Category: Transport
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What is a trials bike?
Trials bikes are designed for riding on steep, rough and rocky ground. They are ridden in motorbike trials, where riders have to ride over obstacles without stopping or putting their feet down to balance. Amazing! Trials bikes can make short hops up almost vertical rock faces. The rider needs good balance and expert control of…
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Where is a motorbike’s engine located?
A motorbike’s engine is between the two wheels, attached to the bike’s frame. Above the engine, just in front of the driver’s seat, is the fuel tank. Exhaust pipes carry waste gases from the engine to the rear of the bike. Are motorbike engines all the same shape? The shape of an engine depends on…
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What is a scooter?
A scooter has small wheels, a small engine near the rear wheel, and a gap in the frame for the rider’s legs. They are cheap to run and good for nipping around busy towns and cities. Amazing! You can buy toy motorbikes which are models of real bikes, with tiny engines and the same controls…
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What is a drive shaft?
A drive shaft is a rod which carries power from a bike’s engine to its rear wheel. Some early bikes, such as the Belgian FN of 1906, had drive shafts instead of belts or chains. The shaft turned the wheel using gears. Amazing! In the early 1900s, women always wore dresses, even when they rode…
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Which bike had a steam engine?
The Michaux-Perreaux bicycle of 1869 had a steam engine under its saddle. Wood or coal had to be put in the engine every few minutes to keep the water boiling, to work the engine. Who put an engine above a front wheel? The Werner brothers in France built a motorcycle in 1899. It was a…
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Who was the first to put pedals on a bike?
In 1838, a Scottish blacksmith called Kirkpatrick Macmillan built the first bicycle with pedals. Before this, bicycle riders kicked the ground to move along. What was a penny farthing? A penny farthing was a bicycle of the 1870s, named after two British coins. It had an enormous front wheel (the penny) and a small rear…
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Which train flies?
Really fast future trains might not bother with wheels. They could ride on a cushion of air, like a hovercraft. The nose of the train squashes air underneath its belly as it jets along, and the squashed air lifts it above the ground. The Aerotrain already exists as an experimental vehicle. What is a bullet…
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How long is the longest train?
The longest train ever was a freight train measuring 7.3 kilometers! The longest passenger train was a measly 1.7 kilometres, but the Belgian railway couldn’t find a platform long enough to park it! Amazing! Eight men can lay 16 kilometers of track in a day! A team of eight track-layers in America set this world…
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What was the biggest train crime?
In 1963 a train full of used banknotes was robbed in Buckinghamshire, England. The thieves got away with over £2.5 million, a huge sum of money even today. Amazing! Trains at Mwatate Dam have to mind out for demons. The Kenyan villagers nearby, thought that trains were having a lot of accidents there because the…
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How do trains cross rivers?
Trains use big bridges or deep tunnels to cross the largest rivers. The Victorian engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, invented strong metal bridges to carry the weight of a train. Some bridges are so big that repainting them is a full-time job! Is the Channel Tunnel longest? Not quite. The Channel Tunnel is 49.8 kilometres in…