Today,
the bicycle is the primary transportation of the human race. About
1.6 billion bicycles are in use throughout the world - in
cosmopolitan cities, along remote country lanes, and in the smallest
villages - and hundreds of millions of bikes are manufactured every
year to meet the continuing demand for cheap wheeled transport.
Yet the bicycle is
hardly a new vision of how humans can move. Historians speculate
about Leonardo da Vinci's 1490s drawings and a 1580s stained glass
window in England that appear to depict a two-wheeler. The first
widely recognized two-wheeler in actual use, however, was the
pedal-less Celerifere, a toy of the French nobility in the 1790s. The
more famous Draisienne followed that toy in 1816, still without
pedals. The front wheel could be steered, and this two-wheeler was
eventually mass-produced in Europe, particularly in England. Ernest
Michaux added cranks to the two-wheeler in 1855. At the age of 14,
Michaux copied the crank from a hand-grinding wheel in his father's
locksmithy and started a revolution in human transportation - the
Velocipede.
By
1870, sophisticated metal Velocipedes were in production in Europe
and the United States. Over time, they gave way to the Ordinary or
high-wheeler. The Ordinary was the beginning of the heyday of
bicycling. It was speedy and capable of long trips on poor roads, so
its use spread fast and far. In a day when a skilled person might
earn 25 cents per hour in wages, a good Ordinary sold for $75 to
$125, making it more expensive than building a house. Nevertheless,
they sold at a furious pace.
Ordinaries
had a big problem, however. When the front wheel came up against any
obstacle that it could not roll over, the bike simply pitched the
rider headfirst onto the ground. Called a "header," this
characteristic problem spawned the "safety bicycle" in the
1890s. With two wheels of equal size, plus a roller chain geared
transmission, the safety bicycle was the direct ancestor of today's
machines. Not only were these practical machines, but also, with a
slight adaptation, they attracted thousands of women to cycling.
Now
having transportation that did not need assistance from anyone, women
gained a larger measure of freedom than they had enjoyed. The bicycle
revolutionized female attire, making it a subject of controversy.
Schools sprang up to teach women to ride. Many historians point to
the safety bicycle as the beginnings of suffrage, women's rights, and
feminism.
Brakes, lights,
innovative tires and inventions of every sort were created to
accompany the safety bicycle. In fact, patents filed in the 1890s
laid the groundwork for a startling number of "state of the art"
inventions a century later, in the 1990s. In England, in
1909, the Raleigh bicycle, equipped with a Sturmey Archer 3-Speed
hub, started production. The classic 3-speed bicycles based on the
Sturmey Archer 3-Speed hub design spread worldwide along with the
British Empire. These designs are still in production in
British-built plants in India, Africa, and China.
In
the 1930s, British-built "lightweight" bicycles, suitable
for the packed earth of country roads, were being imported into the
United States. Used on the gravel roads of the day, lightweights were
unfortunately not as sturdy as the riders in the U.S. required. The
American balloon-tired cruiser bicycle, equipped with a coaster
brake, emerged out of a need for unbreakable rough-road bicycles.
Evolving rapidly into the "gas tank" cruisers of the 195Os,
these bicycles are still in production. Now, some even are made with
titanium frames and sophisticated internal hub transmissions. Yet,
they would blend into any street scene of the 1950s.
In
the 1960s, the high-rise bicycle - a 20-inch wheel bicycle for
children - was the success story of the decade. The Schwinn Sting-Ray
was the most desired bicycle of the day, selling in tremendous
volume. By the late 1960s, European lightweight derailleur-equipped
bicycles began to appear in the United States. Common in Europe
since the 1940s, with the Italians and the French dominating both
racing and the production of high performance bicycles, the 10-speed
changed the look of American cycling. The new look featured the
dropped handlebar position, which also reduced drag and increased
speed.
The 10-speed bicycle
fueled the astonishing "Bike Boom" of the 1970s, during
which Baby Boomers just reaching their physical peak pedaled
throughout the United States and Canada, as well as many countries in
Europe. The Japanese introduced their first 10-speeds into the
United States in the early 1970s. The quality and value of their
exports quickly gained them a dominant position in the marketplace -
even as it drove most European makers and virtually all domestic
manufacturers out of the adult bicycle market in the United States.
At
the same time in the United States, BMX racing was being born in and
started to hit its stride late in the decade. BMX bicycles were
descendants of the high-rise bicycles of the 1960s. This exciting
sport involved youthful riders racing on a short, closed dirt track.
In the early 1980s, a few California riders started putting
derailleur gears on old balloon-tire cruisers and riding them down
steep mountain roads. The bicycles they created were the first
mountain bikes. Those California riders, such as Gary Fisher, Tom
Ritchey, and Mike Sinyard (Specialized), are now as famous as the
labels on a number of popular brands of mountain bikes.
During the same period,
a few American bicycle manufacturers started domestic production
of aluminum and carbon fiber bicycles. Superior products resulted in
rapid growth and helped unseat Japanese bicycle companies, who
till then had held a dominant position. This new U.S. production,
combined with the emergence of Taiwan and China as quality lower
price bicycle builders, emphasized the worldwide nature of the
bicycle business in the 1980s and 90s.
The
early 1980s saw the creation of the "Freestyle" or trick
bicycle. Originally a street sport, riding it grew into a
jaw-dropping spectacle of flying, leaping bicycles and dancing
riders. ESPN, ESPN2, and other television networks often feature this
"X-treme" new sport. Now in the late 1990s, the hybrid
bicycle, the road bike, and the mountain bike have proved to be the
dominant machines of the decade. In the near future, electrically
assisted bicycles, recumbent bicycles, and aerodynamic chassis for
bicycles promise new levels of comfort, speed, and efficiency for
bike lovers.
From their beginning,
bicycles have been high technology. The steel two-wheelers of the
1860s were the most sophisticated machines of their day. The ball
bearing, the tensioned spoked wheel, seamed and seamless tubing,
pneumatic tires, roller chains, planetary gears, and many more key
mechanical inventions were first created for the bicycle, and some
even percolated out to improve other devices that people find
useful. Today, the bicycle continues to be the most
energy and cost efficient transportation device in the world. Bikes
are still high technology. They are made from the most advanced
materials, with bicycle builders using the same materials and
techniques that the most advanced military aircraft use.
