Berthet's Velo-Torpille: Is it a bike? ©www.velorizontal.com

Is it a bike? Is it a plane? Well, no, it is a bike - sort of.

The Velo-Torpille (pictured right) was one of the earliest examples of a 'bicycle' which fueled a bitter dispute in the world of cycling - a dispute about what is and what is not a bicycle, and which was driven by the intense desire to hold the cycling Hour Record, one of the purest and most sought-after records in sport.

For the early part of the 20th century, the cycling Hour Record - simply, how far an individual can cycle in one hour - was dominated by the epic duel between Frenchman Marcel Berthet and Swiss cyclist Oscar Egg.

The record changed hands six times until Egg eventually recorded what proved to be the decisive mark of 44.247km/27.49 miles in 1914.

However, as part of their titanic power struggle, it was these two rival cyclists who helped lay the foundations for the modern Human-Powered Vehicle (HPV) movement. Both built and raced a series of upright and recumbent streamlined bicycles as they tried to push the barrier as far as possible.

 

	Outlawed: The Velodyne 'sport bicycle' ©www.velorizontal.com

Berthet took the lead in 1913, when he rode his bizarre-looking but groundbreaking Vélo-Torpille streamlined bicycle at an average speed of 52.3kph/32.5mph to break the speed record for a traditional bicycle.

After the break enforced by World War I, Berthet turned his attention to the Hour Record, as well as attempting to become the first man to break the 50km/31.08 miles barrier in one hour.

In November 1933, he rode the Vélodyne standard upight bicycle with a 'fairing' (streamlining aid to minimize wind resistance). However, although he fell agonizingly short of 50km/31.08 miles, with a distance of 49.99km/31.06 miles, he smashed the Hour Record.

But as far as cycling's world governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), was concerned, the Vélodyne was not a normal bicycle and they categorized the bike as a 'sport bicycle with aerodynamic components'.

In 1938, the UCI promptly banned aerodynamic bicycles from competing in cycling competitions.

 

	Speed merchant: Faure on a recumbent ©www.velorizontal.com

A precedent had already been set by the UCI with recumbent bicycles, where the cyclist pedals in a lying-down position.

The inventor of the recumbent bike, Frenchman Charles Mochet, had been keen for a professional cyclist to try it in races. However, potential candidates were put off the idea by the ridicule they received from fellow cyclists.

But French rider Francis Faure was made of sterner stuff. He brushed off the jibes of his colleagues and had the last laugh when, riding a recumbent, he comprehensively defeated them in a head-to-head race. This proved to be merely the start as Faure gradually took on and beat all of Europe's leading cyclists.

Faure then turned his attention to the cycling Hour Record. Egg's record had stood for nearly two decades when Faure challenged it on the Velocar recumbent on 7 July 1933.

And he succeeded, riding 45.055km/28 miles. The stature of the Hour Record catapulted the Velocar into the attention of the public and a fierce debate ensued about its legality and whether it was in fact a bicycle.

 

	Velocar: Prohibited from competitions ©www.velorizontal.com

The debate effectively ended the next year when the UCI also banned recumbents from competing in cycling competitions.

Having been frozen out from traditional cycling by the UCI, streamlined and recumbent bicycles gradually evolved into what are now known as human-powered vehicles.