Bicycle

Background
Bicycles are one of the world's most popular modes of transportation, with some 800 million
bicycles outnumbering cars by two to one. Bicycles are also the most energy-efficient vehicle
—a cyclist burns about 35 calories per mile (22 calories per km), while an automobile burns
1,860 calories per mile (1,156 calories per km). Bicycles are used not only for transportation,
but for fitness, competition, and touring as well. They come in myriad shapes and styles,
including racing bikes, all-terrain bikes, and stationary bicycles, as well as unicycles,
tricycles, and tandems.

History
As far back as 1490, Leonardo da Vinci had envisioned a machine remarkably similar to the
modern bicycle. Unfortunately, da Vinci did not attempt to build the vehicle, nor were his
sketches discovered until the 1960s. In the late 1700s a Frenchman named Comte de Sivrac
invented the Celerifere, a crude wooden hobby horse made of two wheels and joined by a
beam. The rider would sit atop the beam and propel the contraption by pushing his or her feet
against the ground.

In 1816 the German Baron Karl von Drais devised a steerable hobby horse, and within a few
years, hobby-horse riding was a fashionable pastime in Europe. Riders also discovered that
they could ride the device with their feet off the ground without losing their balance. And so,
in 1840, a Scottish black-smith named Kirkpatrick Macmillan made a two-wheel device that
was operated by a treadle. Two years later he traveled as many as 40 miles (64 km) at a
stretch during a record 140-mile (225 km) round trip to Glasgow. A couple decades later, a
Frenchman, Ernest Michaux, designed a hobby horse that utilized cranks and rotating pedals
connected to the front axle. The Velocipede, made with wooden wheels and an iron frame
and tires, won the nickname of the "boneshaker."

The 1860s proved to be an important decade for bicycle improvements with the inventions of
ball-bearing hubs, metal-spoked wheels, solid rubber tires, and a lever-operated, four-speed
gearshift. Around 1866 an unusual version of the Velocipede was created in England by
James Stanley. It was called the Ordinary, or Penny Farthing, and it had a large front wheel
and a small rear wheel. The Ordinaries were soon exported to the U.S. where a company
began to manufacture them as well. These bicycles weighed a hefty 70 pounds (32 kg) and
cost $300—a substantial sum at the time.

By 1885, another Englishman, John Kemp Starley, created the Rover Safety, so called since it
was safer than the Ordinary which tended to cartwheel the rider over the large front wheel at
abrupt stops. The Safety had equally sized wheels made of solid rubber, a chain-driven rear
wheel, and diamond-shaped frame. Other important developments in the 1800s included the
use of John Boyd Dunlop's pneumatic tires, which had air-filled inner tubes that provided
shock absorption. Coaster brakes were developed in 1898, and shortly thereafter freewheeling
made biking easier by allowing the wheels to continue to spin without pedaling.

The frame consists of the front and rear triangles, the front really forming more of a
quadrilateral of four tubes: the top, seat, down, and head tubes. The rear triangle consists of
the chainstays, seatstays, and rear wheel dropouts. Attached to the head tube at the front of
the frame are the fork and steering tube.

During the 1890s bicycles became very popular, and the basic elements of the modern
bicycle were already in place. In the first half of the 20th century, stronger steel alloys
allowed thinner frame tubing which made the bicycles lighter and faster. Derailleur gears
were also developed, allowing smoother riding. After the Second World War, bicycle
popularity slipped as automobiles flourished, but rebounded in the 1970s during the oil crisis.
About that time, mountain bikes were invented by two Californians, Charlie Kelly and Gary
Fisher, who combined the wide tires of the older balloontire bikes with the lightweight
technology of racing bikes. Within 20 years, mountain bikes became more popular than
racing bikes. Soon hybrids of the two styles combined the virtues of each.

