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Introduction
The bicycle is the simplest and most sophisticated mechanism ever built. It’s always been the same, except for minor details, since it was first created, around the end of 1800. It was first intended for the elite, then as a mass vehicle, it has moved and moves hundreds of millions of people every day, every where on the globe.
Every body know how to ride a bike, and probably learnt as a child. A man on a bike is the most innocuous image the primary predator, such as the human, can give of itself. And it is today the only terrestrial vehicle that anyone with a little effort can repair by himself in practically any condition, except maybe the broken frame, an exceptional event. They can even build one.
You go into the mechanism and come out knowing exactly what the bike does and why, you learn that every part, every single part, is useful.
The bike has accessories, obviously, but you can easily settle without them, and you learn that superfluous is nearly everything. No window winder, no conditioner, absolutely no radio or satellite, even the spare wheel is superfluous, because if you get a puncture, all you need are two levees, a bit of glue and a piece of inner tube. And naturally, five or more minutes for beginners.
It’s the only vehicle for mass consumption using muscle force and it therefore makes going to the gym superfluous.
(The man on your left is Alfredo Binda)
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