Magic of the Bicycle Film

Doug H.

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Jul 18, 2024, 9:42:14 AM7/18/24

to RBW Owners Bunch

Magic of the Bicycle is a film produced by Valdhere Films and is stored in the Library of Congress. Here is a link to it on YouTube. It's a fascinating history of the bicycle from the earliest versions to the current 'safety bicycle' design. Enjoy.

Magic of the Bicycle

Doug

RichS

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Jul 18, 2024, 4:45:12 PM7/18/24

to RBW Owners Bunch

Doug, thank you for sharing the film. The doctor was ahead of his time.

Best,

Rich in ATL

John

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Jul 19, 2024, 10:56:22 AM7/19/24

to RBW Owners Bunch

What a delightful film. I really enjoyed the dramatic reenactments of the draisine and velocipede. Also Bill and Billy educating Mr. Ward on those modern bicycles they were riding. I love being reminded that these beautifully simple machines have remained largely unchanged for decades.

The film made me think of something I heard watching NBC's coverage of Le Tour the other day. One of the American former pro commentators said something along the lines of "the peloton has figured out that wider tires are actually faster," in sort of a geez whiz, breaking news, can you believe how far racing has pushed bike tech kinda way. The commentators also discussed getting dropped recently and thinking they sucked due to riding a 10 year old race bike without wireless shifting, but realizing it was only the tech holding them back. Whew! Marginal gains? Woops, I digress...