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Bicycle development over the years
by Fahrrada benteuer
http://www.bicycleadventure.com
Bicycles have been a form of transport for a little less
than two hundred years. This does not seem a long time
for a form of transport so obviously simple.
The first type of bike missed an essential feature of todays
machines - it had no pedals! Instead the cyclist used their
feet to push directly off the ground, so the action looked a
bit like a run. Despite this, these machines (called
'Daisines') were popular both in North America and in
Western Europe.
The idea of a bicycle was however floated as far back as
1493. A student of Leonardo Da Vinci had sketched a model
of a bicycle during a workshop on' fifteenth century
ideas'. The idea might have been there but we know for
certain that it was never executed (This was the way most
of Da Vinci's ideas went).
The French made the first precursor of the bike with
pedals. It was called a 'velocipede' by the French. The
English very aptly called it a 'bone shaker'. It was called
this most probably because of the jolts it gave to the
rider. It had wooden wheels that made the rider very
uncomfortably aware of every shake and bounce on the uneven
roads. Added to this the pedals were attached to the front
wheel. Despite the discomfort, the bikes gained in
popularity. There were even schools to teach 'velocipede
riding'!!
The next model of the bike was created in 1870 and called a
Penny Farthing. It looked strange as it had a huge front
wheel. Here the makers were more concerned with utility
than aesthetics. They had realized that in order to make
the bike really useful they had to increase its speed and
only increasing the size of the wheel could do this. There
was no gear so the rider depended on the ability of every
stroke of the pedal to take it further. This did increase
the speed and the bikes did fly like rockets but the jerks
and the shakes too got worse. It was difficult at times to
stop the bicycle. One was prone to fall and that too from
a great height.
In 1880's, a new addition to the bike was made which was
the chain. To increase the balance of the bike a chain was
added. This chain kept the pedals where they were supposed
to be and made riding a bike easier. Modern road bike was
christened the 'Safety Bike'. At the same time Dunlop, a
veterinary surgeon, who worked in Scotland, invented the
air filled tire. With these two inventions, by 1890 the
bike had taken on a form, which was not very different from
the bike, as we know it today.
By the end of the nineteenth century, bikes were very
popular indeed in North America and Europe. So much so that
this era came to be known as the golden era of bikes. There
was an increased demand for bikes and this made some of the
factories divert from the production of things like sewing
machines and guns to the production of bikes. The only
thing needed now was to have bikes with gears. These were
introduced in the first years of the twentieth century. The
modern bike was now round the corner.
Thrust on technology has made development of lighter,
stronger and dynamic bikes possible now. With adventure
being the buzzword in these times, the Mountain bikes have
replaced the BMX of the 1980s. But these are small advances
compared to the path breaking invention of the Safety bike
of the late nineteenth century.
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