Bicycles in fantasy?

[Janx]

I suspect that medieval to rennaisance metal working skills would be up to the task. Look at the jewelry, time pieces, weaponry (especially weaponry, as any fine metal working in steel would be a crucial technology).

The problem, as Danny alluded with the term boneshaker, is the inflatable rubber tire is what really made the bicycle a practical invention.

It's not hard to make a trike with a front wheel direct drive pedal. Or a chain driven bike.

But the riding of it is depending on a softer ride. Something that rubber tires enabled.

small Bearings are also a requirement. This makes the wheels turn smoothly.

Its probably not that hard to make a metal rim and metal spokes. Making a small bearing pack with perfect round bearings is a higher level technology.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Point of fact- it wasn't me who posted "boneshaker" as the term.

But the riding of it is depending on a softer ride. Something that rubber tires enabled.

True...but springs were available- I've seen them on old royal carriages, so it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to see 'em on fantasy bikes. This would make them bulkier and heavier, certainly, but you're 2-wheelin!

 

[Celebrim]

So just out of curiosity, would you mind something like bicycles in your game? And also, how to stat them out according to... let's say... 3.5? Gnomish Warbicycle anyone?

I had a dream one time that I was transported in time back to the early Roman empire, and, since I had to make sufficient income to save myself from slavery, I invented the bicycle - which proved to be an enormous success because the Roman roads were as no other time in antiquity suitable for bicycling. Thereafter, the power of the Roman legions was greatly enhanced, as being moved by bicycle power about the Empire they could travel 100 miles or more in a day, and a whole system of depots was ordered by Augustus to support the feared bicycling Legions of Rome.

I think I'm just wierd that way.

 

[Celebrim]

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court- a nice bit of fantasy- included knights on bikes, so I'd be cool with it.

I vaguely remember that. I haven't read CYKA since 9th grade, but I bet that is where I got my dream from.

 

[Deset Gled]

The rock eating rock monster from The Neverending Story has a rock bike in the beginning of the book.

I could accept that most fantasy settings have the necessary level of technology to design something relatively bike-like in design. But I don't think that I could accept that they would be commonplace, or that they would resemble modern bikes very much.

The main problem is lack of quality (repeatability) and mass produced parts. Without modern manufacturing techniques, every single part of the bike would have to be custom built. That's going to get very expensive very quickly. A bike might take years to build, and would probably require heavy maintenance to keep it working. A bike would be an oddity used by a nobleman or tradesman. It's certainly not something peasants are going to use to commute daily.

A second, related problem is materials and necessary design changes. If steel (or ridiculously expensive mithral, etc) is your only metal available, your bike is going to get very heavy very quickly. Most of the body will probably have to be wood (or bone, or something equally imaginative), which have to be much bulkier than modern bikes to maintain stability. The parts that stay metal will also likely be heavier. A bearing would be huge compared to what you would use today, and don't forget that you need a proper set of bearings for steering as well as for your wheels. A gear shift would be completely out of the question. Wheels would be heavier, and probably wider.

And at the end of all that, you still have the bumpy ride issue. Combine that with your bulky, heavy, expensive, high maintenance device, and I think you have a two wheeled vehicle that doesn't resemble a modern bike very much. It certainly wouldn't be used in the same manner as a normal bike, and you're going to have to come up with a good reason why it would be used instead of a horse or other pack animal.

 

[frankthedm]

Point of fact- it wasn't me who posted "boneshaker" as the term.

A fairly explicit name given the Victorian era. But very accurate.

...ouch.

The discomfort of those things was a good chunk of the reason Penny Farthing cycles gained popularity. The gigantic wheel did reduce the impact of riding over bumps and rough roads.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I always wondered about their popularity. Thanks for the info!

 

[Janx]

By frank's pictures, I don't see anything about the design that precludes being invented in an earlier period. The frame could be made of wood, maybe bamboo.

The seat on the boneshaker is mounted on a seperate curved bar, that could be designed as a leaf spring to absorb some shock.

The core design problem was that the wheels were made wagon style, that is, a hard rim surface on the road. Wrap those wheels with layers of leather or other suitable fantasy dead animal material, and you've got the balance between give and support that a rubber tire gives.

After that, the next technical barrier is bearings. I'm not sure how old wagons worked, other than a wheel with a hole on it stuck over an axel and greased. Given the slow speeds, that might have been enough.

I'm vaguely aware that there did exist wooden ball bearings, so at some point, the technology did exist in a primitive fashion.

The bearings are whats going to give these things some speed. Otherwise, the pedaler is going to keep fighting the resistance of the wheel itself on its axis.

I'm looking at this strictly as a faux engineering problem. Namely, if a plausible technology existed in the medieval era to solve these problems, then there's no reason a bike could not be invented.

Add in the things magic can do, like automate the pedaling, etc, and it becomes even more possible.

Does it lose verisimilitude? maybe

 

[Eric Tolle]

Also, obref: The Flying Sorcerers, by David Gerrold and Latter Niven. Aside from bicycles, mainly notable for a really awful pun involving a writer's name.

 

[Dioltach]

I live in the Netherlands. I've cycled more than 50,000 km in my life, and now I live in a student town where bicycles (and the students riding them) are more a hazard and a nuisance than anything else. So for my group, bicycles are probably the thing furthest removed from our fantasy games.