Has Anyone Heard Of This!!!!!

[kloofnek]

Someone was telling me that once upon a time,one could have a little gadget attached to a bicycle frame which when you rode it,it touched the wheel and caused fricton which lit up the cycle light on the handlebars.

Has anyone heard THIS before!!!!

[piggynose]

so it is a leg pull

[FredPuli43]

Now, if you can remember a Solex 'bicycle' you belong in my generation. But dynamos on bikes? We all had them. Batteries were expensive and, in the early days, cumbersome.

[Clanad]

Think they coast about $4.95 in the 1950's here in the U.S. How times change... look at this one on Ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-MAKE-A-LITE-Generator-headlight-tail-light-combo-NOS-NIB-COMPLETE-SET-/251239362665?_trksid=p2054897.l4275

[vulcan42]

Please don't post any more like this, it makes me feel very old.:o)

[FredPuli43]

Clanad, there are times when I feel old (you too, perhaps) Seeing things advertised as though they belonged in some distant age, does that, as does going around transport museums and seeing exhibits you rode on or drove.

The Solex was a bicycle with a tiny two-stroke engine mounted over the front wheel. You could ride it as a bicycle but could fire up the engine to give a whizzo speed of some, well, 15 mph, without effort. Very popular in France, where it originated, quite a number were sold in Britain

[Clanad]

Like this one, Fred?

http://oldbike.wordpress.com/1951-york-german-bicycle-1952-fitted-with-lohmann-18cc-diesel-engine/

I can relate to museums much better lately... so it seems...

[Clanad]

Or, this one?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SOLEX-3800-GAS-POWER-MOTOR-BICYCLE-/251353933202

[FredPuli43]

It is the second one, Clanad, to a T. Saw one in France this Summer but it was in the window of a trendy shop in Juan-les-Pins, as an exhibit with, newly fashionable, retro clothing. Haven't seen one on the road in about thirty years,

[aelmpvw]

they also used to have bikes with a big wheel at the front and a little one at the back

[society]

I remember seeing those on my uncles bicycles, when I was a child. Never paid attention to what they were or their use until now. Never to old to learn eh.

[sandyRoe]

In the Victorian era they used gas lights. Honest, carbide lamps.

[Old_Geezer]

Wow. Basic science lesson. I need your homework in by tomorrow on how it works or you'll all get 0%.

[aelmpvw]

this is true sandy, if you didn't break your neck falling off the fire got you

[diddlydo]

I still have a bike with dynamo lights - had it for my 11th birthday and I now have a bus pass!!

[gness]

Oh lord.."once upon a time"......now I feel really, really old... :-(

[Sparkles62]

Dynamo light, I used to have them on my bike when I was at school, very good when you were cycling, but as I remember , they were pretty quick to go out when you stopped, mine were quite old but didn't hold the charge very well at all.

[DrFilth]

they still sell bikes with a dynamo fitted as standard, have a look on ebay

[tamborine]

chick out that tyre blow job & use this, its excellent

Amazon.co.uk User Recommendation

[beso]

I had one on my bike in the 1970s. It had two 6 Volt, 3 Watt circuits, one for the front light and another for the back. If you went too fast you could blow the light bulb.

It ran on the side of the tyre and it was important to align it to the axle when it was mounted or it would chew the tyre out. (I saw this on someone else's bike.)

The Sturmey-Archer Dynohub was the bees knees but it had to be laced into the wheel. Their hub gears were also awesome.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturmey-Archer