The Journey of the Bicycle
A Few inventions look as simple as the bicycle, yet its shape took almost a century to settle. In 1817 the German baron Karl von Drais built a wooden machine with two wheels in line, a steerable front wheel and no pedals. Riders sat on it and pushed along the ground with their feet. The machine, which became known as the draisine or running machine, was quick on smooth roads, and for a short time it was a fashionable toy in several European cities. The craze faded, partly because road surfaces were poor and partly because the machine offered little advantage over walking on rough ground.
B The next real advance came in the 1860s, when French workshops began to fit cranks and pedals directly to the front wheel. This made the machine faster, but it was also uncomfortable on stony streets, and because of its wooden wheels with iron rims it was nicknamed the boneshaker. To go faster still, makers enlarged the front wheel, since a bigger wheel carried the rider further with each turn of the pedals. By the 1870s the result was the high-wheeler, or penny-farthing, with a front wheel that could be more than a metre and a half across.
C The high-wheeler was thrilling to ride and dangerous to fall from. The rider sat high above the ground, almost over the front axle, and a sudden stop could throw them forward over the handlebars. It suited young, athletic men, but it was unsuitable for most people, including women, who in the fashions of the day wore long skirts. Clubs of high-wheel riders did, however, play an important part in cycling history: they campaigned for better roads and showed that cycling could be a serious sport.
D Engineers solved the problem of safety by changing how the power reached the road. In the 1880s the English maker John Kemp Starley produced the Rover Safety Bicycle, with two wheels of similar size and a chain that carried power from the pedals to the rear wheel. The rider now sat low, between the wheels, with both feet able to reach the ground. The basic design of the safety bicycle was so successful that most bicycles today still follow it.
E A second invention made the new bicycle comfortable. In 1888 a Scottish veterinary surgeon, John Boyd Dunlop, fitted his son's tricycle with air-filled rubber tyres to give a smoother ride. Pneumatic tyres soon became standard, and they allowed cyclists to travel faster over rough surfaces with far less effort. The same idea was later applied to motor vehicles.
F By the 1890s cycling had become a craze. Prices fell, and for the first time ordinary workers could afford personal transport. Many historians argue that the bicycle gave women new independence, because it let them travel without a chaperone or a horse. In the twentieth century the arrival of cheap cars reduced the bicycle's importance in some countries, but in others it remained the main means of getting about. Today it is enjoying a revival as cities look for low-cost, clean ways to move people.