A brief History of the Bicycle

ooking back to the Penny-Farthing, with its large front wheel, the question is often asked: Why was it so designed? To answer this question, let us go back to the beginning and the invention of the first bicycle. That machine was called a Hobby Horse or Running Machine and was invented by a German Baron named Karl Von Drais. Patented in France in 1818 this invention was to kick-start the bicycle industry. The word "kick-start" is rather appropriate as the rider sat on a seat on the Hobby Horse, with legs astride, and propelled the machine by kicking against the road with his feet. However, the machine had a short life span and was improved when a Frenchman, Ernest Michaux, fitted pedals to the front wheel. That machine was known as the Velocipede and became available in the United Kingdom around 1869. When travelling along the rough roads of the day, the rider experienced terrible vibrations and this gave rise to the machine's nickname "Boneshaker". The wheels of the machine, as with the Hobby Horse, were made of wood with iron tyres - the luxury of pneumatic tyres had to wait for some years yet. To give the rider a more comfortable journey, the designers began to manufacture machines with larger front wheels - the bigger the front wheel the less chance of becoming lodged in a pothole - and within a very short time the front wheel tyres of iron where replaced with solid rubber.
These machines with large front wheels and solid rubber tyres take us a step into the next bicycle invention - the Penny Farthing or, to give it its correct name, the "Ordinary", "High Wheeler" or "Bicycle". These machines first appeared on British roads around the early 1870's and continued in use until the early 1890's, to be replaced by the solid rubber tyred bicycles known as Safety Bicycles.
It was the re-invention of the pneumatic tyre by Mr. John Boyd Dunlop in 1888 and the fitting of his tyres to the Safety Bicycle that "killed off" the Penny-Farthing. During the life of the latter-some 20 years or so- man had, for the first time, a machine that could out-distance a horse in a day's riding and, also for the first time, townspeople could ride out into the countryside. Village shopkeepers quickly took advantage of this new trade by providing refreshments and innkeepers provided overnight accommodation.
Ladies did not ride the Penny -Farthing and had to wait a few more years before "rational dress" came into fashion but they were able to ride tricycles as these could accommodate their long dresses.
As we look back over the years we must admire the courage and determination of the early riders who took heavy and cumbersome machines out on to the rough roads of the day and it is thanks to them that the modern bicycle has developed.
©David Higman 2002

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