Those slender steel wires are one of many deceptively simple pieces of bike tech we take for granted, but they're vital. The twunk of one breaking spoke can set off a domino effect, successive snaps warping a wheel into half Pringle, half Picasso. It's one of cycling's less welcome sounds; but, more melodiously, bike wheels have been played like a chaotically tuned harp by experimental musicians. (There's a quaint b&w video of US rock legend Frank Zappa, pre-moustache, doing just that.)
Wooden wheels first appeared in various places around 6,000 years ago, notably modern-day Iraq, no doubt quickly followed by arguments about whether narrower ones had less rolling resistance. Wooden spokes - hence the first broken spokes and tooth-sucking wheel-builders - arose about 4,000 years ago.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der October 2023-Ausgabe von Cycling Plus UK.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
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