#Schwalbe The Decade of Super

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Schwalbe, The Decade of Super

Schwalbe, The Decade of Super

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via Bikerumor

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Facts About Best Folding Bike Revealed

The Bickerton story begins in 1968 with Harry Bickerton, having worked as an engineer in both Rolls Royce and Dehavilland, Harry realized there was a gap at the transportation market after taking a break from driving. Disappointed with the option of his own hand made road bike and the quality and layout of the present folding bicycle on the current market, he set about designing the first truly mobile folding bike. He desired it to be the best folding bicycle, which was lightweight and easy to use; the outcome weighed in at only 17lbs and folded down to the size of a shopping bag. After submitting the patent in October 1972, Bickerton were in business. The Bickerton folding bike has been evolved since Harry Bickerton had to combine public and private transport with another cheap, more convenient and wholesome form of travel to expand his personal freedom and felt that there has to be a large market if he could produce the greatest folding bike potential. At first Harry attempted taking a normal, conventional bicycle from home to the channel, this was okay but cost nearly as much as a car to depart at the station and half an adult fare to bring it to the train. When he reduced to leave it at the station, when he arrived at the opposite end of the train journey, he'd have to wait, then pay again to journey by bus, tube, taxi, hire car or walk. In an age when men could land on the moon, Harry felt they must have the technology and materials to work out this requirement more neatly by creating the best folding bicycle he could. The Bickerton folding bicycle was the response, not only for the train commuter who desired speed, market and healthful, yet tender exercise supplied from the Bickerton, but also, of course, for countless car drivers and bus, tube, boat, caravan and maybe even airplane users who want door to door transport and additional private freedom. But before examining the chance for a completely new type concept bike to substitute the anachronism which people generally use nowadays as bikes -- a design, incidentally, which has changed very little in appearance, materials or manufacturing methods for nearly 100 years -- Harry thought of a terrific selection of ideas. Everything, in fact from an inflatable man-carrying balloon into rubber-powered roller skates. In the end however, he best folding bike air travel concluded that a brand new folding bike was likely to be the best answer. To create the best folding bike possible the main requirements were light construction, portability and compact dimensions. When folded, it is small enough to enter the boot of a Mini and light enough to hang a hat stand. The correct components were also key to the success of this bicycle. The Bickerton had regular steel wheels, 14" in front and 16" at back; Weinman brakes; extending and folding handlebars; steel clamp hooks, in the primary fold; a cotterless chainset with nickel plated chain for corrosion resistance and cleanliness; rapid release pedal attachment and a sliding seat pillar adjustment. Possibly the most surprising discovery was that, having designed and made the initial pre-production aluminum bikes, Harry discovered that the machines marvellous to ride. Acceleration was amazing, hill-climbing outstanding, along with the general responsiveness and functionality was rather exhilarating -- in comparison to bicycles of a conventional design or specialist lightweights costing #200 or more. On top of that, these features were provided with a bike that was incredibly easy to lift and handle and that gave a superbly comfortable and resilient ride, which means you would seem to glide over even rough going and badly paved roads. As the first truly portable bike in the world the Bickerton had an unexpected bonus -- its superb riding quality. After passing the mantle onto his son Mark, Harry Bickerton retired to the Isle of Purbeck, in Dorset. He built himself an office and workshop at the garden and spent his last years doing exactly what he loved, 'inventing'. Among his unfinished projects was the Energy Store, a regenerative braking device for trucks and delivery vans. He is still sorely missed but Mark is proud to be continuing his job and fulfilling his dream of building the best folding bike, the Bickerton Portable. Mark Bickerton's involvement with folding bicycles stretches over the previous four decades -- perhaps the longest of anyone in the industry today. Over the past 30 years, he's worked with a highly capable and skilled group of friends to spearhead the development of folding bicycles. Together they are responsible for a number of the most advanced folding bicycle designs. In 