| 摘要 |
<p>A drive apparatus for driving the front wheel (34) of a two-wheeled vehicle, such as a bicycle (10), including front wheel transmission means (40) to transmit drive from the driving means (22) to the front wheel (34) including a first chain drive (42) to transmit drive to a first drive element (43.1) positioned on the frame (12) of the vehicle adjacent a rotatable front wheel support fork (30), a second chain drive (52) mounted on the support fork to transmit drive from a second drive element (43.2) to the front wheel hub (36) and drive coupling means to transmit drive from the first to the second drive element, characterised in that the first and second drive elements (43.1, 43.2) are spaced from each other along the direction of the support fork (3) and the drive coupling means includes a flexible drive shaft (46) coupled to each drive elements by a drive assembly (44, 48). The drive assemblies (44, 48) permit the ends of the flexible drive shaft to pivot within predetermined limits in substantially vertical planes to accommodate steering movements and be substantially unstressed even at extreme steering positions in use. The drive apparatus (40) can be easily fitted to existing bicycles and bicycle designs, is inexpensive, efficiently transmits drive to the front wheel while permitting steering movements thereof and can accommodate suspension travel of the front wheel. <IMAGE></p> |
