History of the bicycle

The term bicycle arose in France in the late 1860s and replaced the term "velocipede" from the High Bicycle on.

Earliest history

Since 1990 the International Cycling History Conference (http://www.cyclepublishing.com/history/index.html) has met every year in a different country, and this assembly of academic and private investigators has finally reconciled the variety of ideas about bicycle history which were mostly wrong and influenced by nationalism.

The ICHC no longer distinguishes between a "first true" bicycle with pedals and any precursors, and regards as the start the two-wheeler principle which requires balancing and is the basis of cycling (and motorcycling). When pedal velocipedes arose there was already a 50-year history of such two-wheeled vehicles. The term "bicycle" arose in France in the late 1860s and replaced the term "velocipede" from the High Bicycle on.

There are several early claims for the invention of bicycle like machines. Comte de Sivrac is said to have developed a two-wheeler, called a "celerifere" in 1791, demononstrating it at the Palais-Royal France. The celerifere had two wheels set on a ridged wooden frame and no steering, directional control being limited to that attainable by leaning. A rider sat astride the machine and pushed along using alternate feet. This design became fashionable and a 1795 print shows "the Incroyables of the Directory" riding these machines. The celerifere later became known as the "velocifere". Such machines had only fashion and entertainment value. We now know that the celerifere never existed and that it was a mis-interpretation from the well known french cycle historian Louis Baudry de Saunier in 1891. Earlier, and less reliable claims come from an illistration found in church window in Stoke Poges installed in the 16th showing an angel on a bicycle like device, and a drawing said to be from 1493 and attributed to Giacomo Caprotti, a pupil of Leonardo da Vinci.

The source of the first practically used bicycle is, Karl von Drais, a civil servant to the Grand Duke of Baden in Germany. Drais invented his Laufmaschine (running machine) of 1817 that was called draisine by the press and later velocipede. The major improvement in this design was the addition of steering. It is said that his interest in finding an alternative to the horse was the starvation and death caused by crop failure in 1816 ("eighteen hundred and froze to death," following the volcanic eruption of Tambora). On his first reported ride from Mannheim on June 12, 1817, he covered eight miles (13 km) in less than an hour. The wooden draisine weighed 48 pounds (22 kg), had brass bushings within the wheel bearings, a rear-wheel brake and 6 inches (152 mm) trail of the front-wheel for a self-centering castor effect. This design sparked a short lived fashion and several thousand copies were built and used worldwide. In Britain, where a D. Johnson introduced the machine as the "pedestrian curricle" The Corinthians of the Regency adopted it, although the poet John Keats referred to it as "the nothing" of the day.

Gradually the design of bicycles and other self propelling vecihles progressed. Mechanics now built pedal- or handle-driven three- or four-wheeled iron velocipedes for stability, but with higher rolling resistance. Willard Sawyer in Dover was a successful manufacturer with exports worldwide.

1860s velocipedes

The velocipede had a renaissance in Paris during the late 1860s. Now with a slightly enlarged front wheel with cranks and pedals attatched, the machine commonly called the bone-shaker. The advent of the bone-shaker was preceded by a roller skating boom. The origin of the idea is still an open question within the International Cycling History conference (ICHC), the earliest year in Paris agreed upon being 1864 at present. The claims of Ernest Michaux and of Pierre Lallement, who obtained a United States patent in 1866, and the lesser claims of rear-pedaling Alexandre Lefebvre , have their supporters within the ICHC. On the new macadam paved boulevards of Paris it was easy riding, although initially still using essential horse coach technology. Later improvments included solid rubber tires and ball bearings. The number of inventions and patents soared, especially in the US.

To overcome the dissadantages of front wheel drive (legs fowling when steering and limited speed) inventors attempted to arrange rear wheel drive. Several designs were published, some using a chain, or others such as Thomas McCall's velocipede of 1869 crank and rods. Kirkpatrick MacMillan, a Scottish blacksmith 1839 is also attributed a rear wheel drive design using front mounted treadles and connecting rods to a rear crank. He is also connected with a the first recorded instance of a cyclist committing a traffic offence, a newspaper reporting in 1842 an accident in which he knocked somebody down and was fined five British shillings in Glasgow. Sadly, although several copies of his machine were made (one of which is avaliable in the Science Museum (London)), his design did not spread, and it would be nearly 40 years before rear wheel drive became popular.

High bicycles

The high bicycle was logical extention of the boneshaker design, the front wheel enlarging (limited by the inside leg measurement of the rider), the rear wheel shrinking and the frame being made lighter. Eugene Meyer, is now regarded as the father of the High Bicycle by the ICHC in place of James Starley. Meyer invented the wire-spoke tension wheel in 1869 and produced a beautiful High Bicycle design until the 1880s.