2011, Mark re-launched Bickerton Portables as part of Freedom Holdings Ltd, a privately owned group devoted to advancing the art and science of cycling. Bickerton Portables today adopts the legacy and style of the first Bickerton brand with modern designs, materials and production. Mark works from his UK office in Hawkhurst in Kent. The Bickerton commercials offices are located in Taipei. So whilst Bickerton Portables are inherently British, the company is lucky indeed to have team members in design, development, production and supply all over the globe to make sure Bickerton make the best folding bike possible on the marketplace. Our present Selection of Bickerton Bikes includes the Argent, the Junction and Pilot. The Argent utilizes modern layout and materials to provide a super-strong frame. With an upright riding position, curved bars, a stone solid ride and a simple fold, we have made the best folding bike frame on the market today. The Junction range combines classic looks with compact folding size. The Pilot features 16 inch wheels that are big enough to get a great ride yet small enough to get excellent portability. The range begins at #449.99 for its Junction 1307 Nation that's available in Matt Aubergine and Raven Black. Specification below Wheel Size 20″ Speeds 7 Weight 13.2 kg (29.1 lb) Folded Size 40 x 80 x 72 cm (15.8" x 31.5" x 28.2") Fold Time 10 seconds Frame Sizes One size Gear Inches 36″ – 72″ (2.87 – 5.75 m) Distance: Seatpost to Handlebar Min: 620 mm (24.4″) Max: 640 mm (25.2″) Distance: Saddle to Pedal Min: 690 mm (27.2") Max: 940 mm (37.0") Suggested Rider Height 142 – 190 cm (4’8″ – 6’3″) Max Load Weight 105 kg (230 lb) FRAME Frame Junction platform, aluminum, FBL Joint Fork Hi-tensile steel COCKPIT Handlepost Bickerton Forged Aluminum Stem Telescopic, 6061-Al, QR Headset Ball bearing Handlebar Flat bar, 6061-Al Grips Ergo, Single Density Bar Tape N/A Saddle Ergo Seatpost 33.9 mm, 6061-Al, micro-adjust clamp Seatpost Clamp 33.9 mm Pedals Folding, reinforced nylon body BRAKES Front Brake Aluminium V-brake Rear Brake Aluminium V-brake Brake Levers V-brake, aluminium, bracket and lever Brake Cable & Housing Anti-compression housing, slick cables WHEELS Front Hub Mini, aluminum, QR Rear Hub 7 spd., aluminum, QR Spokes and Nipples Stainless steel, brass nipples Rims Aluminum Tyres Kenda K193, 20×1.75″ TRANSMISSION Shifter(s) Shimano 7 spd. Front Mech N/A Rear Mech Shimano Tourney Crankset Cold-forged 6061 aluminum crank arms, double chainguard Cassette/Freewheel Shimano 7 spd., 14-28T Bottom Bracket Ball bearing Chain 7 spd., 3/32″ Shifter Cable & Housing SP EXTRAS Bell Aluminum Chainguard N/A Kickstand Aluminum Clip System Yes Luggage Socket N/A Front Light N/A Rear Light N/A Mudguards 20″ mudguards, with SS stays Rack(s) Steel 20″ ED rack, w/ luggage strap All the way up to £1299.99 for the Junction 1908 City which is available in Oxford Blue. Wheel Size 20″ Speeds 8 Weight 14.3 kg (31.5 lb) Folded Size 36 x 75 x 73 cm (14.2″ x 29.5″ x 28.7″) Fold Time 10 seconds Frame Sizes One size Gear Inches 29″ – 90″ Distance: Seatpost to Handlebar Min: 600 mm (23.6″) Max: 650 mm (25.6″) Distance: Saddle to Pedal Min: 700 mm (27.6″) Max: 960 mm (37.8″) Suggested Rider Height 142 – 190 cm (4’8″ – 6’3″) Max Load Weight 105 kg (230 lb) FRAME Frame Junction platform, aluminium, patented FBL 2 Joint, Igus bearings Fork Aluminium COCKPIT Handlepost Q-Lock, forged aluminium, patented Stem Telescopic (Handlepost), 6061-Al Headset Ball bearing Handlebar Kinetix Comp, double-butted 6061-Al Grips Ergon GP1 BioKork Bar Tape N/A Saddle Brooks Champion Seatpost BioLogic PostPump 2.0 Seatpost Clamp Syntace OverLock Pedals Suntour folding, alloy body BRAKES Front Brake Kinetix SpeedStop V-brakes, Ashima Direct noodle, stainless hardware Rear Brake Kinetix SpeedStop V-brakes, Ashima Direct noodle, stainless hardware Brake Levers Blade, 4 finger, pivot bearing design Brake Cable & Housing LiveWire 7.0, anti-compression housing, slick cables, DuPont L3 lubricant, alloy ferrules WHEELS Front Hub BioLogic Joule 3 dynamo Rear Hub Shimano Alfine, 8 spd. Spokes and Nipples Stainless steel, brass nipples Rims Kinetix Comp, doublewall, CNC sidewalls Tyres Schwalbe Marathon Supreme, 42-406, RaceGuard puncture protection, Reflex TRANSMISSION Shifter(s) Shimano Alfine, 8 spd. Front Mech N/A Rear Mech N/A Crankset Kinetix Supra, forged 6061 cranks, CNC chain ring, CNC chainguard Cassette/Freewheel Shimano for hub gear Bottom Bracket Cartridge, sealed bearings Chain RustBlock, GST coated, 3/32″ Shifter Cable & Housing Shimano EXTRAS Bell Dulcet, brass Chainguard BioLogic Freedrive Kickstand Premium single, aluminium Clip System Magnetix 2.0 Luggage Socket Yes Front Light Trelock i-Mini LED, 20 Lux (w/dynamo hub) Rear Light Spanninga Solo, Dynamo LED with Standlight Mudguards PET 16" mudguards with CP stays Rack(s) Steel 16" silver rack, with elastic http://www.thefreedictionary.com/best folding bike luggage strap

