Re:Why It Took So Long to Invent the Wheel (2012)
by adrianN on Saturday October 29, 2016 @01:24PM
(#12825057)
Bicycles would be pretty hard with the metallurgy of ancient rome, I think. Introducing soap is very easy in comparison.
Re:Why It Took So Long to Invent the Wheel (2012)
by eveningcoffee on Saturday October 29, 2016 @07:50PM
(#12827199)
Bicycle actually needs very few metal parts, if any.
Re:Why It Took So Long to Invent the Wheel (2012)
by pja on Sunday October 30, 2016 @09:38AM
(#12829713)
But the parts they do need are quite high up the tech stack: decent quality bearings being the most obvious.
Re:Why It Took So Long to Invent the Wheel (2012)
by Houshalter on Sunday October 30, 2016 @11:53AM
(#12830444)
Do they absolutely require it though? Looking at images of the first bicycles, they seem quite crude: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Draisine... The earliest ones don't even have pedals.
The Romans had wheels and carts that seemed to work. It doesn't seem like a huge leap to put a human on them.
Roman legions mounted in bikes could be everywhere. Their roads already were a force multiplier. Combined with being able to feed them and have them not die of disease simple wounds. We'd all be speaking Latin.
We all know, Rome is center of the universe. :)