Read more: http://www.madehow.com/Volume-2/Bicycle.html#ixzz4MmgMmVin

19th century
1817 to 1819: the draisine or velocipede

Wooden draisine (around 1820), the earliest two-wheeler

Drais' 1817 design made to measure

The first verifiable claim for a practically used bicycle belongs to German Baron Karl von
Drais, a civil servant to the Grand Duke of Baden in Germany. Drais invented his
Laufmaschine (German for "running machine") of 1817 that was called Draisine (English) or
draisienne (French) by the press. Karl von Drais patented this design in 1818, which was the
first commercially successful two-wheeled, steerable, human-propelled machine, commonly
called a velocipede, and nicknamed hobby-horse or dandy horse.[7] It was initially
manufactured in Germany and France. Hans-Erhard Lessing found from circumstantial
evidence that Drais' interest in finding an alternative to the horse was the starvation and death
of horses caused by crop failure in 1816 ("Eighteen Hundred and Froze to Death," following
the volcanic eruption of Tambora in 1815).[8] On his first reported ride from Mannheim on
June 12, 1817, he covered 13 km (eight miles) in less than an hour.[9] Constructed almost
entirely of wood, the draisine weighed 22 kg (48 pounds), had brass bushings within the
wheel bearings, iron shod wheels, a rear-wheel brake and 152 mm (6 inches) of trail of the
front-wheel for a self-centering caster effect. This design was welcomed by mechanically
minded men daring to balance, and several thousand copies were built and used, primarily in
Western Europe and in North America. Its popularity rapidly faded when, partly due to
increasing numbers of accidents, some city authorities began to prohibit its use. However, in
1866 Paris a Chinese visitor named Bin Chun could still observe foot-pushed velocipedes.[10]

Denis Johnson's son riding a velocipede, Lithograph 1819.

The concept was picked up by a number of British cartwrights; the most notable was Denis
Johnson of London announcing in late 1818 that he would sell an improved model.[11] New
names were introduced when Johnson patented his machine “pedestrian curricle” or
“velocipede,” but the public preferred nicknames like “hobby-horse,” after the children’s toy
or, worse still, “dandyhorse,” after the foppish men who often rode them.[7] Johnson's
machine was an improvement on Drais's, being notably more elegant: his wooden frame had
a serpentine shape instead of Drais's straight one, allowing the use of larger wheels without
raising the rider's seat. During the summer of 1819 the "hobby-horse", thanks in part to
Johnson's marketing skills and better patent protection, became the craze and fashion in
London society. The dandies, the Corinthians of the Regency, adopted it, and therefore the
poet John Keats referred to it as "the nothing" of the day. Riders wore out their boots
surprisingly rapidly, and the fashion ended within the year, after riders on sidewalks were
fined two pounds.

Nevertheless, Drais' velocipede provided the basis for further developments: in fact, it was a
draisine which inspired a French metalworker around 1863 to add rotary cranks and pedals to
the front-wheel hub, to create the first pedal-operated "bicycle" as we today understand the
word.

1820s to 1850s: an era of 3 and 4-wheelers

A couple seated on an 1886 Coventry Rotary Quadracycle for two.

McCall's first (top) and improved velocipede of 1869 - later predated to 1839 and attributed to
MacMillan

Though technically not part of two-wheel ("bicycle") history, the intervening decades of the
1820s-1850s witnessed many developments concerning human-powered vehicles often using
technologies similar to the draisine, even if the idea of a workable two-wheel design,
requiring the rider to balance, had been dismissed. These new machines had three wheels
(tricycles) or four (quadracycles) and came in a very wide variety of designs, using pedals,
treadles, and hand-cranks, but these designs often suffered from high weight and high rolling
resistance. However, Willard Sawyer in Dover successfully manufactured a range of treadle-
operated 4-wheel vehicles and exported them worldwide in the 1850s.[11]

1830s: the reported Scottish inventions

The first mechanically propelled two-wheel vehicle is believed by some to have been built by
Kirkpatrick MacMillan, a Scottish blacksmith, in 1839. A nephew later claimed that his uncle
developed a rear-wheel drive design using mid-mounted treadles connected by rods to a rear
crank, similar to the transmission of a steam locomotive. Proponents associate him with the
first recorded instance of a bicycling traffic offence, when a Glasgow newspaper reported in
1842 an accident in which an anonymous "gentleman from Dumfries-shire... bestride a
velocipede... of ingenious design" knocked over a pedestrian in the Gorbals and was fined
five British shillings. However, the evidence connecting this with MacMillan is weak, since it
is unlikely that the artisan MacMillan would have been termed a gentleman, nor is the report
clear on how many wheels the vehicle had. The evidence is unclear, and may have been faked
by his son.

