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Want a Ride? A History of the Bicycle

We are all familiar with the most famous bicycle makers of all time, the Wright Brothers. They invented and sold their own brand, the excellent Van Cleve (an original Van Cleve advertisement is shown at left).

On the other hand, the Wright Brothers used their bicycle business to seed another, one that involved several appointments at Kitty Hawk.

It is an interesting historical footnote, one of the serious challenges to the Wright's claim that their Flyer 1 was the first usable manned aircraft was the absence of wheels, one feature that bicycle makers hardly ever eliminate. (Photo below - Flyer 1 historical landmark). Other challenges included the Flyer 1's need for a headwind and catapult in order to take to the air.

No matter, wheels were eventually added, and the Wrights were credited with inventing the original manned aircraft.

Orville and Wilbur won out primarily because of their invention of the three axis control, which allowed for the first time the pilot to control the craft while in the air, an important feature if one wishes to fly, say, from New York to Paris aboard a Boeing 767.

However, airplanes and three axis controls will be for another time.

In this article, we want to speak of the Wrights' "seed" business, bicycles, all of which had wheels from the very beginning.

Bicycles have come a long way.

The first bicycle on record was invented by Baron Karl von Drais in 1818. The vehicle did not include pedals. The Baron called his invention Laufmaschine, or running machine (an illustration of the Laufmaschine can be seen at left). It was the first double wheeled, human powered, steerable form of transportation.

The Baron's brainchild became a fad throughout Europe and the United States, with the Laufmaschine encouraging many people to take up engineering and mechanics, inventing their own prototypes.

Laufmaschine being a bit of a mouthful, most of the machines that followed the Laufmaschine's introduction were called velocipedes (picture below) - linguistically not terribly much better - meaning simply "fast feet."

Thus was born the first bicycle (technically velocipede) related civic problem.

Most riders of velocipedes, wishing to avoid the horse litter on the roads (for obvious reasons), preferred to ride their machines on the sidewalks, thus creating many unfortunate run-ins with pedestrians, pedestrians inevitably being visited in hospital rooms.

As a result, several cities banned the vehicles. Not a great start.

The history between 1820 and 1850 or so is a bit muddled, but what is clear is, by 1850, the two-wheeled velocipede had been eclipsed by the three- and four-wheeled versions of the Laufmaschine.

These were called the tricycle (photo at left) and quadricycle (right) respectively.

Lots of experimentation with methods of powering the vehicles ensued, including pedals and hand cranks.

Eventually though, because of the weight added by the extra wheels and heavier frames of the three- and four-wheeled models, people once again began preferring the two-wheeled vehicles.

History tells us that it wasn't until just before the American Civil War that the first pedal-powered two-wheeled bicycles we are familiar with arrived on the scene in a big way.

One of the first of them was nicknamed "the bone shaker"(picture at left). This particular vehicle featured a wooden frame and wooden wheels. The wheels had iron frames as tires. Now imagine taking such a vehicle out for a nice ride on cobblestones. You get the idea. (Advice: Make an appointment with a chiropractor before your first ride. Also, make certain you have someone standing by to carry you to the adjustment.)

Now we are ready for the real business of bicycle inventing.

A few years after the American Civil War, one James Starley, a British inventor, introduced the vehicle that eventually earned him the title "father of the bicycle industry."

Starley's bicycle was called the Penny-Farthing (see photo, right) because it looked like a British penny and farthing (the coins) in diagram. The front wheel was larger than the back wheel. Rubber tires were introduced for a smoother ride. With this design, much greater speeds were also possible.

Unfortunately, because of the large front wheel, the seat of the bicycle was of necessity higher. That in turn made for spectacular forward aerial displays above and beyond the handlebars, if and when the rider struck anything. In that event, the rider was immediately airborne headed for parts (and in parts) unknown.

Despite this, Starley hung in there with the Penny-Farthing.

Starley's nephew, John Kemp, though, decided he had been invited to too many sad ceremonies. In response, Kemp invented the safety bike (see picture at right).

The safety bike remained the standard design for bicycles throughout the world until 1980.

Since 1980, new materials have opened the door to new designs with extremely lightweight frames, much stronger pedals and more effective braking systems.

Engineers have today designed bicycles that travel much faster and farther in all terrains than was possible just a few years ago. (Photo - Modern Racing Bicycle)

The industry is also seeing some retro activity, with a resurgence of the unicycle and quadricycle in some quarters. (The tricycle has never gone out of style, especially for the very young, fragile and sane.)

It can be said with some degree of assurance, whether we are speaking of the unicycle, bicycle, tricycle or quadricycle, the folks passing our collective porches aboard these vehicles, hair flowing freely, laughter echoing throughout our neighborhoods, seem to be sharing in unison a spirit-refreshing moment in the sun. A hearty cheer to them all!

Ron - Toy Tech

Tuesday, 7:32 pm | November 17th, 2009

Comments

Rob on Tuesday, 8:23 pm | November 17th, 2009

This is a superb story. Best I've seen

James on Friday, 5:56 am | January 15th, 2010

Very nice write up - I clicked the link because of the airplane photo, but stayed for the history lesson.

I can only imagine what riding a bone shaker must have been like. Sounds painful at best... Also, I'd never heard of a Laufmaschine before, so found that to be very interesting. As I read about the inventor encouraging others to play with the design, improve, and invent, I think of current technology that is using a similar, community embracing type philosophy (Linux, iPhone and its apps to name a couple).

Rahul on Tuesday, 1:34 am | March 2nd, 2010

Amazing images these all are!! Now there is lot of difference between these days bikes and earlier bikes. I am amazed with first one. How could anyone ride that bike?