World Bicycle Day

Today is World Bicycle Day!

When we think of the bicycle, we think of kids playing or adults using it for a variety of things like sport and way of making deliveries. However, the bicycle has a long and fascinating history. 

The earliest ancestor of the bicycle was known as the Laufmachine ("running machine"), created by German forest official Baron Karl von Drais. He introduced this device to the public in 1817. It worked by people propelling the device with their feet while steering the front wheel. 

From there, the treadle bicycle was created. It was called that because it was powered by the usage of a treadle. It was presumably created by Scottish blacksmith Kirkpatrick MacMillan in 1839, but there's little direct evidence of it. He was involved in the first known bicycle traffic offense in 1842. He accidentally hit a little girl and was fined 5 schillings, around 24 pounds today.

In the early 1860s, Frenchmen Pierre Michaux and Pierre Lallement (aka Pierre Squared) would make another innovation with the bicycle. They would introduce bicycles powered by the usage of a mechanical crank on an enlarged front wheel. This design would evolve into the "penny-farthing" bicycle.

Penny-farthings are neat to look at, but they are a pain to mount, get off, and brake. The bicycle was redesigned by making the front wheel smaller and moving the seat further back. This created a new problem: it couldn't maximize pedaling power. English inventor J.K. Starley (whose uncle had held found Britain's first bicycle factory) addressed this by introducing the chain drive to the bicycle. This, alongside other innovations like John Boyd Dunlop's pneumatic tire, led to the modern bicycle today.

Bicycles would become pretty popular, with dedicated clubs rising in the 1870s. In 1897, the electric bicycle was invented. In fact, bicycles still remain a popular form of transportation around the world. in 1970s California, the BMX bike was born. 1981 would see the rise of the mass-produced mountain bike, a bicycle designed for off-road riding. And bicycles continue to evolve and change with time, new technologies, new materials, and all of that.

So, yeah. Bicycles are incredible little machines. They show that a good invention can stand the test of time. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! If you like what I write and want to give my blog some additional support, please make a donation to my Ko-fi! See you next time!