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...n Drais's, being notably more elegant: his wooden frame had a [[serpentine shape]] instead of Drais's straight one, which allowed the use of larger wheels w ...-serpentine-velocipede.gif|thumb|left|The original pedal-bicycle, with the serpentine frame, from Pierre Lallement's US Patent No. 59,915 [[Patent drawing|drawin

...ub) of the wheel rim. They were often called "stirrup brakes" due to their shape. In order to fit the rear wheel as well as the more directly actuated front ...top, squeezing the rim between the pads. This has an advantage in that the shape of the wedge can be varied other than straight-sided, to allow for a very h