3 ms·
> The quality of roads is relevant, but not really the answer. Bicycles can be ridden on dirt roads or sidewalks. I mean this is true with a modern bike, but a
by Closi 3y ago
> The quality of roads is relevant, but not really the answer. Bicycles can be ridden on dirt roads or sidewalks.
I mean this is true with a modern bike, but a primitive bike with wooden wheels, no spokes, no gears, no suspension and questionable brakes would be pretty awful on a trail.
- paganel 3y agoPlus, there were no sidewalks to begin with, the road in my grandma's village close to the Carpathians Mountains still hasn't got one (they've only paved over what it used to be the village road about 10 years ago). And people tend to forget rain and hence mud when it comes to the state of pre-modern roads, there's no way one could have ridden a bicycle through a lot of mud and rain puddles. Being high up there in a horse-driven coach meant that you were also avoiding all that mud hassle.
- Ekaros 3y agoAnd also to remember that roads were more of trails or something you might seen on field or in forest. Not the nice flat surfaces created with road drags we think of dirt roads as.