Chapter 730: The Debut of Bicycles (Subscription Request)
After the frame, chain, gear, pedals, and tires are installed, the main body of a bicycle is basically completed. However, if you want to ride normally, you still need to install a seat and a handbrake. Without these two things, you still can't ride.
The leather making technology of the Han tribe has long been developed, so it is natural to make a leather seat, but the shock-absorbing spring under the seat is a little more troublesome.
Arrange a blacksmith to make the spring, and Luo Chong also draws the blueprint of the seat. The bottom is a steel pipe used to connect the body, the spring frame is above, and the spring is above, then a triangular thin iron sheet, and then a layer of cork is padded for shockproof, and finally a layer of leather is wrapped outside.
The basket in front of the front of the car is of course indispensable, but in order to facilitate promotion, it is natural to reduce costs. You should save where you can. Lowering the price can increase purchasing power, so Luo Chong chose a rattan basket or a bamboo basket, or simply not to add a basket, and let the people weave a basket and tie it on it.
The final brake is a little troublesome. The brakes of modern bicycles are all made of rolled wire, which is a thin rope twisted with thin steel wire, and wrapped with a layer of rubber tube with gaps on the outside. It looks like an electric wire, but with the current level of the Han tribe, it should be quite troublesome to make.
So Luo Chong designed two brake systems, one is rolled wire plus rubber wheel reducer, and the other is to use hard iron bars to drive the brakes directly like the old bicycles. Compared with the two, the iron bar drive is undoubtedly cheaper, but it can only be used to brake the front wheel at present, and the safety is relatively low.
In contrast, the rolled wire can take into account the rear wheel and achieve dual brakes in front and back, but the production cost will definitely increase linearly.
Of course, this is still the manual trial production. If the difficulties of large-scale production can be solved in the future, then the rolled wire is safer and more practical.
It took another week, until the middle of April in the second year of Jianyuan, after entering the early summer of that year, the brakes, baskets, front and rear seats and other things were all made, and finally a single-stick ladder was added, and the whole bicycle was ready.
During the time of making these things, the craftsmen of the institute also reassembled more than a dozen bicycles with excess materials.
The first batch of 20 bicycles, 12 of which are men's bicycles with 28-inch wheel rims. Six of them are models with a large crossbeam in front, and the other six are models with two oblique straight beams in parallel.
The colors of the bicycles are black and green. The black ones are painted black, white and red. The black is the main color, with white and red as embellishments, and the green ones are dark green with silver and white steel as embellishments.
The remaining eight are women's bicycles with 26-inch wheel rims. There are two parallel curved beams in front, which makes it easier to get on and off. The entire frame is welded from steel pipes, so there is no need to worry about the sturdiness of the frame.
There are more colors for women's bicycles, sky blue, grass green, duck egg yellow, bright red, two of each color, one of each of the two brakes, and a wooden basket, a new era of pastoral style emerges.
Looking at the 20 bicycles neatly arranged in front of them, the craftsmen of the institute are also full of pride and are all excited.
"Chief, please try the bike and see how it feels to ride. We don't know how to ride it yet. Please ride it for a few laps and let us see."
"Okay, I'll try it then."
As soon as the twenty bikes were completed, many people urged Luo Chong to test ride them. Luo Chong himself was also very excited. He had somehow traveled to a wild and alien world. Under the efforts of his own leadership and the people under his control, he finally created something close to modern civilization.
Bicycles, such a familiar means of transportation, now he has the opportunity to ride one again.
He chose a 28-inch diagonal men's bike, held the handlebars, kicked off the ladder with skillful movements, and sat on the seat with his long legs lifted.
The knee-length robe he was wearing was a little bit of a hindrance, so he lifted the two hems of the robe in front and behind and stuffed them into his belt, revealing his two long legs underneath, and then began to pedal.
When Luo Chong's feet left the ground and started to ride normally, the craftsmen of the institute cheered immediately. They danced excitedly and shouted loudly with excitement.
Luo Chong, who was riding the bike, was somewhat disappointed. The disadvantages of the bike were quite obvious. The first impression he had was that it was too heavy and he had to use a lot of force to pedal.
