THE HISTORY OF BICYCLE
Bicycles are an amazing invention !!!
It allows us to move so much faster and longer by using the same physical condition we use for walking or running, it multiplies human efficiency by a factor of approximately five.
It would suit a grate mined like Leonardo DaVinci to be the one to come up with such an idea, and indeed some historians would say that he or one of his students already sketched a facsimile of the modern bicycle in 1490. It was way ahead of its time, and as far as we know, never left the drawing board.
Humanity had to wait another 300 years until -Around 1790 a French craftsman named Comte Mede de Sivrac developed a "Celerifere" running machine, which had two in-line wheels connected by a beam. The rider straddled the beam and propelled the Celerifere by pushing his feet on the ground.
In 1817: Germany Baron Karl von Drais added steering. He invented the "Laufmaschine" or "Running Machine" it was made entirely of wood and had no pedals so the Riders propelled by paddling their feet on the ground. Several versions appeared around France and England by the early 1800s. As a replacement for the horse, these "hobby horses" became a short-lived craze. The roads of the time were too rutted to allow for efficient wheeled transport.
1839: Scottish blacksmith Kirkpatrick MacMillan developed a rear-drive bike, it was the first self-propelled bike using swinging cranks on the front wheel to power a pair of rods that were linked to levers on the back wheel. He lived in the Northern British Isles where people and ideas traveled slowly, so his invention didn't spread.
1843: Alexandre Lefebvre from France is credited with a rear-drive machine
1845: R.W. Thompson patented the pneumatic tube. Prior to this invention, bikes had metal wheels.
1851: Willard Sawyer from England exhibits his four-wheeled, crank-driven vehicle
1861 or 1863: Ernest Michaux from France known as the "father of the bicycle" together with his brother Pierre added cranks and pedals on the front wheel. Their Michaux Velocipede ("fast foot") started a bicycle boom, and it becomes the world's first mass-produced riding machine. The larger front wheel made it faster but less stable. The "boneshaker" as it was also known, for its rough ride, remained popular until about 1870.
1870: W.H.J. Grout from England patents the radially spoked, nipple adjusted bicycle wheel
1870 or 1871:
The British engineer, James Starley invented the "Penny Farthing" also known as the "High" or "Ordinary" bicycle , it was first all metal
machine (Previous to this metallurgy was not advanced enough to provide metal which was strong enough to make small, light parts out of), and the first really efficient bicycle, which has a dramatically large front wheel and a small rear wheel, pivoting on a simple tubular frame with tires of rubber. This allows riders to go farther with each revolution of the pedals. The bike required lots of skill and practice to ride.
1876: Browett and Harrison from England patent an early caliper brake.
1878: Scott and Phillott from England patent the first practicable epicyclic change-speed gear fitted into the hub of a front-driving bicycle.
1884: Englishman H.J. Larson designs the first chain-driven bike, which he named the Safety. His bike had medium-sized wheels of equal diameter. It was also more stable and easier to stop than the Ordinary. But Larson's bike never caught on.
1885: John Kemp Starley, James Starley's nephew, creates the Rover Safety, the prototype of the modern-day bike. Starley's bicycle had a saddle, handlebar grips, and rear placement of the crank axle, making the bike both easier and safer to ride. Safety bicycles, as they came to be called, featured the cross frame so familiar today.
1888: John Boyd Dunlop, a veterinarian in Belfast, Ireland, develops the pneumatic (air-filled) tire, which provides a smoother ride. Prior to this, solid rubber tires were used.
1890: France Cycles Aluminium becomes one of the earliest manufacturers of an aluminum bicycle.
1893: USA the Wright brothers decided to open up a bicycle shop. They sold bicycles and fixed old ones. When they decided to make the airplane, they used most of their knowledge from their bicycle career.
1900: Circa An English manufacturer develops a three-speed wheel hub for bikes, allowing riders to cover hilly terrain with less effort.
1905: France, Paul de Vivie (aka Velocio) invented a two speed derailleur
1910: France, Paul de Vivie (Velocio) from France invented the first, easy-to-use bike that shifted among four gears at the pedals.
1915: in Italy Bianchi produced a dual-suspension folding mountain bike for the Italian Army
1930: in Italy Tullio Campagnolo introduces the bicycle hub quick-release.
1934: in USA Schwinn introduces the balloon tire and the “streamlined” bikes
1938: sinplex introduced their cable shifted derailleur
1938: USA, Schwinn markets the "Fore-wheel" brake, "Cantilever Frame" and the "Spring Fork". Resulted in what was to be the Grandfather of today's mountain bikes.
1949: England, the Hercules Herailleur is launched; a rear derailleur with indexed shift levers.
1951: in Italy Campagnolo introduces the modern Gran Sport cable-operated, parallelogram derailleur
1960: The 10-speed gear shift becomes commonplace, though most bikes still had only one or three speeds
1963: Schwinn introduces the Sting-Ray, the first bike with a 'banana' seat and high-rise handlebars. This was the precursor to BMX bikes. Scot Breithaupt is credited as the founder of BMX.
1969: japan SunTour launches their indexed shift lever, the Five-Speed Click, and a combined freewheel-plus-rear hub, the Unit Hub. Neither of them found a market.
1974: USA Teledyne markets the first titanium bike
1975: USA Exxon Graftek introduces the first carbon-tubed, metal lugged frame.It was later perfected by Look, Trek and others.
1975: Gary Klein displays his welded and heat-treated aluminum frames at the International Bike show.
1978: USA Fomac Corporation designs the Avatar recumbent.though the recumbent was already known since before 1900 in one form or another, this bike had horizontal pedaling to allow greater thrust on the pedals. The lower seat allowed easier mounting and improved stability.
1979: Gary Fisher is introducing the first purpose-built mountain bike. The designs were basically road bicycle frames with a wider frame and fork to allow for a wider tire. The handlebars were also different in that they were a straight, transverse-mounted handlebar.
1981: The first mass-produced mountain bikes were produced by Specialized and were configured with 18 gears specialized
1983: USA Cannondale launch their “Aluminum for the Masses” bikes
1984: Cogs added to the rear gear cluster on some bikes allow the number of speeds to increase from 15 to 18, 21, and 24.
1985: Japan Shimano introduces the famous SIS indexed shifter
1990: Japan Shimano introduces the integrated brake/gear levers.
1993: France Mavic markets their ZAP electronic shifting.
1994: USA SRAM introduces Power-Disc, the first mass-produced hydraulic disc brake system.
1998: Germany Rohloff develops the Speed-hub, 14 equally-spaced hub gears which are operated by a twist-grip with no overlapping ratios and a gear range as wide as a 27-speed derailleur system.
2002: Italy Campagnolo offers a 30-speed derailleur drivetrain with the Record 3-x-10 drivetrain
2007 - 2008: don't you think its time for THE MAGIC BIKE
With lots of love and thanks hopping that soon we will all fill the change!
Magic
THE BICYCLE REVOLUTION IS YET TO COME !!!