A similar machine was said to have been produced by Gavin Dalzell of Lesmahagow, circa
1845. There is no record of Dalzell ever having laid claim to inventing the machine. It is
believed that he copied the idea having recognised the potential to help him with his local
drapery business and there is some evidence that he used the contraption to take his wares
into the rural community around his home. A replica still exists today in the Glasgow
Museum of Transport. The exhibit holds the honour of being the oldest bike in existence
today.[11] The first documented producer of rod-driven two-wheelers, treadle bicycles, was
Thomas McCall, of Kilmarnock in 1869. The design was inspired by the French front-crank
velocipede of the Lallement/Michaux type.[11]

1860s and the Michaux or "boneshaker"

The first really popular and commercially successful design was French. An example is at the
Museum of Science and Technology, Ottawa.[12] Initially developed around 1863, it sparked a
fashionable craze briefly during 1868-70. Its design was simpler than the Macmillan bicycle;
it used rotary cranks and pedals mounted to the front wheel hub. Pedaling made it easier for
riders to propel the machine at speed, but the rotational speed limitation of this design created
stability and comfort concerns which would lead to the large front wheel of the "penny
farthing". It was difficult to pedal the wheel that was used for steering. The use of metal
frames reduced the weight and provided sleeker, more elegant designs, and also allowed
mass-production. Different braking mechanisms were used depending on the manufacturer.
In England, the velocipede earned the name of "bone-shaker" because of its rigid frame and
iron-banded wheels that resulted in a "bone-shaking experience for riders."

The velocipede's renaissance began in Paris during the late 1860s. Its early history is complex
and has been shrouded in some mystery, not least because of conflicting patent claims: all
that has been stated for sure is that a French metalworker attached pedals to the front wheel;
at present, the earliest year bicycle historians agree on is 1864. The identity of the person who
attached cranks is still an open question at International Cycling History Conferences
(ICHC). The claims of Ernest Michaux and of Pierre Lallement, and the lesser claims of rear-
pedaling Alexandre Lefebvre, have their supporters within the ICHC community.

The original pedal-bicycle, with the serpentine frame, from Pierre Lallement's US Patent No. 59,915
drawing, 1866

New York company Pickering and Davis invented this pedal-bicycle for ladies in 1869. [13][14]
Bicycle historian David V. Herlihy documents that Lallement claimed to have created the
pedal bicycle in Paris in 1863. He had seen someone riding a draisine in 1862 then originally
came up with the idea to add pedals to it. It is a fact that he filed the earliest and only patent
for a pedal-driven bicycle, in the US in 1866. Lallement's patent drawing shows a machine
which looks exactly like Johnson's draisine, but with the pedals and rotary cranks attached to
the front wheel hub, and a thin piece of iron over the top of the frame to act as a spring
supporting the seat, for a slightly more comfortable ride.

By the early 1860s, the blacksmith Pierre Michaux, besides producing parts for the carriage
trade, was producing "vélocipède à pédales" on a small scale. The wealthy Olivier brothers
Aimé and René were students in Paris at this time, and these shrewd young entrepreneurs
adopted the new machine. In 1865 they travelled from Paris to Avignon on a velocipede in
only eight days. They recognized the potential profitability of producing and selling the new
machine. Together with their friend Georges de la Bouglise, they formed a partnership with
Pierre Michaux, Michaux et Cie ("Michaux and company"), in 1868, avoiding use of the
Olivier family name and staying behind the scenes, lest the venture prove to be a failure. This
was the first company which mass-produced bicycles, replacing the early wooden frame with
one made of two pieces of cast iron bolted together—otherwise, the early Michaux machines
look exactly like Lallement's patent drawing. Together with a mechanic named Gabert in his
hometown of Lyon, Aimé Olivier created a diagonal single-piece frame made of wrought iron
which was much stronger, and as the first bicycle craze took hold, many other blacksmiths
began forming companies to make bicycles using the new design. Velocipedes were
expensive, and when customers soon began to complain about the Michaux serpentine cast-
iron frames breaking, the Oliviers realized by 1868 that they needed to replace that design
with the diagonal one which their competitors were already using, and the Michaux company
continued to dominate the industry in its first years.

On the new macadam paved boulevards of Paris it was easy riding, although initially still
using what was essentially horse coach technology. It was still called "velocipede" in France,
but in the United States, the machine was commonly called the "bone-shaker". Later
improvements included solid rubber tires and ball bearings. Lallement had left Paris in July
1865, crossed the Atlantic, settled in Connecticut and patented the velocipede, and the
number of associated inventions and patents soared in the US. The popularity of the machine
grew on both sides of the Atlantic and by 1868-69 the velocipede craze was strong in rural
areas as well. Even in a relatively small city such as Halifax, Canada, there were five
velocipede rinks, and riding schools began opening in many major urban centers. Essentially,
the velocipede was a stepping stone that created a market for bicycles that led to the
development of more advanced and efficient machines.

