Wooden draisine (around 1820), the first two-wheeler and as such the archetype of the bicycle
Four stages in folding. The final step of lowering the saddle locks the package together Brompton Bicycle is a bicycle manufacturer based in Brentford, London, in the United Kingdom. It is notable for its folding bicycle and being the last transport manufacturer of any kind based in the capital city. It is the largest volume bicycle manufacturer in Britain, the other being Pashley Cycles. Approximately 22,000 bicycles are produced by the company each year of which 70 percent are exported. The company was awarded The Queen’s Award for Export in 1995. In the Queen’s Birthday Honours of 21 April 2010, the company was awarded two Queen’s Awards for Enterprise, in the Innovation and International Trade categories. The Brompton folding bicycle and accessories are the company’s core product, noted for its self-supporting compact size when stored. All available models of the folding bicycle are based on the same hinged bicycle frame and 16 inch (349 mm) wheel size. Components are added, removed, or replaced by titanium parts to form the variations. The modular design has remained fundamentally unchanged since the original patent was filed by Andrew Ritchie in 1979, with small details being refined by continual improvement. Ritchie was awarded the 2009 Prince Philip Designers Prize for work on the bicycle. In reviews of folding bicycles, the Brompton is often the winner. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Headquarters |  Brentford, Greater London, England, UK | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Key people | Andrew Ritchie (Founder and Technical Director) Will Butler-Adams (Managing Director) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Products | Folding bicycle | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Revenue | £10 million | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Operating income | £750,000+ | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Employees | 115 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | www.brompton.co.uk | ||||||||||||||||||||
Mopeds are a type of low-powered motorcycle designed to provide economical and relatively safe transport with minimal licensing requirements. Mopeds were once all equipped with bicycle-like pedals (the source of the term, motor-pedal), but moped has been increasingly applied by governments to vehicles without pedals, based on their restricted engine displacement, speed, and/or power output. Mopeds occasionally resemble powered bicycles, but most are now step-through designs (of both kinds, having either large or small wheels) and step-over designs similar to a regular motorcycle. Although mopeds usually have two wheels, in some jurisdictions low-powered three or four wheeled vehicles are also classified as mopeds.
In most countries, the legal driving age for a moped is lower than for regular motorcycles and cars. Mopeds are typically restricted to 50 km/h (30 mph) from a maximum engine displacement of 49 cc (3.0 cu in), though there are a few variations.
The term "moped" now only applies to low power (often super-economy) vehicles, but pedals were a sign of sophistication when first fitted to the early motorcycles, such as the 1912 Douglas in the photograph. Pedalling away from stationary was a great improvement over "run and jump" and LPA (light pedal assistance) was valuable for climbing hills. Better transmissions with wider ranges, better clutches and much better engine performance made pedals obsolete on all serious motorcycles by 1918 but the pedals on mopeds remained valuable for their original purposes as late as the 1990s.
The earliest mopeds were bicycles with a helper motor in various locations, for example on top of the front wheel; they were also called cyclemotors. An example of that type is the VéloSoleX brand, which simply has a roller driving the front tire. (See picture, below left.)
A more innovative design was known in the UK as the Cyclemaster. This had a complete powered rear wheel which was simply substituted for the bicycle rear wheel, which originated from a design by two DKW engineers in Germany. Slightly larger machines, commonly with a 98 cc (6.0 cu in) engine were known as autocycles. On the other hand some mopeds, such as the Czech-made Jawa, were derived from motorcycles.
A further category of low-powered two-wheelers exists today in some jurisdictions for bicycles with helper motors – these are often defined as power-assisted bicycles or motorized bicycles; see full article there. Other jurisdictions may categorize the same machines as mopeds, creating a certain amount of confusion. In many countries three wheelers and microcars are classified as mopeds or variations thereof. This practise is not restricted to the third-world, France and Belgium classify microcars such as the Aixam similarly or as "light quadricycles".
The word moped was coined by Swedish journalist Harald Nielsen in 1952, as a portmanteau of motor and pedal. It is however often claimed to be derived from "motorvelociped", as Velocipede is an obsolete term for bicycle that is still being used in some languages such as Russian. According to Douglas Harper, the Swedish terms originated from "(trampcykel med) mo(tor och) ped(aler)", which means "pedal cycle with engine and pedals" (the earliest versions had auxiliary pedals).
Other terms used for low-powered cycles include motorbicycle, motorized bicycle, motor-driven cycle, and goped (motorized inline skateboard with T-bar). In German, the terms Mofa (from Motor-Fahrrad, "motor-bicycle") and Mokick (equipped with kick-start) are also used. In Finnish, the common term is mopo (from moottoripolkupyörä, "motor-powered bicycle"). The term noped is sometimes used for mopeds that do not have pedals.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia : Wholesale of bicycles and mopeds