XKCD does cycling

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Wafer

Veteran
http://xkcd.com/1673/
timeline_of_bicycle_design.png


I'm not quite sure what they are trying to say this time but it gave me a little chuckle :smile:
 

TheJDog

dingo's kidneys
Does that bottle really say 'milk'? I'm sure milk is a bad choice.
 

lazybloke

Priest of the cult of Chris Rea
Location
Leafy Surrey
If there is a punchline to an xkcd cartoon, it is usually revealed as a pop-up by clicking on the pic (on the original website).
Doesn't work on my phone :-(
 

winjim

Smash the cistern
If there is a punchline to an xkcd cartoon, it is usually revealed as a pop-up by clicking on the pic (on the original website).
Doesn't work on my phone :-(
I'll be honest, the 1950s were a rough time for cycling​
 

winjim

Smash the cistern
My interpretation of it is:
  • Early 19c the bike as we know it didn't exist. People had a go at sticking wheels on various odd types of frame.
  • Late 19c Penny farthings and lots of different combinations of big / small wheeled bikes.
  • 1925 Art Deco
  • 1940 Dunno. Is that supposed to be a punt?
  • 1955 Monster movies?
  • 1980 Things like Grifters and Choppers that were sort of meant to look like motorbikes.
  • 2016 Ridiculously complicated unnecessarily fancy overengineered MAMIL type bikes.
Maybe also plays with the joke that nobody really knows how to draw a bicycle.
 
Location
Loch side.
My interpretation of it is:
  • Early 19c the bike as we know it didn't exist. People had a go at sticking wheels on various odd types of frame.
  • Late 19c Penny farthings and lots of different combinations of big / small wheeled bikes.
  • 1925 Art Deco
  • 1940 Dunno. Is that supposed to be a punt?
  • 1955 Monster movies?
  • 1980 Things like Grifters and Choppers that were sort of meant to look like motorbikes.
  • 2016 Ridiculously complicated unnecessarily fancy overengineered MAMIL type bikes.
Maybe also plays with the joke that nobody really knows how to draw a bicycle.


Naaah. 2016 is that thing that Graeme Obree had on the inside of that space capsule bike of his. It had a treadle system, didn't it?

1940, the VV (Venetian Velociped), designed by a Gondolier who's house only occasionally floods.

The rest are spot on. No cigar, sorry.
 

srw

It's a bit more complicated than that...
Here's the link to explainxkcd.com ("It's 'cause you're dumb.")

http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1673

They don't really know either. Every so often Randall Munro comes out with a pure flight of fancy. I think this is one of those times.
 
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