However, the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 destroyed the velocipede market in France, and
the "bone-shaker" enjoyed only a brief period of popularity in the United States, which ended
by 1870. There is debate among bicycle historians about why it failed in the United States,
but one explanation is that American road surfaces were much worse than European ones,
and riding the machine on these roads was simply too difficult. Certainly another factor was
that Calvin Witty had purchased Lallement's patent, and his royalty demands soon crippled
the industry. The UK was the only place where the bicycle never fell completely out of
favour.

1870s: the high-wheel bicycle

Main article: Penny-farthing
The high-bicycle was the logical extension of the boneshaker, the front wheel enlarging to
enable higher speeds (limited by the inside leg measurement of the rider),[15][16][17][18] the rear
wheel shrinking and the frame being made lighter. Frenchman Eugène Meyer is now
regarded as the father of the high bicycle[19] by the ICHC in place of James Starley. Meyer
invented the wire-spoke tension wheel in 1869 and produced a classic high bicycle design
until the 1880s.

A penny-farthing or ordinary bicycle photographed in the Škoda museum in the Czech Republic

James Starley in Coventry added the tangent spokes and the mounting step to his famous
bicycle named "Ariel." He is regarded as the father of the British cycling industry. Ball
bearings, solid rubber tires and hollow-section steel frames became standard, reducing weight
and making the ride much smoother. Depending on the rider's leg length, the front wheel
could now have a diameter up to 60 in (1.5 m).

Starley's "Royal Salvo" tricycle, as owned by Queen Victoria

This type of bicycle was retronymed the "ordinary" (since there were then no other kind)[20]
and was later nicknamed "penny-farthing" in England (a penny representing the front wheel,
and a coin smaller in size and value, the farthing, representing the rear). They were fast, but
unsafe. The rider was high up in the air and traveling at a great speed. If he hit a bad spot in
the road he could easily be thrown over the front wheel and be seriously injured (two broken
wrists were common, in attempts to break a fall)[21] or even killed. "Taking a header" (also
known as "coming a cropper"), was not at all uncommon. The rider's legs were often caught
underneath the handlebars, so falling free of the machine was often not possible. The
dangerous nature of these bicycles (as well as Victorian mores) made cycling the preserve of
adventurous young men. The risk averse, such as elderly gentlemen, preferred the more stable
tricycles or quadracycles. In addition, women's fashion of the day made the "ordinary"
bicycle inaccessible. Queen Victoria owned Starley's "Royal Salvo" tricycle, though there is
no evidence she actually rode it.

Although French and English inventors modified the velocipede into the high-wheel bicycle,
the French were still recovering from the Franco-Prussian war, so English entrepreneurs put
the high-wheeler on the English market, and the machine became very popular there,
Coventry, Oxford, Birmingham and Manchester being the centers of the English bicycle
industry (and of the arms or sewing machine industries, which had the necessary
metalworking and engineering skills for bicycle manufacturing, as in Paris and St. Etienne,
and in New England).[22] Soon bicycles found their way across the English Channel. By 1875,
high-wheel bicycles were becoming popular in France, though ridership expanded slowly.

In the United States, Bostonians such as Frank Weston started importing bicycles in 1877 and
1878, and Albert Augustus Pope started production of his "Columbia" high-wheelers in 1878,
and gained control of nearly all applicable patents, starting with Lallement's 1866 patent.
Pope lowered the royalty (licensing fee) previous patent owners charged, and took his
competitors to court over the patents. The courts supported him, and competitors either paid
royalties ($10 per bicycle), or he forced them out of business. There seems to have been no
patent issue in France, where English bicycles still dominated the market. By 1884 high-
wheelers and tricycles were relatively popular among a small group of upper-middle-class
people in all three countries, the largest group being in England. Their use also spread to the
rest of the world, chiefly because of the extent of the British Empire.

Pope also introduced mechanization and mass production (later copied and adopted by Ford
and General Motors),[23] vertically integrated,[24] (also later copied and adopted by Ford),
advertised aggressively[25] (as much as ten percent of all advertising in U.S. periodicals in
1898 was by bicycle makers),[26] promoted the Good Roads Movement (which had the side
benefit of acting as advertising, and of improving sales by providing more places to ride),[27]
and litigated on behalf of cyclists[27] (It would, however, be Western Wheel Company of
Chicago which would drastically reduce production costs by introducing stamping to the
production process in place of machining, significantly reducing costs, and thus prices.)[28] In
addition, bicycle makers adopted the annual model change[29] (later derided as planned
obsolescence, and usually credited to General Motors), which proved very successful.[30]

Even so, bicycling remained the province of the urban well-to-do, and mainly men, until the
1890s,[31] and was an example of conspicuous consumption.[32]

The safety bicycle: 1880s and 1890s

A 1884 McCammon safety bicycle[33]

A 1885 Whippet safety bicycle[34]

A 1889 Lady's safety bicycle

The development of the safety bicycle was arguably the most important change in the history
of the bicycle. It shifted their use and public perception from being a dangerous toy for
sporting young men to being an everyday transport tool for men—and, crucially, women—of
all ages.

