In another thread, I took a cheap shot at my good mate seau grateau regarding the Wright brothers, cycling and getting pissed.
He was kind enough to take my jibe in good spirit (maybe he'd been hitting the good spirits)

Anyways, while many of you are probably aware that the Wright brothers built bicycles to support their flying habit (worsn opium apparently), how many of you are aware that they were also innovators in the bicycling field.

For example, despite being the second people to achieve sustained flight (sorry, as a native of the southern hemisphere, I support Richard Pearse's claim), they are credited with coming up with the self oiling hub and the reverse threaded pedal - the former has long since passed into history but the latter is still with us, as anyone who has failed to remove a pedal will attest.

Do any of our older forumites remember those hubs with oil nipple? You flipped up a little cap, added a few drops of oil, then flipped the cap shut. A strip of leather, cunningly joined into a loop with a slit at one end of the strip and a wedge at the other, kept the hub clean by rotating with the wheel and wiping said hub clean. My first three bikes featured these devices and it wasn't until I upgraded in the late seventies that I left such foolishness behind.

Strangely, I was a much more elderly bicyclist before reverting to something the Wright's would have been very familiar with - fixed gear rear hubs. Mind you, my Mum still tells stories from her childhood when everyone rode fixed and only the rich aspired to a freewheel.

And to finish this tale, I'll mention a 'track' bike I was given as a teenager. Being a heretic, I fitted a three speed derailleur system when I rebuilt it. Although the wheels had very wide, 28" steel rims, the rear hub was threaded on one side and had a cog built into the hub on the other (that's right, it was PART of the whole setup, you couldn't take it off).

Ahhhh history, thank heavens we've moved on ... in some respects.

I have a few hubs with grease ports. A couple with those steel bands to cover the grease hole and another hub with the grease port built into the dust caps.

Good post!

Hmm.. I had no idea about Pearse, interesting.. In any case, the Wright Brothers were kinda badass -- their bike was ace looking, especially for the times. Still looks good to me other than the seat position..

Forgetting to cover those little greaseports before riding is a really bad thing. Really bad.

ive seen several older bicycles come in with the oil port on the rear hub. 1 had one for the front hub and bottom bracket as well

Neat thread. history lessons are always fun.