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Re:Why did we wait so long for the bicycle? by mikepurvis on Monday July 15, 2019 @04:13PM (#20444729)
Yeah but the alternative in antiquity wasn't "whatever squishy compound", it was wood, perhaps with a metal strap around it, like a carriage wheel.
Re:Why did we wait so long for the bicycle? by atoav on Monday July 15, 2019 @04:56PM (#20445188)
Which is why in the early wooden “bikes” (you were sitting on a wooden bar and pushing with your legs) they made the bar “squishy” by adding some sort of saddle or some adapted spring dampers or sth.
Re:Why did we wait so long for the bicycle? by DoctorOetker on Tuesday July 16, 2019 @08:31AM (#20449408)
It's interesting that wood is considered impractical for a bicycle... but somehow practical for a carriage?

Carriages used to have suspensions (made from some elastic whale bone I believe).

If someone would attempt to build a bicycle in a time of carriages with carriage wheels, I would then expect this person to also copy (at least in analogy) the suspension systems for carriages of that time, if not on the first try at least on the second...

Re:Why did we wait so long for the bicycle? by loeg on Monday July 15, 2019 @04:57PM (#20445204)
Understood.