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2017 Bugatti Chiron

    If there’s any doubt about the Bugatti Chiron’s raison d’être, it’s written right on the steering wheel, on a large blue button emblazoned with one word: ENGINE. Sure, we could wax poetic about the marriage of modern technology to the ancient human craving to express vanity and wealth. Or about how the 1500-hp Chiron is metaphorically the 700-room Château de Versailles with a tailpipe, how the $3 million price means it is no crazier than hiring an artist to spend four years painting God and Adam and angels and saints on your chapel ceiling. In other words, we could go on and on about how it is an exuberant, untethered overstatement in the service of generating delirious stupefaction, both in the nobles who luxuriate in it and the peasants who revel in its reflected glory. But the new 261-mph Bug is really just about being all ate up with motor. It’s about old-fashioned combustion in 16 furnaces amidships that are blown into a furious conflagration by quad turbo fans. Push that ENGINE button and the 8.0-liter W-16 lights, not with the ear-bending bark of an Italian supercar—Bugatti figures it is above those kinds of bad-boy theatrics—but with the manly burble of a lazy 650-rpm idle. To paraphrase Theodore Roosevelt, “Speak softly and carry a suitcase nuke.” To be brutally cynical—for that’s the last refuge of plebeians who cannot now and never will be able to afford a Chiron—this car is a do over. It’s a reboot of a last-decade idea for reviving a slumbering auto boutique with a moonshot engineering project intended to create shock and awe. The 1001-hp Veyron 16.4 was the busted sound barrier, the Everest summit, the four-minute mile. It was the car that went 1 mph faster than a Porsche 917 on the Mulsanne straight, just because. The benchmarks have all been bested, the hyperbole all belabored. It seems pointless to raise the bar again with another mid-engined two-seat coupe, like enrolling Superman in a CrossFit class in the hopes of widening the gap over those speeding bullets. Viewed more charitably, the concept was perhaps not fully tapped. The Veyron may have improved greatly during its 10-year, 450-car slow drip of a production run, but its handling never rose above that of a blindingly fast Lexus. Unlike a Lexus, it was loud inside, and not a good kind of loud but a loud borne of thrumming tires and ticking injectors and whirring accessories and those great sucking bazookas behind your head. And its slightly corpulent styling was perhaps a shade too Moulin Rouge for some and not enough Yves Montand with a cocked cigarette and a piercing squint. It was an awesome thing, the Veyron, but not above a sequel. Shock and awe is highly perishable, and engineers always need new challenges. Over some squid nibbles and other Portuguese delicacies at a Lisbon bistro near the Tagus River, I am assured that the Chiron was indeed a worthy challenge. At first, explains chassis-development head Jachin Schwalbe, the thinking was just to restyle the Veyron and crank up the boost. But everybody soon realized that going from 1200 horsepower in the hottest Veyrons—the Super Sport and the Grand Sport Vitesse—to a still drivable 1500 in the Chiron required more than just a bigger blow. Eventually, nearly every single part number changed in the engine. And in the seven-speed transmission. And in the two clutches. And the wheels, tires, brakes, and self-adjusting suspension. And the body, aerodynamic devices, and interior. Even the hand-painted, solid-silver Bugatti grille badge got a facelift. The next morning I’m paired up with Le Mans winner and sports-prototype veteran Andy Wallace for a blast through the rolling inland districts of rural Portugal. I once set a personal record of 204 mph in a Veyron Super Sport in Spain, but I’m warned that Portugal is cracking down, with speed cameras and biker fuzz who are happy to follow you to the nearest ATM for on-the-spot collection. Still, Wallace and I will see an indicated 197 mph before the sun has set and, luckily, not one cop. The relatively few people who have driven a Veyron will notice at once that the Chiron is quieter inside and that it has a gentler ride. The strange Michelin PAX tires that cost five figures to replace, with new wheels required at the third tire change, are gone, superseded (at customer pleading—even the obscenely rich have their limits) by more conventional Bugatti-spec Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2s, size 285/30R-20 in front and 355/25R-21 in back. There is less road roar from these massive drums and less unpleasant noise from the engine. You hear the husky swell from the enormous titanium exhaust, unaided by artificial augmentation, plus the rapid cymbal riff of the turbos snuffling air at a rate measured in blimps per second. In the European way, Bugatti quotes an acceleration figure in the zero-to-62-mph metric, stating that it’s “the first Veyron we tested hit 60 mph in 2.5. But as Schwalbe and his colleagues are quick to point out, at these torque levels, it’s almost entirely dependent on traction. And this is not the same world in which the Veyron debuted. Today, common Porsche 911 Turbos handily pull a 2.6, and Tesla P100Ds in Ludicrous mode are quicker still. So the Chiron’s horizon-sucking acceleration, while