’ve got ’em…<\/p><\/div>\n
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Unless you’re really keen you’ll probably want to skip through the first third of the book where general engineering principles are introduced, including the basics of statics and dynamics. Part II is where is really hots up with a more general overview of the development of the bicycle with Part III dealing in more detail with individual elements of the frame, wheels and gears etc.<\/p>\n
If you’ve ever wondered how to calculate the forces going through an individual chain link, or just how large a bump it will take to send you over the bars of your penny-farthing then this is your book \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/a>How large a bump will send you into a ‘header’ off your ‘ordinary’?<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
The other thing to note is how advanced the Victorians were – or perhaps how there’s nothing new under the sun! Suspension, hub gears, oval chainrings, disk wheels, tubeless tyres; they’re all covered in here. There are plenty of other whacky inventions featured too, some of which might have even worked (tandem penny-farthing anyone?).<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/a>Disk wheels? Been there…<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
If you’re a bike geek like me, especially if you have an interest in how things work, then you’ll probably be proud so show off your credentials with a copy of this on your coffee table. Don’t worry though, I won’t tell anyone if you want to skip over pages like this one…<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/a>Don’t worry, you can always skim over pages like this \ud83d\ude09<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
…to get to more pages like this. I still can’t quite explain how epicyclic gears work mind…<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/a>I think this’ll work…<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
As the book is now out of copyright you can read a scanned in copy here thanks to Google archive:\u00a0http:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/bicyclestricycl03shargoog<\/a><\/p>\n You can buy the book here, although it’s a scanned in reprint of the original the quality is still pretty good:\u00a0http:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/Bicycles-Tricycles-Classic-Treatise-Construction\/dp\/0486429873\/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1378884147&sr=1-1<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As I mentioned in the previous post, here’s a quick review of the Victorian engineer’s classic ‘Bicycles & Tricycles’ by Archibald Sharp: There are two distinct elements, on the one hand you’ve got a detailed mechanical engineering textbook, and on the other, a fascinating insight into the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2270,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8,14,5],"tags":[7,6],"class_list":["post-2257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-frame-building-notes","category-gallery","category-news","tag-framebuilding","tag-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9GLNb-Ap","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2237,"url":"https:\/\/spanner.bike\/?p=2237","url_meta":{"origin":2257,"position":0},"title":"The Victorians are ‘Laufing’ at us…","author":"andrew","date":"22nd September 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"OK, two things came together this week in a very interesting way: Firstly I'd been going through a list of peoples favourite books on bicycle design from a thread over on SingletrackWorld. I'd ordered up a copy of the most excellently titled 'Bicycles and Tricycles: A Classic Treatise on Their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Gallery"","block_context":{"text":"Gallery","link":"https:\/\/spanner.bike\/?cat=14"},"img":{"alt_text":"You're having a Lauf? This really shouldn't work...","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.spanner.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Screen-Shot-2013-09-11-at-08.00.15.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2421,"url":"https:\/\/spanner.bike\/?p=2421","url_meta":{"origin":2257,"position":1},"title":"The virtue of Paragon; turn on, tune in, dropout…","author":"andrew","date":"4th June 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Checking out Lance's bike a little while ago reminded me that Paragon Machine Works are folks you should definitely know about\u00a0- they're\u00a0probably the most innovative and best known US manufacturer\u00a0of titanium frame parts. Famous for their sliding dropouts, that let you control chain tension on a singlespeed, they also produce\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Framebuilding Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Framebuilding Notes","link":"https:\/\/spanner.bike\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"Quiring hardtail frame featuring a super neat Paragon dropout with integrated brake mount.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.spanner.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Screen-Shot-2014-06-01-at-07.08.34.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.spanner.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Screen-Shot-2014-06-01-at-07.08.34.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.spanner.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Screen-Shot-2014-06-01-at-07.08.34.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2016,"url":"https:\/\/spanner.bike\/?p=2016","url_meta":{"origin":2257,"position":2},"title":"Getting a Stiffy – wall thickness vs. tubing diameter","author":"andrew","date":"24th April 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Here we go, I promised myself I'd dig some numbers up to prove this... Bigger or thicker? One of the common things people do to increase the stiffness of a frame is to increase the wall thickness of the tubing, typically going up from 0.9mm to 1.2mm. Now most commercial\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Framebuilding Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Framebuilding Notes","link":"https:\/\/spanner.bike\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"Et Viola, a cantilever tubular beam.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.spanner.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/220px-Cantilever_Beam.svg_.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4173,"url":"https:\/\/spanner.bike\/?p=4173","url_meta":{"origin":2257,"position":3},"title":"Are 29’ers and low bottom brackets faster? Part I","author":"andrew","date":"11th September 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Mullet bike: business up front, party round the back... You might have noticed Project S.Y.D. has reached version 2.0 (you can find out more over at\u00a0www.screwyoudeath.com). One of the key additions to that frame was enough clearance to run either 27.5 plus or 29'er wheels - all in the name\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bikes"","block_context":{"text":"Bikes","link":"https:\/\/spanner.bike\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.spanner.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/20180909_121637-e1536666002999.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.spanner.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/20180909_121637-e1536666002999.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.spanner.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/20180909_121637-e1536666002999.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.spanner.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/20180909_121637-e1536666002999.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4191,"url":"https:\/\/spanner.bike\/?p=4191","url_meta":{"origin":2257,"position":4},"title":"Are 29\u2019ers and low bottom brackets faster? Part II","author":"andrew","date":"20th September 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"As threatened - here's part two of the post I started the other week. You might well remember that I was slipping on the lab coat and pocket protector to work out if bigger wheels and lower bottom brackets were the key to unlocking extra speed... Regarding wheel size the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bikes"","block_context":{"text":"Bikes","link":"https:\/\/spanner.bike\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.spanner.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/20180909_133049-e1537474749518.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.spanner.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/20180909_133049-e1537474749518.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.spanner.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/20180909_133049-e1537474749518.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.spanner.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/20180909_133049-e1537474749518.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9701,"url":"https:\/\/spanner.bike\/?p=9701","url_meta":{"origin":2257,"position":5},"title":"Jeff’s Custom Titanium Spanner Bike Quadpus Fork","author":"andrew","date":"18th August 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Quadpussin' it. You might remember Jeff from the last post - he had a finely crafted replica of his favourite frame made in titanium. Well... It turns out he was so happy with the frame that he couldn't resist taking me up on a special offer to compliment it with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bikes"","block_context":{"text":"Bikes","link":"https:\/\/spanner.bike\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.spanner.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/DSC_0545-e1565561839767-712x900.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.spanner.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/DSC_0545-e1565561839767-712x900.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.spanner.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/DSC_0545-e1565561839767-712x900.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.spanner.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/DSC_0545-e1565561839767-712x900.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spanner.bike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spanner.bike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spanner.bike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spanner.bike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spanner.bike\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spanner.bike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2257\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spanner.bike\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spanner.bike\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spanner.bike\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}