Shen Lu's performance that day was very low. He was like a lost young man. He only wanted to please girls and show off to her, but he completely lost his usual keen observation.
But he was a sophisticated person after all. After realizing this, he quickly adjusted. After a moment of confusion, he asked about the bicycle: "Hmm... This new bike is a bit interesting. Did you ride it here just now? But it only has Two wheels? How do you keep it from falling over?"
Yin Lian originally came to show him the new car model. Although she was a little surprised by Shen Lu's stupidity before, she also wanted to see when he would discover the new car. But now that Shen Lu had realized it, she also Without deliberately teasing him, he introduced the new car and explained its principles.
But Shen Lu has never seen a bicycle after all. People here lack the concept of bicycles, so they will inevitably have doubts. Even Shen Lu can't help but get rid of inertial thinking. He frowned and asked: "But maintaining balance is not Is it easy? At the speed of driving, wouldn’t the cyclist be easily injured if he fails to maintain balance?”
Yin Lian said: "It's not that difficult to maintain balance. It's useless to say more. Mr. Shen might as well try it himself."
Bicycling is a very easy thing to learn, as everyone today knows. But in fact, many people who don’t know how to ride a bicycle are still nervous. The current environment is like this, let alone the Xia Kingdom in this era.
Because he had no such experience, Shen Lu was very suspicious of Yin Lian's words. But he was not a timid person, and Yin Lian had set an example and seemed very relaxed, so Shen Lu had the courage to try.
The situation is much better than imagined. Shen Lu is quite talented in this area. Although he was a little timid mentally due to the unfamiliarity and unknown, he became much more courageous after getting on the bicycle.
After one afternoon, Shen Lu learned to ride like this.
She originally taught Shen Lu by supporting Che, but Shen Lu's assistant was always worried, thinking that she was too thin and a little girl, so she might not be able to support Shen Lu. Yin Lian had no choice but to let go and let the other person help him. The steward who followed complained in his heart that the assistant was not understanding, but he couldn't say it too bluntly.
Later, when Shen Lu was almost riding, Yin Lian motioned to his assistant to let go, but he refused to let go. Yin Lian had no choice but to forcefully cover his mouth and pull him back. The assistant struggled for a while but did not struggle away. Shen Lu had already ridden out for a while.
After riding for a while, he turned around and came back. The assistant stopped struggling, and Yin Lian let him go. After Shen Lu learned it, the people who followed him were also a little curious, looking like they wanted to try it but didn't dare to say anything. However, Yin Lian did not say to let others try it, but said: "I'll give you this car. You have time to practice more."
Shen Lu said: "This thing is really convenient...I heard that someone in the south wants to build a tricycle powered by a steam engine...but I don't think this car is necessarily convenient."
Yin Lian said: "Steam tricycle...?" She was a little surprised, and then said, "Actually, I also have plans in this regard. The uses of steam tricycles and bicycles are very different. I think the upper limit of steam vehicles is relatively high. It is suitable for long-distance quick travel, while bicycles are more suitable for short-distance driving on relatively narrow streets...for example, it is suitable for me to go to the newspaper office."
Shen Lu was a little surprised: "Are you optimistic about steam cars?"
Yin Lian asked: "You don't like it?"
Shen Lu said: "It's not that I'm not optimistic about it, but judging from the current situation, I think the steam vehicle is not as efficient as the rickshaw."
Yin Lian thought for a while, but it was difficult to guess what the structure of the steam car that Shen Lu knew was. But after thinking about it, she could probably guess the specific problem - the trains at this time were all steam trains, which were slow, not energy-saving, and consumed very high fuel. If they were steam carriages with the same structure or even evolved into several versions, , I’m afraid it still cannot get rid of the problem of high fuel consumption. In Shen Lu’s opinion, it is certainly not cost-effective.
Besides, whether it was China in the early years or Xia State at this time, there was actually no shortage of manpower.
