Bicycle
history
Credit for the first bicycle is usually to Kirkpatrick MacMillan, a Scottish
blacksmith. Although he supposedly built the first mechanical two-wheeler in the 1840s, it was the French who launched the bicycle in the 1860s.
For ten
years France maintained a leadership role but this was brought to an abrupt end with the
advent of the Franco-Prussian War. At that point England took over as leader of
the industry.
In 1888, when John Boyd Dunlop the pneumatic tire, bicycling became more than
just a sport for adventurous young men of that .
With the appearance of the "safety
bicycle" in 1890, this vehicle became a means of transport for everyone. By 1895
production by American manufacturers averaged half a million bicycles a year. In
of what was then a high price ($100), sales of the "safety bicycle" were
excellent.
If we stop to think what the bicycle brought to each person who purchased
one we understand why he or she wanted to . It was the only instrument
of individual physical freedom, the sole to go where you liked when you liked.
There was the horse, it is true, but it had to be fed, sheltered and cared for.
Except for a drop of oil now and then the bicycle required no such attention. It was
unique.