However, Luo Chong soon realized that this was not only a problem with the steel pipe used as the material, but also had a lot to do with the road surface. The research institute on the island in the center of the lake was surrounded by simple, flat and compacted dirt ground, which was quite comfortable to ride. However, if it was placed on the brick and stone road in the city, it would surely be smoother when riding.
In addition, the seat was not very comfortable to sit on, and it hurt my butt. This was because most modern bicycle seats were filled with elastic sponges, which made them softer to ride. However, this iron, wood and leather-covered seat was not very comfortable. Fortunately, springs were installed underneath, otherwise riding a few kilometers on the mountain road would definitely break my butt.
However, this was not a big disadvantage. At most, someone could sew a cotton pad on it when riding. Those who could afford a bicycle would not be short of a pad.
The brakes were okay. Luo Chong was riding a double-brake bicycle with a rolling line. The front and rear brakes were very sensitive and the deceleration effect was significant.
Overall, although there are still many shortcomings, at least the problem of whether there is a bicycle has been solved first. Only after having a bicycle can we talk about improvements. We need to find problems from daily use and then find ways to solve them.
However, Luo Chong has also thought about the audience of this bicycle. It is estimated that there will not be many people willing to ride it.
People with money and titles are more comfortable and face-saving when riding horses. Why do they feel uncomfortable riding such a bicycle?
For ordinary people, there is no need for daily transportation. People who basically don’t even go out of the village or the city, there is no use for them to have a bicycle.
This thing is actually most suitable for craftsmen in various workshops. They have the need to commute to and from work. If the workplace is a little far from home, it is possible to get a bicycle to ride, and they have a stable salary and can afford it if they save money.
As for those people who farm, they don’t have many opportunities to go out throughout the year, so the possibility of them buying a bicycle is basically zero.
However, for this group of farmers, tricycles are even more popular, because farming often requires carrying manure, fetching water, and taking farm tools. When harvesting grain, they also need to carry grain and straw home, etc. In this case, it would be great if they had a car.
However, in fact, if a family has a vehicle pulled by an animal, it is basically equivalent to driving a Maserati in modern times, and if someone can afford a box carriage, it is equivalent to owning a Rolls-Royce.
It's not that flatbed carts are expensive, but the cost of raising large animals is too scary. It's OK to feed them some straw when they are not pulling carts, but if they are pulling carts and doing heavy work, they need to be fed with fine feed such as beans, barley and alfalfa. The cost of raising a large animal is enough to feed five grown men. Who can afford such expenses in an average family?
But the tricycle is different. It requires almost no expenses. It only needs daily simple maintenance. The most important thing is that it doesn't require animals. You can ride it by sitting. If the price can be controlled lower, it will definitely sell well in the Han tribe. It is much better than bicycles.
However, since the bicycle has been made, it must be used. Luo Chong plans to set up a postal system in the Han tribe first, which can be used to send letters between civilians and facilitate official information transmission.
Then, bicycles were equipped to the official postmen, who were then allowed to ride on the streets and lanes, gradually bringing bicycles into people's view. When the technology became more and more perfect and the production scale was increased, bicycles could be popularized.
Luo Chong rode and thought about things, and heard the cheers of the craftsmen. Seeing the leader riding so fast in the open space, other brave craftsmen also pushed one and tried to ride, but it was still difficult to master the balance.
Moreover, they treasured these bicycles so much that they would rather use themselves as cushions than let the bicycles fall. Even if they just sat on them and slid on the ground with their feet, they were still very happy.
In order to better promote this kind of pedal vehicle, Luo Chong stayed in the institute for another week. After watching the craftsmen make five more tricycles, he returned to Hanyang City with these freshly made vehicles.
A sailboat carrying Luo Chong, 16 bicycles and four tricycles arrived at the dock of Liuyang County. The remaining bicycles were left by Luo Chong at the research institute on the island in the middle of the lake, and they were allowed to use them and try to improve them in any way they wanted.
The craftsmen were deeply moved by this. You know, each of these bicycles is worth a fortune. After all, the initial R&D investment is counted in these bicycles. The leader is willing to leave a few for them to use and improve, which is enough to show the leader's attention to bicycles.
This will be an invention that is no less than a horse-drawn carriage.