Aside from the obvious safety problems, the high-wheeler's direct front wheel drive limited
its top speed. One attempt to solve both problems with a chain-driven front wheel was the
dwarf bicycle, exemplified by the Kangaroo. Inventors also tried a rear wheel chain drive.
Although Harry John Lawson invented a rear-chain-drive bicycle in 1879 with his
"bicyclette", it still had a huge front wheel and a small rear wheel. Detractors called it "The
Crocodile", and it failed in the market.

John Kemp Starley, James's nephew, produced the first successful "safety bicycle" (again a
retrospective name), the "Rover," in 1885, which he never patented. It featured a steerable
front wheel that had significant caster, equally sized wheels and a chain drive to the rear
wheel.[35]

Widely imitated, the safety bicycle completely replaced the high-wheeler in North America
and Western Europe by 1890. Meanwhile, John Dunlop's reinvention of the pneumatic
bicycle tire in 1888 had made for a much smoother ride on paved streets; the previous type
were quite smooth-riding, when used on the dirt roads common at the time.[36] As with the
original velocipede, safety bicycles had been much less comfortable than high-wheelers
precisely because of the smaller wheel size, and frames were often buttressed with
complicated bicycle suspension spring assemblies. The pneumatic tire made all of these
obsolete, and frame designers found a diamond pattern to be the strongest and most efficient
design.
On 10 October 1889, Isaac R Johnson, an African-American inventor, lodged his patent for a
folding bicycle - the first with a recognisably modern diamond frame, the pattern still used in
21st-century bicycles.

The chain drive improved comfort and speed, as the drive was transferred to the non-steering
rear wheel and allowed for smooth, relaxed and injury free pedaling (earlier designs that
required pedalling the steering front wheel were difficult to pedal while turning, due to the
misalignment of rotational planes of leg and pedal). With easier pedaling, the rider more
easily turned corners.

The pneumatic tire and the diamond frame improved rider comfort but do not form a crucial
design or safety feature. A hard rubber tire on a bicycle is just as rideable but is bone jarring.
The frame design allows for a lighter weight, and more simple construction and maintenance,
hence lower price.

The Bicycle Craze

With four key aspects (steering, safety, comfort and speed) improved over the penny-
farthing, bicycles became very popular among elites and the middle classes in Europe and
North America in the middle and late 1890s. It was the first bicycle that was suitable for
women, and as such the "freedom machine" (as American feminist Susan B. Anthony called
it)[citation needed] was taken up by women in large numbers.

Bicycle historians often call this period the "golden age" or "bicycle craze." By the start of
the 20th century, cycling had become an important means of transportation, and in the United
States an increasingly popular form of recreation. Bicycling clubs for men and women spread
across the U.S. and across European countries. Chicago immigrant Adolph Schoeninger with
his Western Wheel Works became the "Ford of the Bicycle" (ten years before Henry Ford) by
copying Pope's mass production methods and by introducing stamping to the production
process in place of machining, significantly reducing production costs, and thus prices.[28] His
"Crescent" bicycles thus became affordable for working people, and massive exports from the
United States lowered prices in Europe. The Panic of 1893 wiped out many American
manufacturers who had not followed the lead of Pope and Schoeninger, in the same way as
the Great Depression would ruin car makers who did not follow Ford.[37]
1897 ad, showing unskirted garment for women's bicycle riding

Bicycle suit vs conventional clothing

The impact of the bicycle on female emancipation should not be underestimated. The safety
bicycle gave women unprecedented mobility, contributing to their larger participation in the
lives of Western nations. As bicycles became safer and cheaper, more women had access to
the personal freedom they embodied, and so the bicycle came to symbolise the New Woman
of the late nineteenth century, especially in Britain and the United States. Feminists and
suffragists recognised its transformative power. Susan B. Anthony said, "Let me tell you
what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in
the world. It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance. I stand and rejoice every
time I see a woman ride by on a wheel...the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood." In
1895 Frances Willard, the tightly laced president of the Women’s Christian Temperance
Union, wrote a book called How I Learned to Ride the Bicycle (described in Bicycling
magazine as "the greatest book ever written on learning to ride"[38]), in which she praised the
bicycle she learned to ride late in life, and which she named "Gladys", for its "gladdening
effect" on her health and political optimism. Willard used a cycling metaphor to urge other
suffragists to action, proclaiming, "I would not waste my life in friction when it could be
turned into momentum."[39] Elizabeth Robins Pennell started cycling in the 1870s in
Philadelphia,[40] and from the 1880s onwards brought out a series of travelogues about her
cycling journeys around Europe, from A Canterbury Pilgrimage to Over the Alps on a
Bicycle. In 1895 Annie Londonderry became the first woman to bicycle around the world.

