History of Bi-Cycle

Draisienne (Hobby Horse)

1817 The steerable Draisienne was invented. Germany's Baron von Drais invented the Draisienne, a steerable bicycle. It was almost completely made of wood, and having no pedals, riders propelled it by pushing their feet against the ground. At the time, the speed record for this bicycle was 15 km/h. It was used little by little until the 1830's. In 1842, it was equipped with solid rubber tires.

MacMillan Velocipede

1839 The MacMillan velocipede was the first of its kind to be ridden with the legs off the ground. This two-wheeled vehicle was designed by Kirkpatrick MacMillan, a Scottish blacksmith. It was the first of its kind that allowed people to ride without touching their feet to the ground. In MacMillan's hometown of Coathill, Scotland, the one hundredth anniversary since the creation of the MacMillan velocipede was celebrated in September 1946 after an eight-year delay caused by WWII, but recently the actual existence of this vehicle has come under suspicion.

Michaux Velocipede

1860 The world's first mass-produced riding machine. Designed by France's Pierre Michaux who was involved in the repair of horse carriages and the manufacture of baby carriages and tricycles. He came up with his design when a customer brought a Draisienne in for repairs. After his son tried riding it and had difficulties with his feet on downhill roads, Michaux came up with the idea of connecting crank arms and pedals directly to the front wheel as a means of propulsion

Phantom

1869 The Phantom, with its ordinary drive, is released. The Reynolds' of Great Britain released the ordinary-drive Phantom. It was an epoch-making development with its light-weight metal frame, first wheels to ever use a double-spoke construction, solid rubber tires nailed to wooden wheels, and other innovations.

Ariel

1870 The first model to define the features of the ordinary bicycle. At a bicycle factory in Conventry, England, James Starley along with William Hillman designed the Ariel, an ordinary bicycle prototype that employed ribbon wheels which produced a patent for tension spokes. The Ariel is said to have been named after a so-called "tricksy spirit" appearing in one Shakespeare's works. This bicycle, a first with its all-metal construction, was even lighter than its predecessors, and it was the world's first model to employ a center steering head which is still used today in modern-day bicycles. Thanks to its adjustable crank and a number of other epoch-making new mechanisms, the Ariel racked up record speeds of between 23 and 24 km/h.

Salvo

1876 The appearance of an easy-to-ride tricycle. The first tricycle mass-produced by Coventry Lever, it was equipped with a Lever gear built by James Starley. The three-wheeled Salvo built by Starley, incorporated innovations such as a lighter frame, spoke wheels, and a highly advanced chain drive. It also placed emphasis on performance. In particular, the use of a balance gear or double-drive gear enabled smoother turning on curves because the outer wheel in respect to the curve was able to spin faster than the inner wheel. It was also equipped with a lamp for nighttime rides, and became a popular vehicle because it was more convenient and accessible than a horse carriage.

Kangaroo

1878 Ordinary bicycle employing the first gear system and having a smaller rear wheel. The Kangaroo, with the world's first gear system, added brakes to the ordinary cycle which had become more and more dangerous due to the increasing diameter of the front wheel for riding at faster speeds. Patented by Otto and Wallace, this model had independent right and left chainwheels driven by their own chains, enabling fast speeds even with a smaller front wheel.

Bayliss Thomas

1879 The Bayliss Thomas was the climax of ordinary bicycle beauty and was the most complete model to date. The Bayliss Thomas actively incorporated a variety of new technologies to provide a more comfortable ride and achieve faster speeds. With this model, the once solid steel frame was replaced by hollow tubing including the front fork. This ordinary employed plain bearings in the wheel axles and achieved a weight of only 22 kg with the use of radial spokes, rubber pedals, and other light-weight innovations.

Lawson Model

1879 First leg-powered bicycle driven by a chain to the rear wheel. In 1879, an Englishman by the name of Harry John Lawson produced the first bicycle driven by a chain to the rear wheel. He positioned the pedals in between the front and rear wheels, and had the pedaling motion conducted to the rear wheel via a chain. It was not until five years later in 1884 that a model, named the Lawson Bicyclette, appeared which could withstand the rigors of actual use

Dicycle

1880 Achieved popularity by replacing two-wheeled models with three-wheelers. The most successful dicycle was invented by the Englishman E.C.F. Otto during the heyday of the ordinary cycle in 1880. Its two large wheels placed side by side were driven by a left and right pedal. The vehicle enabled smooth turning by relaxing the pedal on the side of the turn so that the wheel on the other side spun faster. Compared to the ordinary cycle which placed the rider high in the air, the dicycle offered a more stable feeling, placing the rider between the right and left wheels. This high degree of safety made it a hot topic as the vehicle of the times. Upon the introduction of the dicycle, the Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA) in England almost immediately produced 1,000 of these vehicles.

Rover

1885 With equal-sized wheels, this was the prototype of the modern-day bicycle. John Kemp Starley, a nephew of James Starley, the man who built the Ariel in 1870 and subsequently designed a number of safety bicycles, built the Rover with equal-sized wheels. This bicycle improved the performance of racing ordinaries which had reached their limit in the quest for speed in 1884. The saddle, handlebars, and crank axle were well balanced and logically placed, and this established the shape of the bicycle as we know it today. Two or three years thereafter, the bicycle's components such as the frame material, tires, variable speed gears, saddle, and chain were rapidly made practical.