Remember when you were a kid, and you first dared to ride your bike down that really steep hill in your neighbourhood? The ride down can be a rush. Stopping isn’t always so much fun. Bicycle control relies on two elements: steering and brakes. If either of these is missing, you are an out of control cyclist, hazardous to yourself and others.
History’s first bicycles had no brakes. Band-aids hadn’t yet been invented, so the next logical step was to devise a stopping system. Thus, brakes were born to help riders slow down and stop, and bicycles suddenly became more popular. By increasing frictional force on the wheels, cyclists were able to slow down and stop.
The first widely used braking system was called “the plunger”. It first appeared on the high-wheeled bicycles that were popular in the 1800s. The plunger operated on a simple principle. To slow down a bicycle, a lever was either pressed down or pulled up, causing a metal show to press against the outer side of the tire. Of course, the friction created caused excess wear and tear on the tire. Cyclists found that the plunger did not work well with pneumatic tires, even after...
To view and download this full PLR article, you must be logged in. Registration is completely free. Once you create your account, you will be able to browse, search & downlod from our PLR articles database of over "1,57,897+" on 1,000's of niches and 200+ categories without paying a penny. Click here to signup...