The backlash against the New (bicycling) Woman was demonstrated when the male
undergraduates of Cambridge University chose to show their opposition to the admission of
women as full members of the university by hanging a woman in effigy in the main town
square—tellingly, a woman on a bicycle—as late as 1897.[41]

Since women could not cycle in the then-current fashions for voluminous and restrictive
dress, the bicycle craze fed into a movement for so-called rational dress, which helped
liberate women from corsets and ankle-length skirts and other encumbering garments,
substituting the then-shocking bloomers.
20th century
The examples and perspective in this section may not represent a worldwide view of the
subject. You may improve this article, discuss the issue on the talk page, or create a new
article, as appropriate. (May 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

The roadster
Main article: Roadster (bicycle)

Bicycle in Plymouth at the start of the 20th century

The ladies' version of the roadster's design was very much in place by the 1890s. It had a
step-through frame rather than the diamond frame of the gentlemen's model so that ladies,
with their dresses and skirts, could easily mount and ride their bicycles, and commonly came
with a skirt guard to prevent skirts and dresses becoming entangled in the rear wheel and
spokes. As with the gents' roadster, the frame was of steel construction and the positioning of
the frame and handlebars gave the rider a very upright riding position. Though they originally
came with front spoon-brakes, technological advancements meant that later models were
equipped with the much-improved coaster brakes or rod-actuated rim or drum-brakes.

The Dutch cycle industry grew rapidly from the 1890s onwards. Since by then it was the
British who had the strongest and best-developed market in bike design, Dutch framemakers
either copied them or imported them from England. In 1895, 85 per cent of all bikes bought
in the Netherlands were from Britain; the vestiges of that influence can still be seen in the
solid, gentlemanly shape of a traditional Dutch bike even now.
[42]

Though the ladies' version of the roadster largely fell out of fashion in England and many
other Western nations as the 20th century progressed, it remains popular in the Netherlands;
this is why some people refer to bicycles of this design as Dutch bikes. In Dutch the name of
these bicycles is Omafiets ("grandma's bike").

Popularity in Europe, decline in US

Cycling steadily became more important in Europe over the first half of the twentieth
century, but it dropped off dramatically in the United States between 1900 and 1910.
Automobiles became the preferred means of transportation. Over the 1920s, bicycles
gradually became considered children's toys, and by 1940 most bicycles in the United States
were made for children. In Europe cycling remained an adult activity, and bicycle racing,
commuting, and "cyclotouring" were all popular activities. In addition, specialist bicycles for
children appeared before 1916.[43]

From the early 20th century until after World War II, the roadster constituted most adult
bicycles sold in the United Kingdom and in many parts of the British Empire. For many years
after the advent of the motorcycle and automobile, they remained a primary means of adult
transport. Major manufacturers in England were Raleigh and BSA, though Carlton, Phillips,
Triumph, Rudge-Whitworth, Hercules, and Elswick Hopper also made them.

Cycle tourism

Many cyclists wanted to use their machines to travel; some of them went around the world.
Annie Londonderry did so in the 1880s, taking 15 months.[44] Six Indian men cycled 71000
km around the world in the 1920s.[45]

Technical innovations

Bicycles continued to evolve to suit the varied needs of riders. The derailleur developed in
France between 1900 and 1910 among cyclotourists, and was improved over time. Only in
the 1930s did European racing organizations allow racers to use gearing; until then they were
forced to use a two-speed bicycle. The rear wheel had a sprocket on either side of the hub. To
change gears, the rider had to stop, remove the wheel, flip it around, and remount the wheel.
When racers were allowed to use derailleurs, racing times immediately dropped.

World War II

Although multiple-speed bicycles were widely known by this time, most or all military
bicycles used in the Second World War were single-speed.

