h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Here's an excellent article detailing the history of the Velocar and how recumbents are STILL banned in racing.

http://www.cyclegenius.com/history.php

It is indeed. That is the very article that is linked in the Entry, under the word Velocar.

Great minds ...

Great story. Shows that the rule of vested interests in the sport business is not a new thing.

Oops. I didn't notice. I just happened to find that article and thought (obviously correctly) that it belonged here.

On my local NPR station, they have a daily feature called Engines of Our Ingenuity.

Today's story was about the velocar.

You can read or listen to it here. http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi2654.htm

I found this related video interesting. It chronicles a record breaking head to head Hour from 2009. One of the riders is positioned on his back with head forward.

http://youtu.be/RD4amc-S88I

Roger Kaza (who wrote the article) must be American; he spells 'longue' l-o-u-n-g-e. Why do they do that?

Nice article, though.

But strangely mealy-mouthed in parts.

"In addition to being theoretically faster, they can also be more comfortable for some riders."

Theoretically faster? Like "if you could trust stopwatches"?

For some riders? Like "those who have butts"?

"You can’t blame competitive cycling for standardizing the racing bike — tradition, and previous records, count for a lot."

Not to mention vested interests. The tradition was set in stone *after* the event, to justify the refusal of the record.

Actually it wouldn't be that scary, perhaps; looking in a mirror you would see yourself going forwards. Get used to the steering direction is all ...

Though maybe that's not so easy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFzDaBzBlL0

Heh...

Yeah, that's what occurred to me as well.

That article about the velocar breaking the hour record is gone now. It looks like the website folded.

I was just talking about this today and wanted to send the link to someone. I'll give him a link to this article anyway.

About the banning of recumbents from competition:

"Although Mochet had verified with the UCI and the UVF that his recumbents were completely legal for competition, they were declared ineligible at a later hearing and permanently banned from competition by cycling's governing body, the UCI, it is thought at the behest of the makers of standard upright cycles."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velocar

The illustration in the Wiki article is of a later three-wheeled Vélocar.

Here's something--footage of a Vélocar bike from 1932 http://bikeroute.com/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews/2014/05/26/rare-1932-video-of-velocar/

Here's the shameful history: http://www.helsinki.fi/~tlinden/winforb.html

Thanks, that was quite interesting. Maybe this article should replace the previous link.


I also found that news reel video while searching yesterday. Here's a similar news real featuring another, more upright velocar and British 1930s cyclist Evelyn Hamilton.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jVEU1bD-ww

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jVEU1bD-ww