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Bicycle
In 1817, a German baron named Karl von Drais introduced a wooden contraption to the public in Mannheim that had no pedals, no chain, and no engine, yet it would eventually reshape the modern world. This machine, known as the dandy horse or Laufmaschine, required the rider to push off the ground with their feet to move forward, but it established the fundamental two-wheeled tandem configuration that defines the bicycle today. By 1839, a Scottish blacksmith named Kirkpatrick MacMillan had added a mechanical crank drive to a similar vehicle, though his claim to the first mechanically propelled bicycle remains disputed by historians. The true turning point arrived in the early 1860s when Frenchmen Pierre Michaux and Pierre Lallement attached pedals to an enlarged front wheel, creating the velocipede. This design sparked the first mass production of bicycles, transforming the vehicle from a novelty into a viable mode of transport. The velocipede evolved into the penny-farthing, a dangerous machine with a massive front wheel and a tiny rear wheel that made riding a high-stakes balancing act. These early models were difficult to ride due to their high seat and poor weight distribution, often resulting in headlong falls known as hairdressers. The safety bicycle, introduced by J.K. Starley in 1885, finally solved these problems by introducing a chain drive that connected the pedals to the rear wheel, allowing for smaller wheels and a lower seat. This innovation created the diamond frame that remains the standard design for bicycles over a century later.
The Golden Age of Iron
The 1890s Golden Age of Bicycles saw the invention of the pneumatic tire by Scotsman John Boyd Dunlop, which revolutionized the ride from a bone-jarring experience to a smooth journey. In 1888, Dunlop introduced the first practical pneumatic tire, and by 1889, Willie Hume demonstrated its supremacy by winning races in Ireland and England. This era also brought the rear freewheel, enabling riders to coast, and the invention of coaster brakes in the 1890s. The bicycle craze of the 1890s was so intense that it created a global industry, with the Raleigh Bicycle Company in Nottingham, England, becoming the largest manufacturer in the world, producing over two million bikes per year. Cycling clubs flourished during this time, with The Bicycle Touring Club operating since 1878, and touring and racing became widely popular on both sides of the Atlantic. The bicycle was not merely a toy for the wealthy; it became a tool for social change, particularly for women. The safety bicycle gave women unprecedented mobility, contributing to their emancipation in Western nations. Susan B. Anthony declared in 1896 that the bicycle had done more to emancipate women than any one thing in the world, giving them a feeling of self-reliance and independence. The bicycle craze also led to a movement for rational dress, helping liberate women from corsets and ankle-length skirts by substituting the then-shocking bloomers. This period established the bicycle as a symbol of the New Woman, especially in Britain and the United States.
Karl von Drais introduced the first bicycle in 1817 as a wooden contraption known as the dandy horse or Laufmaschine. This machine had no pedals, no chain, and no engine, requiring the rider to push off the ground with their feet to move forward.
When did the safety bicycle become the standard design?
J.K. Starley introduced the safety bicycle in 1885, which solved previous problems by introducing a chain drive that connected the pedals to the rear wheel. This innovation created the diamond frame that remains the standard design for bicycles over a century later.
How did the bicycle contribute to women's emancipation in the 1890s?
The safety bicycle gave women unprecedented mobility and contributed to their emancipation in Western nations during the 1890s. Susan B. Anthony declared in 1896 that the bicycle had done more to emancipate women than any one thing in the world, helping liberate them from corsets and ankle-length skirts.
Which companies started as bicycle manufacturers before making cars?
The Rover Cycle Company Ltd. became the Rover Company when it started making cars in the late 1890s, and Morris Motors Limited and Škoda also began in the bicycle business. The Wright brothers ran the Wright Cycle Company which designed, manufactured, and sold bicycles during the bike boom of the 1890s.
What is the most numerous model of any kind of vehicle in the world?
The Chinese Flying Pigeon is the most numerous model of any kind of vehicle, whether human-powered or motor vehicle, with numbers exceeding 500 million. The bicycle is the most common vehicle of any kind in the world and the most efficient human-powered means of transportation.
When did electric bicycles become popular and what was the global market size in 2011?
Electric bicycles became popular in the 21st century, and the global bicycle market was $61 billion in 2011 with 130 million bicycles being sold every year globally. By 2025, the global market size had increased to an estimated $116 billion.
