Auto Shift Bicycles"Love to Ride Those Auto Shift Bicycles..."...If you think shifting gears while riding is too much trouble, then you'll like auto shift bicycles. With this type of bicycles, riders can speed up or slow down, and the chain moves to a different gear on its own. A popular automatic bicycle is the Land Rider, with auto shift technology. You can the Land Rider in four men's sizes and three women's sizes. You get dual suspension and a Shimano front derailleur, along with a wide, comfy seat. The automatic shift bicycle doesn't seem to get enough credit, even though it uses modern concepts. Two weights on the derailleur put centrifugal force on the chain. In this automatic shifting bicycle, speeding up causes the chain to move to a higher gear; slowing down sends the chain to a lower gear. Why this shifting of gears happen has to do with natural laws: a mass has a tendency to stay straight, but going in a curve forces the mass to change. The mass tries to fight this movement, something known as centrifugal force, or force that tries to stay away from the center. This force makes automatic shifting in bicycles possible. As you will notice, the Land Rider has seven gears for flat roads and for slopes. Another great feature of the Land Rider are the linear pull brakes that let you stop smoothly and quickly. So you don't worry about sloppy brakes. Plus, the seat post suspension gives you shock-absorbance for those bumpy rides. And women love the wide seat, while men's seats have a center flex indent. You can get an extended warranty on the Land Rider, with a little more cost than the average warranty. You can also get a kit with a water bottle and holder, a halogen headlight, a rear safety light, and an air pump. While you might need to adjust to this bicycle, soon you'll be riding like a pro. So the Land Rider is the only automatic bicycle on the market today, but other manufacturers have given patents to some inventors who have come up with similar inventions-but we don't know what happened to these patents. (Continued Below)  
For instance, in 1974, Mattel patented an automatic shifting accessory, which had a pair of weights on a governor's shaft connected to the rear bicycle wheel with a speed sensor. Then, in 1993, the Browning Automatic Transmission Company came up with a patented computerized bicycle gear-shifting system. This system could pinpoint speed, find the right gear for best performance, and shift to that gear automatically. Next, in 1996, an inventor named George Picoulas came up with a method of automatic rear transmission gear-shifting. This method was complete, with housing attached to the bicycle down tube, a console on the handlebars, and a computer inside the console. Certainly, the Land Rider's an improvement over previous inventions. Some people get frustrated over the automatic concept, but others stick it out and end up enjoying this bicycle. Most of us agree that the Land Rider promises to be a great automatic shifting bicycle. How about giving auto shift bicycles a try?
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Chip Clark
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