History Of The Bicycle (1800s, invention, years, America)

[aliasfinn]

It's almost 200 years old.
I've been researching a lot on these early bicycles and was interested in some of the history. Some of the very first ones had wooden wheels and wrought iron frames and came out in the early 1800s. People complained that they were too uncomfortable to ride and became known as "boneshakers." They gradually improved the comfort of the ride with better wheels and a better seat, they didn't wear helmets so I guess they considered the arse more important than the noggin back in those days. I believe it was back then when doctors discovered what hemorrhoids were. Another bicycle called the "penny farthing" had a giant wheel in the front and a tiny wheel in the back, I wouldn't want to be on one of those when my tire got stuck in a freshly edged sidewalk crack, too high of a fall. Other people had their bicycles altered to ride on the rails of railroad tracks, trains go too fast these days to try that. These websites show some good pictures of the early bikes:

» 1819 Hobby Horse The Online Bicycle Museum


America on the Move | The Development of the Bicycle


The Boneshaker - a Bike Culture article on Cyclorama

[Clark Park]

Thanks for the links.

I knew nothing of "hobby-horses" or "velocipedes." I assumed the bicycle was a late Victorian invention of the 1890's.

[Donar]

Somewhere I have read that the bicycle was invented because so many horses died in the year without summer 1816.

[aliasfinn]

That first website has a drawing showing a guy sailing over the handlebars, I did that a few times after hitting the front brake on a ten speed. There's another drawing of a guy riding a 3-wheeler and he's hauling some broad sitting on a chair, he would only be able to do that coasting downhill. Is that a headstone in front of that tree? Maybe a rider smashed into the tree and that's where he was buried.