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WHY 2-WHEEL-DRIVE ?
Why do all-terrain car have 4 four driving wheels?
Because it helps so much in sand, mud, snow, slippery surface, etc.
Why don’t all-terrain-bicycles (called mountain-bikes) have their 2 wheels driving?
Well, actually, some have. Spicer and Christini, in the US, sell 2-wheel-drive bicycles.
Why don’t they have a great success?
Because they offer little advantage for the extra-price. In fact they are 2WD only when the back-wheel slips.WHY 4-LIMB DRIVE ?
When you make a real effort on a bicycle, you pull hard on the right side of the bar to better push the right pedal, then you do it on the left, and so on.
Considering that the bar is near to the front-wheel, why not use that power exerted on the bar to propel the front-wheel ?
This question was first asked by a Frederick Bemis, from Iowa, who patented a system to transmit the power of the arms to the front-wheel in 1897, but his system could not work.
About 2 dozen inventors have tried to solve the problem since then, never satisfactorily. It’s more complicated than it seems.
And why try to solve that problem anyway? Aren’t most cyclists satisfied with bikes as they are ?
Sure ! Just as they were satisfied with their legs too before the bicycle appeared… SO, WHY 4-LIMB-DRIVE AND 2-WHEEL-DRIVE ?
Well, in short: to get more power, more drive, more muscle, more manoeuvrability, more track-hold, and most of all MUCH MORE FUN !
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