{"id":9,"date":"2021-08-08T15:07:18","date_gmt":"2021-08-08T22:07:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nationalbicyclegreenway.wordpress.com\/?p=9"},"modified":"2023-10-18T19:58:35","modified_gmt":"2023-10-19T02:58:35","slug":"chapter-excerpt-why-i-ride-an-eagle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/2021\/08\/08\/chapter-excerpt-why-i-ride-an-eagle\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter Excerpt – Why I Ride an Eagle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why the\u00a0 Eagle is at\u00a0 Home in\u00a0Indianapolis!<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/h2>\n

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From “H<\/span>ow America Can Bike and Grow Rich<\/a><\/strong>“<\/p>\n

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One of the\u00a0fixed gear cyclists was holding a trackstand, a maneuver where the rider sits on his bike seat and keeps it upright and balanced without going anywhere.\u00a0Since our bikes were also fixed, the original version where the pedals connect directly to the wheel without a chain or sprockets in between, the trackstand on a HiWheel was once an important skill to learn. Though few present day HiWheelers take the time to master being able to do so, I found this ability important to my being able to enjoy a Car Free lifestyle on my Ordinary (another name for the traditional tall wheel).<\/p>\n

Learning to trackstand gave me a better mastery over my high bike in crowded areas. Some examples of where this skill was helpful included\u00a0gridlocked streets, busy shopping districts, even the Critical Mass or San Jose Bike Party rides that I liked to attend. With what looks like a trick to most, I did not have to get off and on the bike at traffic lights or for whatever other stops the congestion in my path could otherwise force me to make. I could even stop and hold a stand to have a brief conversation with people along my way.<\/p>\n

I had spent many hours learning to trackstand. In doing so, I had had to endure a lot of bumps, bruises and cuts, even many embarrassing falls. But just as I was getting more and more confident and better, the Eagle appeared. While\u00a0 rumor has it that a trackstand is possible on one, I suspect that I will always be so consumed with looking for ways to get places faster or more efficiently on the Eagle, that I may not even try to see if a controlled stall is even possible on one.<\/div>\n

The few dozen times I did try, I always went off the back end once I got the bike delayed. This is because in order to keep from getting launched into the sometimes fatal header that made conventional HiWeel bikes so dangerous, the Eagle’s center of gravity was placed behind the rider. As a result, the Eagle cyclist is always in a gentle struggle to keep the front wheel from popping off the ground. If that were to happen, if his mind were to wander from the task at hand, for instance, he could easily slide off the rear of the machine and probably crash.<\/p>\n

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I also can\u2019t seem to ride with no hands on the Eagle (finally can do so now as of 2014 here in Ireland). Nor is such a skill all about show when one is actually trying to get places on the conventional HWheel. Since two hands are often needed to put on or take off a jacket, adjust a helmet or sunglasses or peel the wrapper off an energy bar, for example, one can keep pedaling while performing all these tasks on an Ordinary if he can ride one with no hands. The exciting on the road performance of the Eagle, however, makes up for my not being able to trackstand or ride it hands free.<\/p>\n

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One worthy trade-off is that I can climb hills with fervor on the Eagle. Unlike the traditional HiWheel cyclist, long\u00a0 known to have walked both sides of a mountain, the Eagle rider can climb out of the saddle to get up inclines. In being able to jockey the bike back and forth while ascending, besides being able to add leverage, he also won\u2019t find himself sitting on a wheel that \u201cburns rubber\u201d as it goes nowhere. When riding the typical tall seat of the 19th Century, I always found the steeper the pitch, if I was even moving at all, the more the wheel used to slip out on me.<\/p>\n