China and the Flying Pigeon

The Flying Pigeon was at the forefront of the bicycle phenomenon in the People’s Republic
of China. The vehicle was the government approved form of transport, and the nation became
known as zixingche wang guo (自行车王国) — the 'Kingdom of Bicycles'. A bicycle was
regarded as one of the three "must-haves" of every citizen, alongside a sewing machine and
watch - essential items in life that also offered a hint of wealth. The Flying Pigeon bicycle
became a symbol of an egalitarian social system that promised little comfort but a reliable
ride through life.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the logo became synonymous with almost all bicycles in
the country. The Flying Pigeon became the single most popular mechanized vehicle on the
planet, becoming so ubiquitous that Deng Xiaoping — the post-Mao leader who launched
China's economic reforms in the 1970s — defined prosperity as "a Flying Pigeon in every
household".

In the early 1980s, Flying Pigeon was the country's biggest bike manufacturer, selling 3
million cycles in 1986. Its 20-kilo black single-speed models were popular with workers, and
there was a waiting list of several years to get one, and even then buyers needed good guanxi
(connections) in addition to the purchase cost, which was about four months' wages for most
workers.

North America: cruiser v racer

At mid-century there were two predominant bicycle styles for recreational cyclists in North
America. Heavyweight cruiser bicycles, preferred by the typical (hobby) cyclist,[46] featuring
balloon tires, pedal-driven "coaster" brakes and only one gear, were popular for their
durability, comfort, streamlined appearance, and a significant array of accessories (lights,
bells, springer forks, speedometers, etc..). Lighter cycles, with hand brakes, narrower tires,
and a three-speed hub gearing system, often imported from England, first became popular in
the United States in the late 1950s. These comfortable, practical bicycles usually offered
generator-powered headlamps, safety reflectors, kickstands, and frame-mounted tire pumps.
In the United Kingdom, like the rest of Europe, cycling was seen as less of a hobby, and
lightweight but durable bikes had been preferred for decades.[46]

In the United States, the sports roadster was imported after World War II, and was known as
the "English racer". It quickly became popular with adult cyclists seeking an alternative to the
traditional youth-oriented cruiser bicycle. While the English racer was no racing bike, it was
faster and better for climbing hills than the cruiser, thanks to its lighter weight, tall wheels,
narrow tires, and internally geared rear hubs. In the late 1950s, U.S. manufacturers such as
Schwinn began producing their own "lightweight" version of the English racer.

This racing bicycle has aluminum tubing, carbon fiber stays and forks, a drop handlebar, and narrow
tires and wheels.

In the late 1960s, spurred by Americans' increasing consciousness of the value of exercise
and later the advantage of energy efficient transportation led to the American bike boom of
the 1970s. Annual U.S. sales of adult bicycles doubled between 1960 and 1970, and doubled
again between 1971 and 1975, the peak years of the adult cycling boom in the United States,
eventually reaching nearly 17 million units.[47] Most of these sales were to new cyclists, who
overwhelmingly preferred models imitating popular European derailleur-equipped racing
bikes — variously called sports models, sport/tourers, or simply ten-speeds — to the older
roadsters with hub gears which remained much the same as they had been since the 1930s.[47]
[48]
These lighter bicycles, long used by serious cyclists and by racers, featured dropped
handlebars, narrow tires, derailleur gears, five to fifteen speeds, and a narrow 'racing' type
saddle. By 1980, racing and sport/touring derailleur bikes dominated the market in North
America.[47][49]
Europe

In Britain, the utility roadster declined noticeably in popularity during the early 1970s, as a
boom in recreational cycling caused manufacturers to concentrate on lightweight (10–14 kg
(23–30 lb)), affordable derailleur sport bikes, actually slightly-modified versions of the racing
bicycle of the era.[50]

In the early 1980s, Swedish company Itera invented a new type of bicycle, made entirely of
plastic. It was a commercial failure.

In the 1980s, U.K. cyclists began to shift from road-only bicycles to all-terrain models such
as the mountain bike. The mountain bike's sturdy frame and load-carrying ability gave it
additional versatility as a utility bike, usurping the role previously filled by the roadster. By
1990, the roadster was almost dead; while annual U.K. bicycle sales reached an all-time
record of 2.8 million, almost all of them were mountain and road/sport models.

BMX bikes

BMX bikes are specially designed bicycles that usually have 16 to 24-inch wheels (the norm
being the 20-inch wheel), originated in the state of California in the early 1970s, when
teenagers imitated their motocross heroes on their bicycles.[51] Children were racing standard
road bikes off-road, around purpose-built tracks in the Netherlands.[52] The 1971 motorcycle
racing documentary On Any Sunday is generally credited with inspiring the movement
nationally in the US. In the opening scene, kids are shown riding their Schwinn Sting-Rays
off-road. It was not until the middle of the decade the sport achieved critical mass, and
manufacturers began creating bicycles designed specially for the sport.

