A rowing cycle is a wheeled vehicle propelled by a rowing motion of the body. Steering, braking, and shifting are usually done by the handlebars. Feet are on symmetrical foot rests, as opposed to rotating pedals. Unlike many rowing boats, the rider faces forward. Rowing cycles exist in numerous designs, particularly with respect to frames and drive mechanisms. Commercial production numbers for rowing cycles are small compared to that of standard bicycles.
The use of a rowing-like action to propel a land vehicle goes probably to the 1870s, as George W. Lee used a sliding-seat in a tricycle. [1] Roadsculler races were held in Madison Square Garden in the 1880s. [2] A toy catalog from FAO Schwarz in 1911 advertised a four-wheeled "Row-Cycle" for children, operated using two levers in a standing position and with steering done by the feet. [3] In the 1920s, Manfred Curry in Germany designed and constructed the Landskiff ("land boat"), a four-wheeled vehicle that would be known as a Rowmobile in the English speaking countries. [1] A newsreel from 1937 shows a rowed bicycle that is very similar to today's Craftsbury SS rowing bicycle, Rowbike and VogaBike. [4]
Some rowed vehicles use a stroke similar to a boat, in that force is used only when straightening the body, the drive portion of the stroke, not the recovery. Other rowed vehicles, mostly those that use linkages and crankshafts in their drive trains, use force in both straightening and bending the body. On most, the handlebars move; most also have moving footrests and some have a moving seat.
The handle bars on some rowed vehicles travel on a semicircular path due to the handlebars being mounted to a fixed length lever pinned to the frame. Some attempt to simulate the more level stroke used in rowing a boat, for example Streetrower and Vogabike. The September 2007 issue of Velovision magazine claimed that Streetrower has "the most natural rowing action of any rowing vehicle to date". [5]
The Streetrower uses a steering system actuated by servomechanisms and controlled by the rider with a joy stick.
Rowed vehicles generally have one of three drive trains: chain, linkages, or cable.
The Rowbike brand uses a standard bicycle chain, rear gears, and derailleur. The chain does not travel in a loop, as is the case with a standard bicycle. It moves back and forth over the rear cog in a reciprocating motion. The chain is connected at one end to the frame of the rowbike and to a bungee cord on the other. As the rower pulls back the chain engages the rear cog and the bungee cord is extended, and when the rower returns forward the bungee cord contracts, pulling the chain back and ensuring there is no slack in the chain. All Rowbikes have a rear derailleur, even single speeds, due to the need to keep proper tension in the chain.
Rowbikes that use linkages include Champiot and Powerpumper. They use linkages connected to a crank shaft, similar to a pedal car.
The Thys Rowingbike and Streetrower use a cable which coils and uncoils about a spiral-shaped spool. Thys calls his version a snek drive (after the Dutch term for Fusee (horology)).
Balancing on a two-wheeled rowed vehicle while rowing requires some practice, even for a skilled bicyclist. Tricycle and quadracycle forms are usually heavier but do not share this problem. [6] The Streetrower is a tricycle with two wheels at the front and one at the rear; the Vogatrike also has three wheels. An early quadracycle, the 'Irish Mail', was similar to railroad handcars used by railroad workers to inspect tracks. The four-wheeled Champiot is reminiscent of the 'Irish Mail' type machine in that it uses linkages, not a chain, in its drive train.
Thys has produced a tandem rowingbike.
A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike, push-bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, with two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A bicycle rider is called a cyclist, or bicyclist.
A tandem bicycle or twin is a form of bicycle designed to be ridden by more than one person. The term tandem refers to the seating arrangement, not the number of riders. Patents related to tandem bicycles date from the mid 1880s. Tandems can reach higher speeds than the same riders on single bicycles, and tandem bicycle racing exists. As with bicycles for single riders, there are many variations that have been developed over the years.
A recumbent bicycle is a bicycle that places the rider in a laid-back reclining position. Some recumbent riders may choose this type of design for ergonomic reasons: the rider's weight is distributed comfortably over a larger area, supported by back and buttocks. On a traditional upright bicycle, the body weight rests entirely on a small portion of the sitting bones, the feet, and the hands.