Bicycle manufacturing proved to be a training ground for other industries, leading to the development of advanced metalworking techniques for frames, ball bearings, washers, and sprockets. These techniques later enabled skilled metalworkers and mechanics to develop the components used in early automobiles and aircraft. Wilbur and Orville Wright, the famous aviators, ran the Wright Cycle Company which designed, manufactured, and sold bicycles during the bike boom of the 1890s. They also served to teach the industrial models later adopted by Ford and General Motors, including mechanization, mass production, and vertical integration. Bicycle makers adopted the annual model change, later derided as planned obsolescence, which proved very successful. Aggressive advertising, accounting for as much as 10% of all advertising in US periodicals in 1898, was a strategy pioneered by bicycle makers. The bicycle industry also pioneered lobbying for better roads, which had the side benefit of acting as advertising and improving sales. J.K. Starley's company became the Rover Cycle Company Ltd. in the late 1890s, and then renamed the Rover Company when it started making cars. Morris Motors Limited and Škoda also began in the bicycle business, as did the Wright brothers. Alistair Craig, whose company eventually emerged to become the engine manufacturers Ailsa Craig, also started from manufacturing bicycles in Glasgow in March 1885. The bicycle industry created new kinds of businesses, such as bicycle messengers, traveling seamstresses, riding academies, and racing rinks. Their board tracks were later adapted to early motorcycle and automobile racing. The bicycle also presaged a move away from public transit that would explode with the introduction of the automobile.
The Freedom Machine
The bicycle has had a considerable effect on human society, in both the cultural and industrial realms, serving as a tool for poverty alleviation and female emancipation. In developing countries, bicycles are the most frequently used method of transport for commuting to work, school, shopping, and life in general. In Europe, bicycles are commonly used, and they offer a degree of exercise to keep individuals healthy. The bicycle is an inexpensive, fast, healthy, and environmentally friendly mode of transport. Ivan Illich stated that bicycle use extended the usable physical environment for people, while alternatives such as cars and motorways degraded and confined people's environment and mobility. Currently, two billion bicycles are in use around the world, and riding a bicycle is the lowest carbon intensity form of travel. The bicycle has been used for transportation, bicycle commuting, and utility cycling, as well as professionally by mail carriers, paramedics, police, messengers, and general delivery services. Military uses of bicycles include communications, reconnaissance, troop movement, supply of provisions, and patrol, such as in bicycle infantries. They are also used for recreational purposes, including bicycle touring, mountain biking, physical fitness, and play. Bicycle sports include racing, BMX racing, track racing, criterium, roller racing, sportives, and time trials. Major multi-stage professional events are the Giro d'Italia, the Tour de France, the Vuelta a España, the Tour de Pologne, and the Volta a Portugal.
The Engineering of Speed
The bicycle is extraordinarily efficient in both biological and mechanical terms, being the most efficient human-powered means of transportation in terms of energy a person must expend to travel a given distance. From a mechanical viewpoint, up to 99% of the energy delivered by the rider into the pedals is transmitted to the wheels, although the use of gearing mechanisms may reduce this by 10 to 15 percent. A human traveling on a bicycle at low to medium speeds of around 15 miles per hour uses only the power required to walk. Air drag, which is proportional to the square of speed, requires dramatically higher power outputs as speeds increase. If the rider is sitting upright, the rider's body creates about 75% of the total drag of the bicycle-rider combination. Drag can be reduced by seating the rider in a more aerodynamically streamlined position or by covering the bicycle with an aerodynamic fairing. The fastest recorded unpaced speed on a flat surface, as of 2016, was 82.81 miles per hour. The carbon dioxide generated in the production and transportation of the food required by the bicyclist, per mile traveled, is less than 10% that generated by energy efficient motorcars. The bicycle has undergone continual adaptation and improvement since its inception, with innovations continuing with the advent of modern materials and computer-aided design. These innovations have allowed for a proliferation of specialized bicycle types, improved bicycle safety, and riding comfort. The bicycle is the most common vehicle of any kind in the world, and the most numerous model of any kind of vehicle, whether human-powered or motor vehicle, is the Chinese Flying Pigeon, with numbers exceeding 500 million.
The Modern Cycle
In the 21st century, electric bicycles have become popular, and the global bicycle market was $61 billion in 2011, with 130 million bicycles being sold every year globally and 66% of them made in China. By 2025, the global market size had increased to an estimated $116 billion. The bicycle has become a staple of everyday life throughout Asian countries, and in Europe, bicycles are commonly used. In cities where bicycles are not integrated into the public transportation system, commuters often use bicycles as elements of a mixed-mode commute. Some US companies, notably in the tech sector, are developing both innovative cycle designs and cycle-friendliness in the workplace. Foursquare, whose CEO Dennis Crowley pedaled to pitch meetings when he was raising money from venture capitalists on a two-wheeler, chose a new location for its New York headquarters based on where biking would be easy. Parking in the office was also integral to HQ planning. Mitchell Moss, who runs the Rudin Center for Transportation Policy & Management at New York University, said in 2012 that biking has become the mode of choice for the educated high tech worker. In line with the European financial crisis of that time, in 2011 the number of bicycle sales in Italy surpassed the number of new car sales. The bicycle has also become a target for theft, with around 50% of the participants in the Montreal International Journal of Sustainable Transportation survey subjected to a bicycle theft in their lifetime as active cyclists. Most bicycles have serial numbers that can be recorded to verify identity in case of theft. The bicycle has also become a subject of legal requirements, with the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic of the United Nations considering a bicycle to be a vehicle.