We thought we were very modern reinventing the bicycle. Almost 100 years ago they already saw it all in Paris and Chicago

The Q is the Youtube channel of someone who is dedicated to completely transform the bikes. your videos They are a string of geniuses or attacks, depending on who you ask. Putting caterpillar wheels or square wheels on them are some of his most famous successes.

This engineer who has viralized his creations is not the only one who has set to work to find the limits of this vehicle. Last year we told you about a bicycle that had no spokes on the wheels (and could even carry a bag inside) or, don’t ask why, a bicycle that works without pedals.

All these concepts are curious, they seem to come from heads that are bustling inside. And yet they are late. They are very late. Because the craziest bikes were made in the ’40s. Here’s the proof.

those crazy 40s

The 40s were years of real madness for the world of bicycles. Jan Heine, author of The Golden Age of Handbuilt Bicycles speaks of this decade as truly special, because “There were cyclists from all social classes”.

And it is that in his the beginning the bicycle was a vehicle restricted to the bourgeoisie. During the 19th century that was the case, but little by little, bicycles began to penetrate the popular classes. At the beginning of the 20th century, the great cycling races began to establish themselves, such as the Tour or the Turnand soon ended up becoming a means of transport for half of Europe, despite the reluctance of socialism, fascism and the Vatican.

Since then, numerous improvements have been made to the bikes. New materials, new developments, evolution in the shape of the frames… but beyond trends and evolutions, a bicycle has followed the same recipe for over a hundred years: two wheels, a frame and a chain.

But in the 40 years madness broke out to discover the craziest inventions related to the bicycle. And it was at a meeting in Chicago of the National Bicycle Dealers Association (the National Association of Bicycle Dealers) where the most ingenious gadgets were seen. It was 1948 and they portrayed him in the magazine Life.

Among the impossible inventions, Art Rothschild presented his bicycle for four. A very rare vehicle where three people were suspended in the air and pedaled to help a fourth cyclist who was below all of them. The chains were joined so that everyone helped others. The biggest problem with the invention was evidenced by Rothschild himself, who fell from the highest seat and broke his ribs.

Riding on top was not just a Rothschild invention. The steinlauf family He also demonstrated his ingenuity with two curious gadgets. The first of them was the one in the video above, a bicycle on which four people could ride and one of them sewed at the same time.

Joe Steinlauf, pick up on Life, he also dreamed of a unique bicycle. Literally, too, because the thought of her had him just awake. She decided that she would use the headboard of the bed as a means of transportation and, said and done, she put two wheels on it, a very high handlebar and presented the bicycle she had dreamed of.

But, without a doubt, the most interesting invention of the Steinlauf family turned out to be, curiously, the least functional. Changing the rubber of the Joe Steinlauf showed the ice bike which, of course, was intended for riding on ice.

And, to finish, the One-Wheel it was another invention that worked better on paper than in practice. The unicycles Most of them have stayed (I swear a neighbor moves around my neighborhood riding one) for demonstrations of skill at traffic lights.

In this case, it was a huge structure that functioned as a wheel on its own. Inside, a unicycle with handlebars had two small training wheels at each end. When accelerating or braking suddenly, the cyclist was riding on the outer structure and, therefore, the ride was much smoother.

Thought The Q that he was the first to have invented a bicycle with square wheels? This man which is also rescued in the article in the well-known American magazine, had already set to work almost 80 years ago.

The 40s were a true revolution for the bicycle, but the movements to reinvent the vehicle already came from before. In Paris, in 1932, there is evidence that what is considered the first amphibious bicycle“Aidullah’s bike“.

This device was intended to move both on land and in the water. Its wheels were two huge floats that had to generate traction out of the water to, once inside it, make the vehicle float, along with four other floats distributed in the “four corners” of the structure. Obviously it didn’t work. And it didn’t seem like the cyclist was wearing the most appropriate clothing to get into the water.

We can spin the bike as many times as we want. We can find occurrences of all kinds but, like almost everything in this life, everything is already invented.

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Photo | Happy and Wikimedia