This Page About Cycle Science : Cycling History

Cycle Science : Cycling History

Cycling has a tremendous history unknown to many who ride today's modern "vehicle".

Cartwheels with spokes are reported to have been used in Mesopotamia over 4,000 years ago. It is also said that the Chinese used wheels with spokes over 6,000 years ago. No one at that time however latched onto what now seems to be the obvious use for these items, ie. one behind the other and to use this as a mode of transport.

The history of cycling has had an immense influence on the technologies, industries and sports events of today. The story of the bicycle starts in 1817 when Baron von Drais of Baden invented a 'running machine' to help him move more quickly around his forests.

The 'Draisienne', seen to the right, as it was known, briefly became a fashionable toy for the upper classes in Paris and London, and was much copied by other manufacturers. In subsequent years, many craftsmen designed 2, 3 or 4-wheeled vehicles powered by human energy - otherwise known as 'velocipedes'.

A Scottish blacksmith, Kirkpatrick Macmillan, earned himself a five shilling fine in around 1840 for knocking over a child on a ride from Dumfries to Glasgow. But the bicycle didn't experience its first proper breakthrough until the French mechanic Pierre Michaux attached cranks to the front wheel of a Draisienne in the 1860s.

This led to a craze for cycling on both sides of the Atlantic. With the outbreak of war between France and Prussia, James Starley of the Coventry Machinists Company took up the challenge of refining the French 'boneshakers'. He increased the front wheel diameter to allow greater speed, which led to the familiar 'penny-farthing' design.

At the same time, Starley and others improved the technology of gears, brakes and wheels, both on bicycles and less dangerous alternatives such as tricycles. In 1885, John Kemp Starley (James' nephew) invented the 'Rover' bicycle, which overcame the dangers of a large front wheel by attaching gears and cranks to the rear wheel instead.

In 1888, John Boyd Dunlop invented pneumatic tyres - competitions then proved that a 'safety' bicycle with pneumatic tyres could easily match the daredevil speeds of the penny-farthing. This established the standard design that has survived to the present day.

Since then, bicycles have had a huge impact on society. JK Starley went on to form the Rover car company, and many other transport pioneers - such as Henry Ford and the Wright Brothers - also began as cycle mechanics.

Cycling opened up new horizons for people in the nineteenth century by allowing them to travel beyond their home community - this was especially important for women, and can be seen now also in the developing world. Finally, competitive cycling provided one of the earliest forms of mass spectator sport in modern times.

The wheel

The wheel is the most crucial element of the bicycle: it allows the rider to roll over the ground with great speed and efficiency. Historians believe the wheel originated in Mesopotamia sometime around 3,500 BC. While the Sumerians did not pedal their way through ancient Mesopotamia, animal-powered wheeled chariots and carts helped haul goods and people for thousands of years. During the industrial revolution in the 19th century, advances in materials and engineering made it possible to use the wheel effectively in human-powered machines. The modern bicycle, complete with a steel frame, a chain drive, steel wheels and spokes, and pneumatic tires, would emerge in the late 1800s.

On the Road

While the use of the wheel was widespread in ancient times, it did have limitations. The resistance to the motion of a wheel can vary tremendously depending on the surface on which it is traveling. A rough road is much harder to roll over than a smooth one. The Romans were aware of this and developed a massive network of paved roads. While this may have been the first time in history that roads were improved to facilitate the wheel, it certainly wasn't the last. In the United States in the 1890s, cyclists successfully lobbied for improvements in roads nationwide, and with cycling the nation's most popular sport at the time, legislators listened.

The Ordinary

When most people think about early bicycles, the high-wheelers of the late 1800s come to mind. These early models had names such as the "Ordinary" or "Xtraordinary." In England, these bicycles were also known as "penny farthings" because the large and small wheels were reminiscent of the large one-penny coin and the smaller farthing coin.

The pedals were attached directly to the front wheel of the high-wheelers. The larger the front wheel on an "Ordinary," the farther the cyclist would travel with each turn of the pedals. Exploratorium Senior Scientist Paul Doherty explained, "Every time the pedals would go around once, that whole giant front wheel would go around once. So, for one cycle of the bicyclist's legs he might go 140 inches (3.556 meters), a tremendous distance forward." This made pedaling up hills quite difficult, but allowed for great speed on the flats.

While the high-wheels were quite efficient, they were also dangerous: the cyclist was very high off the ground and perched precariously over the front wheel. So, while the high- wheelers broke new speed and distance records, they quickly gained notoriety for the dangers involved in riding them. The slightest obstacle in the road could result in a nasty head-first fall. "Headers" or "taking a header" were common terms used to describe an all-too-frequent problem. With a high center of gravity and narrow tires made of solid rubber (which occasionally could roll off their rims), high-wheeled bicycles were designed for speed, not for safety.

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