Roderick was somewhat surprised; it seemed that even the lord himself had forgotten about this matter.
Although the lord gave him a blueprint that looked quite good, with two wheels, and he studied it for a long time, even making a wooden one, it was still too difficult to make it move forward easily without human push. In any case, there were many problems at the moment.
"My lord, I have made a wooden one based on the secret blueprints you gave me last time, but it is difficult for it to move forward easily."
Ed gave Roderick the blueprints for a bicycle, but not the chain-driven kind; it was gear-driven. He felt that chain drives were too complicated and they couldn't build one right now, so Ed created a large gear that drove a small gear.
Roderick said that it's difficult to turn now, probably because the wooden gears and wheels are rubbing too much.
Ed had told Roderick to keep the blueprints a secret when he gave them to him, and Roderick had never mentioned them, so Ed had almost forgotten about them. Now, nobody in the territory knows that such a thing exists.
"Let's go back and take a look."
Inside the castle, Ed saw the wooden bicycle Roderick had made, which looked quite nice from the outside.
The vehicle was made entirely of wood, without any other materials. Ed stepped forward and gripped the handlebars.
Huh? It won't move. Looks like I made a mistake here. If it can't rotate, how can I turn it around?
" Roderick, this handle can be turned, just like the shaft on that windmill we repaired last time."
Roderick quickly wrote down Ed's words and understood what Ed meant, so he made the handlebars rotate like a windmill.
Ed continued to examine the wooden bicycle, saying, "We can put some rabbit fur on the seat, and the gear below should be made bigger, and we can apply some grease to it."
Ed tried his best to improve the parts of Roderick that weren't perfect, but it was still quite difficult to make the Bicycle he envisioned in one go.
Ed continued reading. He had no good solution for the wooden wheels. There was no rubber or anything like that available. All the oxcarts in the territory had wheels made entirely of wood.
All he can do now is to wrap the wheels with a layer of iron to extend their lifespan.
There's not much else to improve for now. Even if Ed draws out what the Bicycle looks like from his memory, it won't make a difference since we can't make it right now. We'll just have to take it one step at a time and improve it gradually. It would be great if we could make one that can move on its own.
" Roderick, make some improvements based on what I just said, and let me see them when you're done."
"Yes, my lord, but I'd like to ask, is this cart also pushed by a person? What's the use of this cart? It can't carry anything." Roderick couldn't understand the lord's purpose in asking him to make this cart. It couldn't carry anything, and it was difficult to push. If you didn't handle it well, it would easily tip over.
After listening to Roderick's explanation, Ed knew that he didn't understand the function of the two pedals. However, he didn't want to explain it now.
" Roderick, this vehicle is very useful. Modify it as soon as possible according to my method, and you'll see why." Ed felt that the roads in his territory were much easier to travel on now, and the area was also much larger, and it might get even bigger in the future. He definitely needed a bicycle for transportation, otherwise it would be too tiring.
"Yes, my lord, I will speed things up."