James Starley in Coventry added the tangent spokes and the mounting step to his famous bicycle named "Ariel." He is regarded as the father of the British cycling industry, then leading the world, with Coventry, Birmingham and Manchester being the centers. Ball bearings, solid tires and hollow section steel frames became standard. Depending on the rider's leg length, the front wheel could now have a diameter up to 60 in (1.5 m). These Ordinaries were nicknamed " Penny Farthings" in England (a penny representing the front wheel, and a much smaller coin, the farthing, representing the rear wheel). They were fast, but unsafe. The rider was way up in the air and traveling at a great speed. If he hit a bad spot in the road he could easily be thrown over the front wheel and be seriously injured or even killed. "Taking a header," which was not at all uncommon, was no laughing matter. The dangerous nature of these bicycles meant that cycling was the preserve of adventurous young men. The American "Star" bicycle was an Ordinary turned-around to prevent those headers, but now there was the danger of being thrown backwards when riding uphill. Elderly gentlemen and women preferred the more stable tricycles or quadricycles, e.g. Queen Victoria rode Starley's "Royal Salvo," a true highlight of the gunsmiths' art. In the United States it was Bostonian Alexander Pope who monopolized production of Ordinaries from 1876 and initiated the good-roads movement.

Safety bicycles

Bicycle in Plymouth at the start of the 20th century

Attempts to make the bicycle safer and reduce the size of the front-wheel finally led to a radical change of bicycle ergonomics. John Kemp Starley, James' nephew, set the fashion to the world with his "Rovers" from 1885 on (never patented) that featured equally sized wheels and a chain drive to the rear wheel. In the US Pope's safety bicycle was called "Columbia," and he tried again to monopolize the "Columbia Chainless" with a shaft drive. Meanwhile John Boyd Dunlop's re-invention of the pneumatic tire in 1888 had made for a much smoother ride. Chicago's immigrant Adolph Schoeninger with his Western Wheel Works became the "Ford of the Bicycle" (ten years before Henry Ford) and by rigorous use of sheet-metal stamping and mass production made his "Crescent" bicycles affordable for working people.

By the start of the 20th century, bicycling had become an important means of transportation, and in the United States an increasingly popular form of recreation. Bicycling clubs for men and women sprouted across the nation. Cycling's growth slowed, and had virtually ceased by mid-century however, as automobiles became the preferred means of transportation. Nevertheless bicycles continued to evolve to suit the varied needs of riders. At mid-century there were two predominant bicycle styles for recreational cyclists in both Europe and North America. Heavyweight bikes featuring balloon tires, pedal driven coaster brakes and only one gear, were popular for short trips on mostly flat surfaces. Lightweight cycles, with hand brakes, thinner tires, and a three-speed hub gearing system, developed in Europe, and first became popular in the United States in the late 1950s. These comfortable, practical bicycles usually offered generator-powered headlamps, safety reflectors, kickstands, and frame-mounted tire pumps.

Racing bikes, mountain bikes and hybrids

In the late 1960s, spurred by Americans' increasing consciousness of the value of exercise, bicycling enjoyed another boom. Sales doubled between 1960 and 1970, and doubled again between 1970 and 1972. Most of the new sales were of racing bikes. These lighter bicycles, long used by serious cyclists and by racers, featured dropped handlebars, five to fifteen speed derailleurs, and a narrower seat, but usually offered none of the extra features, including chain guards and fenders, found on their predecessors. By the 1980s, racing bikes dominated the market in North America, and companies such as Schwinn, which had continued to produce mostly the older styles, went out of business.

Mountain bikes appeared on retailers' shelves in the later 1980s, their popularity spurred by the evolution of mountain biking and other extreme sports. These cycles featured sturdier frames, more complex suspensions, and handlebar grips oriented perpendicular to the axis of the bicycle to enable the operator to resist the forward jolts of a bumpy downhill ride. By 2000, their sales had far outstripped that of racing bicycles, which were by then used only by long-distance road cyclists. Recent years have seen a consumer backlash in North America, as casual cyclists showed dissatisfaction with both the heavy mountain bikes and their more fragile, sometimes uncomfortable racing predecessors. Manufacturers responded with a hybrid, combining the best of the two styles and largely effecting a return to the lightweight cycles of the 1960s, albeit with a larger selection of gears and without the accessories found on earlier models. Through all these years of circular change in American bicycling, the less style-conscious European cyclists have largely stuck with their comfortable lightweight models, featuring practical accessories and dependable rear hub gearing.