THE BICYCLE

   



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The first drawing of bicycle was made by Leonardo da Vinci during the XV century. A machine with two wheels. The project had never been patented.

At the end of the XVIII century, during the French Revolution, the machine was built and proved on the road. It was called “célérifère” by the Count of Sivrac. It could only go in one direction. Sitting on the saddle It had to be pushed with the feet

But we can’t call it bicycle yet.

The real inventor presented his bicylcle in Paris in 1818. He was a German, his name was Baron von Drais von Sauberbrun. His invention was called “Draisienne” or Draisine.

In 1839 a blacksmith named Kirkpatrick MacMillan joined the pedals to the Draisine. But they were not pedals we know nowadays, not yet. People put their own feet on those pedals and moved legs back and forth. The action moved some levers that moved the back wheel.

   picture by Gun Powder Ma available on Wikipedia

In 1861 Pierre and Ernest Michaux brothers in Paris joined the pedals and the levers to the front wheel hub. The movement was a rotation, the machine was called vélocipède. The machine went on faster when James Starley joined a big front wheel.

   Picture by Twice 25 available on Wikipedia (Museo della Bicicletta in Genoa)

With the vélocipède began the first bicycle race. In Paris, in 1869, a race was organized, it was 130 km long, between Paris and Rouen. There were 203 participants.

Starley used metal rays in spite of those in wooden, their position was tangential, not radial, because they allowed a better absorption of vibrations and shock with the ground and a better energy distribution. They also lightened the wheel, as per today bicycles.

But the first, real bicycle was invented in 1879 by H.J. Lawson with rear chain drive….and now we can really talk about bicycles.