774 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



gravity over the base, the bottom of the wheel needs only to move 

 to the right or left whichever the machine is leaning some- 

 what faster than these slow rates. There is no great difficulty in 

 doing this, for, if the bicycle is going eight miles an hour, it is 

 necessary to change its course only about seven degrees ; if four 

 miles, then only about fourteen degrees ; if two miles, then about 

 twenty-eight degrees. The greater the speed, the less the angle : 

 at sixteen miles an hour, the wheel would need to be turned less 

 than two degrees. From which follows the fact, well known to 

 'cyclists, that the slower the machine is traveling the more the 

 handles must be turned, and the more difficult to keep from 

 falling. 



From the fact that the bicycle is kept erect by keeping its 

 point of support under it, like a pole standing upright on one's 

 finger, some curious and, to most persons, quite surprising results 

 follow. I have here three rods, respectively one foot, three feet, 

 and seven feet long. I hold the last, as you see, very easily ; the 

 second not so easily; and the first only with considerable diffi- 

 culty. I now put a cap of lead weighing four or five pounds on 

 the top of each, and then again support them as before. In every 

 case it is now easier to keep them from falling. Hence, in a 

 bicycle, the higher and the heavier the load, the less the danger 

 of falling ; and, as most of the weight is in the saddle, the center 

 of gravity of the whole is very near it, and it is the height of 

 that, and not the size of the wheel, that affects the lateral stabil- 

 ity. A rider with a load on his back, whether a bag of grain or 

 a man sitting on his shoulders, is by all that the more safe from 

 falling either to the right or left, however it may be as to headers. 



Experts sometimes ride for a considerable distance with both 

 legs over the cross-bar. But there is nothing strange in this, for 

 placing their legs in that position only raises the center of grav- 

 ity, and hence really adds to the stability. If in some way they 

 can manage to turn the cross-bar, they can ride without difficulty 

 until the momentum is exhausted. 



A much more difficult feat is to ride on one wheel. The small 

 wheel the rider holding the other in the air is most easily man- 

 aged. It is merely a case of supporting on a small base a long, 

 upright body. One keeps moving the point of support so as to 

 'bring it under the center of gravity. It needs only a quick eye 

 and a steady hand. It is much more difficult when the 'cyclist 

 uses only the big wheel, the other having been removed, for he is 

 liable to fall forward or backward, as well as to either side. To 

 avoid the first and second, he leans forward a little beyond his 

 base, and would pitch headlong, but that he drives the wheel for- 

 ward by means of the treadles just fast enough to prevent it. 

 "We all do the same thing when we walk. We lean so far forward 