Yin Lian had a rough understanding of the research and development progress of this so-called "steam tricycle" and did not dwell on this topic any longer. He did not even try to persuade Shen Lu to invest in this aspect.
Because she thought Shen Lu's judgment was not wrong at all.
When she came, she downloaded various related technical materials through AI, which actually included some well-known technologies invented in this era and various pre-technologies. Of course, it also comes with relevant historical data. Most of the mechanical technologies with technical content will face an energy problem in the early days, or to be more precise, it is a problem of efficiency in all aspects.
Using a steam engine to make a tricycle run...what kind of problem is this? But how to make it efficient, safe, energy-saving, and fast is the core of hundreds of years of development. The development of design technology, precision workmanship, and materials is not a simple task that can be accomplished with only some scientific and technological information.
In many cases, technology adapts to the times, rather than the times adapting to technology.
In this era of the Industrial Revolution, where a large number of technologies are created and eliminated every day, there is a predetermined timetable for when each technology will appear. Sooner or later, it will be difficult to get the expected returns. Regardless of Yin Lian holding a design drawing, she can also modify and select some technologies that are close to her own level based on the technical background at this time. When encountering some technologies that do not match the technical level, she has to perform dimensionality reduction adjustments to make them more applicable. in this era.
With sufficient technical reserves, is it possible to force technological progress? Of course it is possible, but it requires a lot of manpower and material resources. This is equivalent to Yin Lian climbing a huge technology tree. Every link requires investment of funds and manpower. Even if Yin Lian does not try to climb it, it will slowly and naturally unlock progress as time goes by, but if The natural unlocking speed is 0.1/day. If Yin Lian tries to take the lead, it can be accelerated to 1/day. But even so, manpower and material resources cannot be saved. It is just that the manpower and material resources naturally invested in the entire era have become what Yin Lian needs to do. The manpower and material resources invested.
This is half the effort with half the effort.
Yin Lian could realize that it was not feasible even if he was driving a big golden finger. It is not surprising that Shen Lu made such a judgment - at this moment, it is far from the time for cars to enter the era. At this time, steam cars , it is just a preliminary technological exploration.
The two then discussed the pricing and sales plan of the bicycle. Shen Lu actually always felt that Yin Lian had underestimated the value of the tricycle. However, because some of the manufacturing technologies used by Yin Lian were relatively advanced, the actual cost was much lower than outside speculation. Shen Lu did not set the price too exaggeratedly at the time.
Even so, the price is quite astonishing.
Yin Lian has now expanded the scale of the workshop, but with such technology, hundreds of workers from five workshops can only produce about ten pedal tricycles every day. This still uses a large number of Yin Lian's special machine tools. Condition.
However, small production is not a problem, because few people can afford the car itself. Of course, it is not as low as the output. Looking at the country, the supply is still in short supply.
However, the market for a truck costing two hundred and eighty silver dollars is still very limited for Xia State, which has a population of 700 million. Therefore, in addition to three-wheeled trucks, Yin Lian also began to try to develop different markets.
Bicycles and luxury human-powered three-wheelers are her newly developed models. Needless to say, the bicycle is a luxury human-powered three-wheeler that looks a bit like the earliest version of a car. It is slightly more slender and refined than the car, and it also lacks an engine, but generally the appearance is similar, the structure is complete, and it should have It has all the functions, and its appearance is quite impressive. It looks at least much more durable than a sedan.
However, considering the acquisition of materials and the practicality of the vehicle, Yin Lian still made a lot of adjustments to make its shape more suitable for the aesthetics of the times. Only some "innovations" were added, which is somewhere between a carriage, a car and a sedan. Many traditional-style decorations were also added.
The wooden body has a thin iron shell on the outside, and the inside of the glass window is even equipped with a device for hanging and changing curtains compared to ordinary open cargo tricycles. According to Yin Lian's plan, the vehicle can be manufactured into two-passenger, four-passenger, six-passenger and eight-passenger vehicles to meet different needs. Depending on the number of seats, it can be integrated into the structure of a collaborative vehicle to adapt to situations where one to four people drive together. .