still evoking a sport bike with four wheels, is not quite as dumbfounding as the Veyron’s was in its day. At least, not from zero to 60. From 60 to, oh, say 180 mph, which takes about 10 seconds, the car actually seems to accelerate even harder, pretty much flattening your lungs and causing both the pleasure and fear centers of your brain to go code red simultaneously. You can experience this electrifying sensation repeatedly using launch control, activated by pressing a large button just below the airbag on the steering wheel, then applying firm, simultaneous pressure on the brake pedal and the accelerator. Act quickly, though, as you have just three seconds to release the brake or the LC will shut off. The torque on all four wheels is so immense that even on dry pavement the car will wiggle a bit as it claws for traction. After 50 feet or so it hooks up completely and the scenery will flatten and blur. The Chiron is improved in so many other ways as well. The throttle, able to summon a bonkers 1180 lb-ft of torque, answers with the slimmest delay in lag, meaning on country lanes you’ll often bawl-whoosh past dawdlers so quickly that you’ll be several dozen car lengths ahead before it occurs to you to pull back into your lane. If roads were striped with the Chiron in mind, the Tail of the Dragon would be one big passing zone. The steering now lives and breathes, the ratio having dropped from 18.0:1 in the Veyron to 16.0:1, and the rack communicates with your palms. The chassis actually sniffs the pavement a little, occasionally following the changing camber and feeling altogether more organic. Deciding on an appropriately ridiculous corner speed was such guesswork in the Veyron; in the Chiron it’s second nature even as speeds remain ridiculous. And when you need to arrest all this motion, the AP Racing brake calipers and Brembo carbon-ceramic rotors display a delicate progression belying their enormous size. Perhaps Louis Chiron’s biggest achievement was being the oldest driver (55) ever to compete in a Grand Prix. The big C that defines the Chiron’s side profile, as well as the spinal ridge and the extravagant sweep of LED accent lighting that cleaves the cockpit, is either a tribute to his name, to the rather expansive way Ettore Bugatti rendered the E in his personal signature, or to the Type 57SC Atlantic. The company leaves it up to you to decide, but the Chiron is an altogether more purposeful shape, the horseshoe grille pushed forward into the wind to initiate a sleeker and somewhat tenser profile. The eight LED headlights, which illuminate sequentially inward on startup, and the 82-LED taillight blade are riveting elements, the latter housed in a thin scythe milled from a 220-pound block of aluminum. As in the Veyron, the cockpit exudes artful minimalism, but the Chiron takes it even further. The center stack looks like the four fingers of a metal sea anemone, the tips of which are digital readouts that can tell you everything from the oil temperature to the max speed achieved and the horsepower tapped on the current trip. Designer Etienne Salomé, a Parisian in exquisitely tailored blue silk who is as Bugatti as Bugatti gets, explained that he didn’t want an all-TFT instrument cluster that is just a dark hole when the car is off. “When a Chiron goes to Pebble Beach in 50 years and children look in the window, I want them to see something,” he said, referring to the large analog tachometer in the center of two color screens that, when on, present car and trip data (it said we averaged 20 mpg) plus a navigation map. There is no plastic anywhere in the cockpit, we are told. If it looks like metal, it is metal. If it looks like leather, it is one of the 16 hides that go into making each Chiron. One-carat diamonds support the speaker diaphragms. In addition to a flat underbody tray with strategically placed air dams, plus a system of ducts and slats up front that create both a high-pressure zone in the wheels for cooling the brake rotors and a low-pressure air curtain around the front wheels to suck out the hot air, there are two moving aerodynamic elements. Underbody flaps forward of the front wheels adjust their pitch with the car’s speed to improve downforce, and the large wing in back rises on stilts, mightily obscuring the rearward vision whether it’s pitched up 3 degrees in Top Speed mode or 47 degrees in the air-brake position. When you turn off the Chiron, the wing does an amusing little dance of reluctance, like a puppy unwilling to go back into the house, as it drops bit by bit back into the body. The engineers told me this slow shimmy is a warning, to keep people from getting their fingers crushed by a wing stout enough to generate 1000 pounds of downforce at 186 mph. Almost certainly the last of its kind as supercars give way to super-hybrids and super-electrics, the Chiron’s main selling point against other objets d’art from the likes of Pagani or Koenigsegg is that it hails from the Volkswagen Group, which built 28,253 cars every day of last year. So this is art that is likely to start in 20-degree weather. Just imagine Michelangelo or, indeed, Ettore Bugatti, having 3D computer modeling, wind tunnels, and hundreds of talented artisans at his disposal. Would the result have been so different? credit:www.caranddriver.com     Click to Post