In 1791, Frenchman Siflaq invented the most primitive bicycle. It has only two wheels and no transmission, and a person rides on it and needs to use two pedals to drive the car forward.
In the middle of the last century, people talked about "flying pigeons, forever, phoenix", just as people talk about "BMW, Mercedes-Benz" today. China's first fully domestically produced brand-name bicycle was the "Flying Pigeon" bicycle that was born in Tianjin Bicycle Factory on July 5, 1950. In those days, owning a sewing machine, a watch, a bicycle, and a radio was a symbol of wealth. At that time, while bicycles brought convenience for people to travel, it also brought the trouble of carrying bicycles on the shoulders to the residents of high-rise buildings. At the time, people thought: If only we could make carrying a bike as easy as carrying a bag.
I once remembered there was a saying, "Don't be afraid of not being able to do it but be afraid of not being able to think of it". Perhaps people's ideas pass, and bicycle developers have been looking for material on how to allow cyclists to trudge on "light". Perhaps due to the magical use of titanium in golf clubs and ball heads, people found that the "lightness" of titanium used to make bicycle frames will greatly reduce the weight of the car and be durable. Because golfers always want to play with bigger clubs. Titanium has a small specific gravity and high strength, allowing the head to be made larger without increasing the overall weight of the club. In extensive testing, golfers hit an average of 20 percent better with a titanium head than with a standard oversized steelhead, and with improved distance. Inspired by this, bicycle developers decided to use titanium in the bicycle field.
Bicycles are driven by human power, so they need to be very light, especially in racing cars that consider the speed of the race. If the weight of the racing car is reduced by 1 gram, you can gain a thousandth of a second. General bicycles use 36 spokes, while titanium bicycles use 24 spokes, which not only reduces weight but also reduces wind resistance. Titanium and titanium alloys are first used from the parts. The Italian company Campagnolo has already used titanium and titanium alloys to manufacture a variety of parts for racing bicycles, including packaging gear pins, left-hand nuts, pinless crankshafts, front and rear hubs axles, left and right pedal shafts, etc.
American company Litespeed makes titanium bike frames that weigh an average of 2.5 pounds and sell for $2,800 each. Titanium frames are lighter, more comfortable, and last longer than chrome-molybdenum alloy frames. Frames made from industrial pure titanium tubes and non-aeronautical TI-3aL-2.5V (sports grade) titanium alloys have become popular over the past few years, priced between $1600 and $3500 per pair, with the entire bike sold for Prices ranging from $2,400 to $6,000. At present, dozens of companies produce titanium bicycles, and the United States has long been the largest producer and consumer of titanium bicycles. Now that cycling is widely carried out all over the world, titanium bicycles are especially suitable for the requirements of high-end cycling, so the sales of titanium bicycles are also gradually increasing.
When the author received Dr. Yu Guange from an American company that came to China to visit, he really felt the good news that titanium brought to the disabled. Dr. Yu is paralyzed in the lower limbs and cannot do without a wheelchair from the United States to China. When Dr. Yu got off the bus for business negotiation, he needed to assemble a wheelchair to the conference room. When I removed the assembled parts of the wheelchair from the car, the author first came into contact with the wheelchair made of titanium. Its "lightness" is as easy as carrying a bag. It can be said that it is easy, which reduces the labor intensity for Dr. Yu's entourage.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the lightest folding bicycle is the "Triangle" 6500B-PEHT23 bicycle jointly designed and produced by several companies such as Japan's National Bicycle Industry Corporation and Panasonic Electric Industrial Corporation. Its weight is only 6.5 kg. . The frame and fork are made of titanium. The body is so small that it can be carried on the train or put in the storage closet at the station.
Today, titanium alloy bicycles have added a new member - titanium carbon alloy bicycles, which can hold up titanium carbon alloy bicycles with one finger. This kind of bicycle frame is partly made of titanium-carbon alloy, which has the advantages of high strength, long life, and light texture. Can be eye-filling.
In the last century, when Chinese people named bicycles, they may have foreknowledge, knowing that future bicycles will be "easy", otherwise why would they name bicycles "Flying Pigeon", "Permanent" and "Phoenix"? When the price of titanium alloy bicycles is accepted by the common people, which was born in Europe and popular in China, the common people may change their guns and turn the 500 million or so bicycles they own into titanium alloy bicycles. Every morning and sunset, the rolling traffic of titanium alloy bicycles is a spectacular "dynamic era", a modern version of the Great Wall of China. At that time, people riding on bicycles can't help shouting:
"Ah! This bike is really 'titanium'."
