| Several inventors and innovators contributed to | | | | return to smaller wheels made for a bumpy ride. |
| the development of the bicycle. Its earliest known | | | | The next innovations increased comfort and |
| forebears were called velocipedes, and included | | | | ushered in the 1890s Golden Age of Bicycles. In |
| many types of human-powered vehicles. One of | | | | 1888, Scotsman John Boyd Dunlop introduced the |
| these, the scooter-like dandy horse of the French | | | | pneumatic tire, which soon became universal. Soon |
| Comte de Sivrac, dating to 1790, was long cited | | | | after, the rear freewheel was developed, enabling |
| as the earliest bicycle. Most bicycle historians now | | | | the rider to coast without the pedals spinning out |
| believe that these hobbyhorses with no steering | | | | of control. This refinement led to the 1898 |
| mechanism probably never existed, but were | | | | invention of coaster brakes. Derailleur gears and |
| made up by Louis Baudry de Saunier, a | | | | hand-operated, cable-pull brakes were also |
| 19th-century French bicycle historian. However, | | | | developed during these years, but were only |
| the term hobbyhorse was later applied to the | | | | slowly adopted by casual riders. By the turn of |
| first documented ancestor of the modern bicycle, | | | | the century, bicycling clubs flourished on both |
| first introduced to the public in Paris by the | | | | sides of the Atlantic, and touring and racing were |
| German Baron Karl Drais in 1818.[citation needed]. | | | | soon extremely popular. |
| The ancestor of the bicycle was first created by | | | | Successful early bicycle manufacturers included |
| a German Baron, Karl Drais, who invented and | | | | Englishman Frank Bowden and German builder |
| patented his machine in 1817. So the first bicycle | | | | Ignaz Schwinn. Bowden started the Raleigh |
| ride was from his residence town Mannheim to | | | | company in Nottingham in the 1890s, and was |
| the suburb Rheinau. A number of these draisines | | | | soon producing some 30,000 bicycles a year. |
| or dandy horses still exist, including one at the | | | | Schwinn emigrated to the United States, where |
| Paleis het Loo museum in Apeldoorn, the | | | | he founded his similarly successful company in |
| Netherlands. These were pushbikes, powered by | | | | Chicago in 1895. Schwinn bicycles soon featured |
| the action of the rider's feet pushing against the | | | | widened tires and spring-cushioned, padded seats, |
| ground. The Draisienne had two in-line wheels | | | | sacrificing a certain amount of efficiency for |
| connected by a wooden frame. The rider sat | | | | increased comfort. Facilitated by connections |
| astride and pushed it along with his feet, while | | | | between European nations and their overseas |
| steering the front wheel. | | | | colonies, European-style bicycles were soon |
| Scottish blacksmith Kirkpatrick MacMillan refined | | | | available worldwide. By the mid-20th century, |
| this in 1839 by adding a mechanical crank drive to | | | | bicycles had become the primary means of |
| the rear wheel, thus creating the first true | | | | transportation for millions of people around the |
| "bicycle" in the modern sense. His system | | | | globe. |
| employed a pair of treadle drives connected by | | | | In many western countries, the use of bicycles |
| rods to a rear wheel crank, rather like a steam | | | | levelled off or declined as motorized |
| locomotive's driveshaft. Although the design was | | | | transportation became affordable and car-centred |
| copied by at least two other Scottish builders, it | | | | policies led to an increasingly hostile environment |
| was overtaken in popularity and influence by an | | | | for bicycles. In North America, bicycle sales |
| inferior one. | | | | declined markedly after 1905, to the point where, |
| In the 1850s and 1860s, Frenchmen Ernest | | | | by the 1940s, they had largely been relegated to |
| Michaux and Pierre Lallement took bicycle design in | | | | the role of children's toys. However, in other parts |
| a different direction, placing the pedals on an | | | | of the world, such as China, India, and European |
| enlarged front wheel. Their creation, which came | | | | countries such as Germany, Denmark, and the |
| to be called the "Boneshaker", featured a heavy | | | | Netherlands, the traditional utility bicycle remained |
| steel frame on which they mounted wooden | | | | a mainstay of transportation; its design changed |
| wheels with iron tires. Lallement emigrated to the | | | | only gradually to incorporate hand-operated |
| United States, where he recorded a patent on his | | | | brakes, with internal hub gears allowing up to |
| bicycle in 1866 in New Haven, Connecticut. The | | | | seven speeds. In the Netherlands, such so-called |
| Boneshaker was further refined by Englishman | | | | 'granny bikes' have remained popular, and are |
| James Starley in the 1870s. He mounted the seat | | | | again in production. In the early 1980s, Swedish |
| more squarely over the pedals so that the rider | | | | company Itera invented a new type of bicycle, |
| could push more firmly, and further enlarged the | | | | made entirely out of plastics. The plastic bicycle |
| front wheel to increase the potential for speed. | | | | was however a commercial failure. |
| With tires of solid rubber, his machine became | | | | In North America, increasing consciousness of |
| known as the ordinary. British cyclists likened the | | | | physical fitness and environmental preservation |
| disparity in size of the two wheels to their | | | | spawned a renaissance of bicycling in the late |
| coinage, nicknaming it the penny-farthing. The | | | | 1960s. Bicycle sales in the US boomed, largely in |
| primitive bicycles of this generation were difficult | | | | the form of the racing bicycles, long used in such |
| to ride, and the high seat and poor weight | | | | events as the hugely popular Tour de France. |
| distribution made for dangerous falls. | | | | Sales were also helped by a number of technical |
| The subsequent dwarf ordinary addressed some | | | | innovations that were new to the US market, |
| of these faults by adding gearing, reducing the | | | | including higher performance steel alloys and |
| front wheel diameter, and setting the seat further | | | | gearsets with an increasing number of gears. |
| back, with no loss of speed. Having to both pedal | | | | While 10-speeds were very popular in the 1970s, |
| and steer via the front wheel remained a problem. | | | | 12-speed designs were introduced in the 1980s, |
| Starley's nephew, J. K. Starley, J. H. Lawson, and | | | | and today most bikes feature 18 or more speeds. |
| Shergold solved this problem by introducing the | | | | By the 1980s, these newer designs had driven |
| chain and producing rear-wheel drive. These | | | | the three-speed bicycle from the roads. In the |
| models were known as dwarf safeties, or safety | | | | late 1980s, the mountain bike became particularly |
| bicycles, for their lower seat height and better | | | | popular, and in the 1990s something of a major |
| weight distribution. Starley's 1885 Rover is usually | | | | fad. These task-specific designs led many |
| described as the first recognizably modern bicycle. | | | | American recreational cyclists to demand a more |
| Soon, the seat tube was added, creating the | | | | comfortable and practical product. Manufacturers |
| double-triangle, diamond frame of the modern | | | | responded with the hybrid bicycle, which restored |
| bike. | | | | many of the features long enjoyed by riders of |
| While the Starley design was much safer, the | | | | the time-tested European utility bikes. |