This is indeed the case. When the sailboat carrying the bicycles arrived in Liuyang County, a group of people looked at the leader walking from the dock on a double-axled vehicle that they had never seen before, and their eyes widened with curiosity.
"Oh my god, what kind of vehicle is this? Can the wheels of a two-axle vehicle be arranged vertically in front and back?"
"Need I ask? The leader came from the island in the middle of the lake. It must be a new invention made by the research institute."
"The research institute is amazing. I don't know why they are recruiting again. It's a pity that I didn't get selected last time. If I could also participate in these inventions, I would definitely brag about it for the rest of my life."
"You'd better go to bed. You can dream about anything. The research institute is directly under the jurisdiction of the leader. They only want the best craftsmen in all aspects. Are you the best?"
When the people saw the leader riding a two-wheeled vehicle arranged vertically, they started to discuss it. However, most of them were amazed at why the inventor of this vehicle had such a big imagination, but they didn't have the urge to buy one.
But when they saw the four tricycles lined up in a row behind them, they were immediately excited.
"Look, what kind of vehicle is that? It's the one with only three wheels!"
"It looks similar to the one the leader rides. People sit on it and pedal it."
"No, I mean look at the bucket behind the tricycle!" The man stared at the tricycle passing by the dock, then waved to the people around him and said, "Let's go and take a look."
After that, he led his neighbors or acquaintances to run towards the convoy of bicycles.
The tricycle was developed for farmers, so the goal is to have strong passability on various terrains, so 28-inch large tires are used. In addition, the load capacity is strong, so the rear bucket is longer. In addition, in order to reduce costs, in addition to the overall frame being welded with steel pipes, the rear bucket and other parts are made of bamboo, wood or rattan boards, and the cost and weight of the vehicle body are controlled by reducing the amount of iron used.
A group of people trotted along the sides of the convoy, watching the tricycles and bicycles and discussing while running.
"Look at this car. I wonder how much it can carry. The most important thing is that it can actually pedal itself. If we have a car like this, we don't need to raise livestock."
"Hahaha, then I think this car should be called an iron donkey. You see, it's all made of iron."
There was also a brave person who ran to Luo Chong and asked him directly.
"Chief, did you just invent this car? What is it called? Why can it move with two wheels arranged vertically? Won't it fall over?"
"Hahaha, this is called a bicycle, also called a pedal bike. Two wheels are indeed easy to fall over. If you want to ride like me, you need to practice more."
Luo Chong rode very slowly, explaining to the people around him while walking. What he wanted was to attract the attention of the people and let them know that there is such a car, otherwise how can he promote it.
"Chief, will this bicycle be sold in the tribe? Is the price very expensive?"
"It will be sold, but this car has just been developed and the production capacity is limited. Even if the price is not expensive, it will be limited. It can be said that there is a price but no goods, but it is definitely not as expensive as buying a large animal." Luo Chong explained again.
"Chief, chief, can you sell the three-wheeled bicycle at the back? How much can it carry? Is it easy to ride? Does it take a long time to practice? We are not as smart as you, will we not be able to learn to ride it?" A farmer carrying a hoe immediately caught up with Luo Chong and asked.
Luo Chong stepped on the brakes and stopped. Looking at the people gathered around him, he said loudly.
"My fellow villagers, I know that farming is hard, and we have to carry fertilizers and food from time to time. It can be said that every household in your family needs a vehicle, but most of you only have a small cart, right? That thing is very tiring to push, and the key is that it can't hold much.
So I often think, it would be great if every household in our Han tribe could afford to raise a large animal. Unfortunately, I can't do it because we don't have that many animals.
But you have a need, and as a leader, I have to solve it, so I deliberately made this kind of... A tricycle that uses livestock and does not need to be pushed, you can just sit on it and pedal it. It is easier to ride than a two-wheeled bicycle, and you can learn it without practicing.
In terms of load, it can carry four or five people at a time. If it is used to carry food, it can carry about 600 kilograms of grain on the brick and stone roads in the city, and 400 to 500 kilograms on the dirt roads outside the city. Although it is still not as much as a bullock cart or a horse-drawn carriage, for a rickshaw, this load capacity is enough for your daily use.
I happened to be here today, does anyone want to ride it for a try? "
(End of this chapter)
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