- cross-posted to:
- forgottenweapons@lemmy.world
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If you ever have the chance to visit the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam, during the educational talk they discuss why the Dutch army wasn’t able to resist the German tanks. They show this picture, and at least on our tour said it was ok to laugh.
Vietnam is a counter-example with quite effective bicycle troops. Their army and insurgency was supplied with bicycles on the Ho Chi Minh trail.
Amusing…but their web page goes into the more serious reasons. The main one being that the Nazis were going to carpet-bomb Dutch cities if they didn’t surrender.
A fixie without brakes? With that weight on the handle bar? With the most awkward stance because of that huge metal column piercing the riders sternum?
They really didn’t like their soldiers, didn’t they?
Pull the trigger to use your state-of-the-art recoil-assisted braking system.
this reminds me of gta vice city. I used to enable the cheat that allowed cars to fly. One problem: once the car was off the ground it lost traction and all power.
solution: spawn a tank, turn the turret backwards, and use recoil as the airborne thrust.
back then they were still trying to find a way to securely stop these bikes ☞ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_brake
I’m curious if the pedals even had a sprocket on that thing so the wheels could spin without the pedals spinning. That would give it a means to slow down, though it wouldn’t be comfortable. You’d have to spread your legs to coast and it would take some skill to get your feet back on the pedals without banging up your legs.
but the pioneers of fitting the freewheel to the safety bicycle were Linley and Biggs Ltd who fitted a freewheel from the summer of 1894, in part to assist the operation of their 2-speed ‘Protean’ gear.
By 1899 there was widespread adoption in UK bicycle manufacture of the freewheel, usually combined with the back-pedal brake, and conversions were offered to existing bicycles.
In 1899 the same system in the USA was known as the “coaster brake”, which let riders brake by pedaling backwards and included the freewheel mechanism. At the turn of the century, bicycle manufacturers within Europe and America included the freewheel mechanism in a majority of their bicycles but now the freewheel was incorporated in the rear sprocket of a bicycle unlike Van Anden’s initial design.
The USAians will put a gun on and into anything, won’t they?
I can tell you I put my gun on your mother last night
Shit, that’s why my Glock 17 wouldn’t fit?? How many times do we have to go over the rules, longer barrel lengths to the back of the line so the average folk have a chance.
Us military? Pretty sure I saw this in detroit last week…just some guy.
recoil
Whats that?
Newton’s 3rd law.
Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
Shoot the gun, and the bike will get pushed in the opposite direction and be hard to control.
The recoil wouldn’t be that bad. Apparently the M1895 was loaded with 6mm Lee Navy at around 2,200J muzzle velocity and a cyclic fire of 450/min. That’s quite manageable. In comparison, the M249 is a shoulder mounted gun of 1,800J, 850/min. That’s 50% more recoil to manage without a bicycle frame to support the firearm.
Ok, but the bike frame isn’t stationary. With a shoulder-mounted weapon you can brace for the recoil with your legs. If you are trying to move forward and shoot at the same time, firing the gun will slow you down. If you try to turn and shoot at the same time, the recoil will push your front wheel in the opposite direction that you are trying to go while your back wheel keeps trying to go forward which is very unstable.
I don’t believe the machine gun is intended to be fired while on the move. You’d have to be grabbing that grip at your crotch, aiming without the sights, all the while peddling and steering. That’s quite the tall order. Even under ambush conditions you’d want to get out of the area ASAP, something a bicycle would do better at than on foot.
My presumption is this is intended to be a fast and light machine gun placement. Speedy deployment and movement of machine gun nets without needing to carry all that weight, let along carrying a machine gun’s diet of ammunition, on your back is quite an advantage. Dismounting to get behind the gun isn’t a high bar nor particularly slow. I’m sure a soldier could be sending lead downrange in a matter of seconds. Essentially the same role as light infantry support vehicles today.
Hmm, yes that makes much more sense.
Definitely more than bike dogfighting or a chase scenario like I was thinking.
That was your balls
The modern version:
This thing required some serious legs. No gears, bad roads if any. Christ…
That gun needs to be mounted further forward, and higher
No. It has been my dream to have a crotch operated machine gun mounted to a fixed gear bicycle and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let you take that away from me.
Ohh, sorry. It’s the handle and trigger that need an upgrade. I don’t know your anatomy but there might be sex specific models
Bike polo upgrades
Looks like you’re meant to dismount and use the saddle as an armrest
pff, that’s not a very interesting approach
My guess is its designed to be shot only when parked
Skill issue :p
Balancing on that must be shit
What’s on the rear rack? Explosives?
Looks kinda like a slightly modified ammo canister. Like this one.
The one I just showed is a .50 caliber round can, which I would guess is close to the size of bullets the machine gun fired.
A six axle light attack vehicle!!
Based honestly
Just watched Number 24, which is about Nazi resistance in Norway.
It was wonderful to see them planning and carrying out acts of sabotage by bicycle.
Reminds me of this video https://youtu.be/ITY-fJJnPNQ
Lol why did they put wheels on the wheels?
2 wheels = fall over
4 wheels = no fall over
Probably for easy moving for a place like a museum?
But it has wheels for easy moving.
Those wheels ARE good for moving, but only moving. Once it’s stopped it needs some help to stay upright, and a place like a museum might use a mechanism such as in the picture so they can move the exhibit when needed.
Maybe to reduce wear on the original mechanism.