The biggest problem with this is actually the quality and efficiency of the chain and brake system. There is no relevant design in the drawings Yin Lian received, so this part was completely redesigned and completed by her own material selection and trial and error - although compared to the road The things designed by Dongci or Yin Changsheng were a bit too low-level, but they also deepened her understanding and application of basic physics, and she felt quite accomplished.
On the contrary, the more complicated steering system had various existing drawings that could be used as a reference, so the design only needed to be slightly adjusted and used according to the actual situation, and it did not take Yin Lian too much time.
But for Shen Lu, such a product is shocking.
A three-wheeled car with a single driver's seat can be easily controlled by a driver who can drive a truck. Even if you don't know how to do it before, you can quickly learn it after half an hour of micro-learning. Driving with more than two people is a little more complicated and requires a certain degree of practice and tacit understanding, but it is not too difficult.
Shen Lu was pleasantly surprised by this newly designed model. Yin Lian feels that although both models can cater to the needs of some people, the market for bicycles should actually be broader and the future is brighter. However, Shen Lu is less optimistic about the promotion of bicycles and prefers the latter.
But even so, he quickly came up with a number of ingenious promotion plans, and finally worked out the approximate prices of the two bikes. The bike was initially priced at 180 silver dollars, while the human-powered sedan was priced between 980 and 980 depending on the specifications. Between 1,280 silver dollars.
1,280 silver dollars is enough to buy a small house in a prosperous area of the capital. For this era, this is also considered a "sky-high price luxury car".
Shen Lu was full of ambition, and after that, he began to enthusiastically recommend this new car to several of the most wealthy customers, and he immediately captured their hearts. With his suggestion and assistance, Yin Lian renovated the "human limousine" and added carvings and gold and silver foil decorations. Although it slightly increased the cost, its luxury has indeed won the favor of the main customer group. I have reserved several vehicles for sale - after the reputation spreads, I believe the sales will be even better.
However, although Shen Lu was not optimistic about bicycles, he mostly abandoned the six-wheeled car that Yin Lian gave him for display, preferring to use bicycles frequently, and quickly felt its benefits—— It is light, flexible, fast, and can easily pass through various narrow alleys and side streets. In this era, it is obviously much more convenient and easier to use than human-powered cars and three-wheeled trucks.
When Yin Lian saw him riding a bicycle to the main workshop for the third time, he couldn't help but laugh and said, "Is the bicycle easy to use?"
Shen Lu also realized that he had made a mistake in judgment before, and was not angry. Instead, he said frankly: "I am already considering re-formulating the bicycle promotion plan." However, he told Yin Lian some of his new promotion plans.
After hearing the beginning, Yin Lian's eyes shone a little brightly, knowing that Shen Lu really paid attention to the promotion of bicycles this time. After listening to several reservation plans, I was even more impressed. I felt that they were not inferior to modern publicity plans and were more in line with the customs of the times.
After that, Shen Lu went to see the appearance improvements of the three-wheeled car. This is already the third version of the sedan design. The previous one was very close to the appearance of a sedan during the Republic of China, but this time Yin Lian improved the main structure more towards a modern Western-style carriage, and added some exquisite Chinese decorations. , to ensure that the appearance was enough to intimidate people, which indeed made Shen Lu even more satisfied.
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Last month my mother suffered a brain hemorrhage and was hospitalized, and I have been in the hospital most of the time since then. Now that the situation is more stable, I will publish two chapters first. When I have a little free time, I will write out the rest of the content as soon as possible and finish it as soon as possible. Because I spent a lot of money on medical expenses during this period, it was very stressful. I haven't finished this article for several years, which deprived me of some income. I will use it to make up for the holes later. I have stopped updating without asking for leave during this period. I would like to apologize to everyone. I don’t really want to write about this matter, so I will just talk about it here.
