Bicycle Quiz

1. The oldest British picture of what appears to be a bicycle is to be found in a stained glass window at a church in Buckinghamshire. Which church?
       Stoke Poges

2. The ‘hobby-horse’ was a two-wheeled device on which the rider sat astride, pushing himself (presumably not herself at this stage) along with his feet. Who invented it, where, and what did he call it?
       It was called the celeripede, and was invented by M Niepice in Paris

3. The idea soon arrived in London. Name one of the manufacturers. What was it called in Britain, and who was the highest-ranking man who owned one?
       Dennis Johnson was a manufacturer (there may be others). It was known as the Dandy-horse, and one was owned by the Prince Regent.

4. The first bicycle to have pedals worked differently from modern bicycles. The pedals hung at either side of the front wheel and turned the back wheel by pistons. This idea was developed six years after its invention by Gavin Dalzell, but who originally invented it?
       Kirkpatrick MacMillan

5. The first bicycle to have rotary cranks fitted to the front wheel was invented by Pierre Lallement in 1865. What was the address of the shop where bicycles were first made and sold commercially? And how much did one of these ‘velocipedes’ cost?
       29 Avenue Montaigne, Paris

6. What was the Swift Cycle Co. called before it began to make bicycles?
       No, not the Slow Foot Co., but the Coventry Machinists Co. Ltd.

7. The Swift Cycle Co. made 500 bicycles to fill an order from Paris, but something happened to prevent most of them being delivered. This meant that the company had to sell the rest in Britain, thus establishing the bicycle trade in this country. What was it that happened?
       The Franco-Prussian War broke out

8. This type of bicycle had wooden wheels with iron rims and was extremely heavy. This, combined with the state of the roads at this period in history gave this bicycle its colloquial name: what was it?
       The Boneshaker

9. What is the correct name of the ‘penny-farthing’, and what speed could it do? The reason for the enormous front wheel was the absence of gears: with a larger wheel, the bicycle travelled further for each turn of the pedals.
       It was known as the Ordinary, and could reach 20mph.

10. The next important innovation was the geared transmission, with pedals driving the rear wheel by means of a chain. This was invented by H J Lawson in 1876 and marketed widely by Messrs Starley and Sutton of the Rover company from 1885. This was the first recognisably ‘modern’ bicycle. What was it colloquially known as?
        The Safety bicycle

11. What did John Boyd Dunlop of Belfast invent in 1889?
        The pneumatic tyre

12. More recent inventions have included the Chopper, the BMX bike, the mountain bike and the recumbent. Give approximate dates for the first appearance of these phenomena.
        Chopper - c. 1970;
        BMX - c. 1975;
        Mountain bike - c. 1980;
        Recumbent bicycles - as early as mid 19th century!

13. There are now at least three types of gears: Sturmey-Archer, Derailleur and Shimano. When was each type first marketed under that name?
        Sturmey-Archer - 1936;
        Derailleur - 1905;
        Shimano (Shimano Index Shifting to use its full name) - 1984

14. A bicycle with one wheel is, of course, an unicycle. A new sport, or idiocy, depending on your viewpoint, is that of all-terrain unicycling. What is the correct term for the sport, and for the type of bicycle used for this?
        Mountain Unicycling, or Muni

15. Folding bicycles have been around for many years. The current market leader is the Brompton, folding into a smaller format than any other. How much does this make of bicycle cost to buy and how much does it weigh?
        Typical prices are around £600, to over £1000, at 2009 prices. The weights are between 9.8 and 11.5 kg.

16. Export figures for 1926 showed that Great Britain had the greatest export trade in bicycles, exporting 280,051 in that year, with an average value of £4 6s. How much were those 280,051 bicycles worth (in £ s d)? What is £4 6s worth in modern terms? What proportion of the annual bicycle production of Great Britain was exported in 1926, and finally, which country was second to Great Britain in terms of both manufacture and export?
        £4 6s x 280,051 = £1,204,219 6s, as £4 6s is equivalent to £4.30. 680,000 were produced in Britain per annum, so 41% were exported.
        Germany was second to Britain in the export market.

17. By 1926 it was estimated that over 30 million bicycles were in use worldwide. In a few countries, registration of bicycles was in force, enabling the number in use to be assessed accurately. Put these countries in order of number of bicycles in use, largest first: Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Holland, Italy, Japan, South Africa.
        France, Holland, Italy, Denmark, Austria, Czech Republic, Japan, South Africa

Literary and media bicycles

1. The word Bicycle means ‘two wheels’. How was the word spelt when first used in English (in 1868)?

2. ‘...the ne plus ultra of snobbishness –bicyclism.’ from ‘World’, 1876. What did the writer mean by ‘bicyclism?’

3. In the Railway Series by the Revd. W Awdry, which is the first book in which a bicycle is depicted? Who owns it? (Ignore the pictures on the end-papers.)

4. In which book by Arthur Ransome is Nancy Blackett’s bicycle borrowed by someone to fetch petrol? Why was he in such a hurry, what had happened to his own bicycle, and – a wry touch of realism- what did he have to do to Nancy’s bike before he could ride it?

5. What is the connection between ‘The Big Six’, by Arthur Ransome, and the Sherlock Holmes story ‘The Priory School’ ? (No marks for simply writing ‘A Bicycle’...)

6. What sort of bicycle does Qwilleran, the hero of the ‘Cat Who...’ books by Lilian Jackson Braun, prefer to ride?

7. A book, ‘The blue bicycle’ was a bestseller when first published, but then was accused of being a flagrant copy of another book. Which?

8. In the song ‘Daisy, Daisy’, what was Daisy’s surname, and what sort of bicycle was proposed as a means of transport?

9. ‘Last night ------ exclaimed, with his customary lucidity, that if a cow with handlebars is a bicycle, within the meaning of the Act, then a bicycle with four legs instead of two wheels is a cow.’ Whose name has been omitted, and who invented this character?

10. ‘----- is a wonderful invention; but, then again, so is a bicycle repair kit.’ Which invention did Billy Connolly specify?

11. ‘Fifty years from now, Britain will still be the country of long shadows on county (cricket) grounds, warm beer, invincible green suburbs, dog lovers, and – as George Orwell said- old maids bicycling to Holy Communion through the morning mist.’ John Major said this in a speech on April 22 1993. What did George Orwell actually write?

12. And what did Norman Tebbit actually say?

13. Which poet wrote, of visiting an old church, ‘Hatless, I take off my cycle-clips in awkward reverence.’?

14. Whose catch-phrase was ‘Mind my bike!’?

15. An early Punch cartoon shows an unfortunate cyclist sitting in a ditch along with the remains of his machine. The caption has a second cyclist asking ‘Have you seen my friend?’ The pedestrian’s reply is ‘No, but at the bottom of the hill I saw a man mending a ... ‘ What?

16. In the ‘Milly-Molly-Mandy’ books, the sight of whose new bicycle begins the adventure of learning to ride on two very elderly and decrepit machines found in Billy Blunt’s shed?

17. Which character in the Simpsons arrives home in the opening credits by bicycle?

Answers to the webmaster or to Malinda by January 31 2007... that gives us long enough to think of a suitable prize!

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