It has grown into an international sport with several different disciplines.

Mountain bikes
Main article: History of the mountain bike and mountain biking

In 1981, the first mass-produced mountain bike appeared, intended for use off-pavement over
a variety of surfaces. It was an immediate success, and examples flew off retailers' shelves
during the 1980s, their popularity spurred by the novelty of all-terrain cycling and the
increasing desire of urban dwellers to escape their surroundings via mountain biking and
other extreme sports. These cycles featured sturdier frames, wider tires with large knobs for
increased traction, a more upright seating position (to allow better visibility and shifting of
body weight), and increasingly, various front and rear suspension designs.[53] By 2000,
mountain bike sales had far outstripped that of racing, sport/racer, and touring bicycles.[citation
needed]

21st century
The 21st century has seen a continued application of technology to bicycles: in designing
them, building them, and using them. Bicycle frames and components continue to get lighter
and more aerodynamic without sacrificing strength largely through the use of computer aided
design, finite element analysis, and computational fluid dynamics. Recent discoveries about
bicycle stability have been facilitated by computer simulations.[54] Once designed, new
technology is applied to manufacturing such as hydroforming and automated carbon fiber
layup. Finally, electronic gadgetry has expanded from just cyclocomputers to now include
cycling power meters and electronic gear-shifting systems.

The 2005 Giant Innova is an example of a typical 700C hybrid bicycle. It has 27 speeds, front fork and
seat suspension, an adjustable stem and disc brakes for wet-weather riding.

Hybrid and commuter bicycles

In recent years, bicycle designs have trended towards increased specialization, as the number
of casual, recreational and commuter cyclists has grown. For these groups, the industry
responded with the hybrid bicycle, sometimes marketed as a city bike, cross bike, or
commuter bike.[53] Hybrid bicycles combine elements of road racing and mountain bikes,
though the term is applied to a wide variety of bicycle types. Hybrid bicycles and commuter
bicycles can range from fast and light racing-type bicycles with flat bars and other minimal
concessions to casual use, to wider-tired bikes designed for primarily for comfort, load-
carrying, and increased versatility over a range of different road surfaces.[53] Enclosed hub
gears have become popular again - now with up to 8, 11 or 14 gears - for such bicycles due to
ease of maintenance and improved technology.

Recumbent bicycle
Main article: Recumbent bicycle

2008 Nazca Fuego short wheelbase recumbent with 20" front wheel and 26" rear wheel.

In 1934, the Union Cycliste Internationale banned recumbent bicycles from all forms of
officially sanctioned racing, at the behest of the conventional bicycle industry, after relatively
little-known Francis Faure beat world champion Henri Lemoine and broke Oscar Egg's hour
record by half a mile while riding Mochet's Velocar.[11][55][56][57] Some authors assert that this
resulted in the stagnation of the upright racing bike's frame geometry which has remained
essentially unchanged for 70 years.[11][55][56] This stagnation finally started to reverse with the
formation of the International Human Powered Vehicle Association which holds races for
"banned" classes of bicycle.[55] Sam Whittingham set a human powered speed record of
132 km/h (82 mph) on level ground in a faired recumbent streamliner in 2009 at Battle
Mountain.[58]

While historically most bike frames have been steel, recent designs, particularly of high-end
racing bikes, have made extensive use of carbon and aluminum frames.

Recent years have also seen a resurgence of interest in balloon tire cruiser bicycles for their
low-tech comfort, reliability, and style.[citation needed]

In addition to influences derived from the evolution of American bicycling trends, European,
Asian and African cyclists have also continued to use traditional roadster bicycles, as their
rugged design, enclosed chainguards, and dependable hub gearing make them ideal for
commuting and utility cycling duty.[

Examples
Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote that the bicycle was a tool which motivated women to gain
strength and take on increased roles in society.[2] Susan B. Anthony stated in 1896: "Let me
tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than
anything else in the world. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a
wheel."[2]

Beatrice Grimshaw, who went on to a life of travel and adventure, describes a girlhood of
Victorian propriety, in which she was: "the Revolting Daughter–as they called them then. I
bought a bicycle, with difficulty. I rode it unchaperoned, mile and miles beyond the limits
possible to the soberly trotting horses. The world opened before me. And as soon as my
twenty-first birthday dawned, I went away from home, to see what the world might to give to
daughters who revolted."[5]