A tricycle, sometimes abbreviated to trike, is a human-powered three-wheeled vehicle.
A velomobile ; velomobiel, velo, or bicycle car is a human-powered vehicle (HPV) enclosed for aerodynamic advantage and/or protection from weather and collisions. Velomobiles are similar to recumbent bicycles, pedal go-karts and tricycles, but with a full fairing and are not to be confused with purpose-built mobiles for racing or speed records fully faired vehicles with two wheels, generally called streamliners. Streamliners have set many speed and distance records.
A hub gear, internal-gear hub, internally geared hub or just gear hub is a gear ratio changing system commonly used on bicycles that is implemented with planetary or epicyclic gears. The gears and lubricants are sealed within the shell of the hub gear, in contrast with derailleur gears where the gears and mechanism are exposed to the elements. Changing the gear ratio was traditionally accomplished by a shift lever connected to the hub with a Bowden cable, and twist-grip style shifters have become common.
There have been many human powered vehicles designed and constructed specifically for transporting loads since their earliest appearance in the 20th century. They are referred to variously depending on the number of wheels — typically two, three, or four — and by their specific use. Adjectives used to describe the tasks to which the bicycles, dicycles, tricycles, or quadracycles are put include cargo cycles, freight cycles, box cycles, carrier cycles, and so on. Sometimes they are also called cycletrucks, which uses a sense of the word 'truck' predating the automobile.
A single-speed bicycle is a type of bicycle with a single gear ratio. These bicycles are without derailleur gears, hub gearing or other methods for varying the gear ratio of the bicycle.
Vehicles that have two wheels and require balancing by the rider date back to the early 19th century. The first means of transport making use of two wheels arranged consecutively, and thus the archetype of the bicycle, was the German draisine dating back to 1817. The term bicycle was coined in France in the 1860s, and the descriptive title "penny farthing", used to describe an "ordinary bicycle", is a 19th-century term.
A safety bicycle is a type of bicycle that became very popular beginning in the late 1880s as an alternative to the penny-farthing and is now the most common type of bicycle. Early bicycles of this style were known as safety bicycles because they were noted for, and marketed as, being safer than the high wheelers they were replacing. Even though modern bicycles use a similar design, the term is rarely used today and is considered obsolete outside circles familiar with high wheelers.
A motorized bicycle is a bicycle with an attached motor or engine and transmission used either to power the vehicle unassisted, or to assist with pedalling. Since it sometimes retains both pedals and a discrete connected drive for rider-powered propulsion, the motorized bicycle is in technical terms a true bicycle, albeit a power-assisted one. Typically they are incapable of speeds above 52 km/h (32 mph), however in recent years larger motors have been built, allowing bikes to reach speeds of upwards of 72 km/h.
A rowbike is an example of a rowing cycle, hybrid fitness/transport machine that combines a bicycle, and a rowing machine. "Rowbike" is a trademark of the Rowbike company. The Rowbike was invented by Scott Olson, the creator of Rollerblade inline skates. "Rowling" is a combination of rowing and rolling, and is sometimes used in place of rowing when describing a Rowbike.
A handcycle is a type of human-powered land vehicle powered by the arms rather than the legs, as on a bicycle. Most handcycles are tricycle in form, with two coasting rear wheels and one steerable powered front wheel. Despite usually having three wheels, they are also known as handbikes.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to transport:
A trailer bike is a one-wheeled, or sometimes two-wheeled, bicycle trailer designed to carry one or more children in positions that closely resemble that of a bicycle rider. It can be described as the, "back half of a bicycle." The rider of a trailer bike usually has a saddle, handlebars, and pedals. Some fold for more compact storage.
A quadracycle is a four-wheeled human-powered land vehicle. It is also referred to as a quadcycle, pedal car or four-wheeled bicycle amongst other terms.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to bicycles:
Bicycle drivetrain systems are used to transmit power on bicycles, tricycles, quadracycles, unicycles, or other human-powered vehicles from the riders to the drive wheels. Most also include some type of a mechanism to convert speed and torque via gear ratios.