History
The dandy horse, or draisienne, invented by Karl von Drais and the first vehicle with two wheels arranged in tandem, was controlled by a bar connected to the front steering mechanism and held by the riders' two hands. The first handlebars were solid bars of steel or wood, depending on the manufacturer. Curved, moustache-shaped, handlebars became popular in the 1880s. Whatton bars were developed in attempt to improve the safety of penny-farthings. Handlebars made of wood, instead of steel, were used on safety bicycles to reduce weight in the 1890s. Although aluminum had been used to make bicycles as early as 1935, it was considered unsafe for handlebars until Cinelli produced them in 1963.
Read more about this topic: Bicycle Handlebar
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“We don’t know when our name came into being or how some distant ancestor acquired it. We don’t understand our name at all, we don’t know its history and yet we bear it with exalted fidelity, we merge with it, we like it, we are ridiculously proud of it as if we had thought it up ourselves in a moment of brilliant inspiration.”
—Milan Kundera (b. 1929)
“Yet poetry, though the last and finest result, is a natural fruit. As naturally as the oak bears an acorn, and the vine a gourd, man bears a poem, either spoken or done. It is the chief and most memorable success, for history is but a prose narrative of poetic deeds.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“It would be naive to think that peace and justice can be achieved easily. No set of rules or study of history will automatically resolve the problems.... However, with faith and perseverance,... complex problems in the past have been resolved in our search for justice and peace. They can be resolved in the future, provided, of course, that we can think of five new ways to measure the height of a tall building by using a barometer.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)