With the advent of Lance Armstrong, bicycling has never been so popular. I’ve never seen so many amateur cyclists in spandex sailing past my house. Although not quite as old and time-honored as running or swimming, this endurance sport has a fascinating history all its own.

The bicycle was invented primarily as a mode of transportation in newly industrialized countries. Of course, the automobile rapidly replaced the bicycle as the primary transportation of Western cultures, but amazingly the bicycle remained. It became useful for transportation in cities, in the country, and for sports.

The Germans Were First

Sorry, but the French did not invent the modern bicycle. There were inventions upon which the French later improved.

The first documented two-wheeled machine was a sort of walking machine invented in 1817 by the German Baron von Drais. He modestly called the machine the Draisienne. The walking machine was mostly wood, had no pedals, but did include two inline wheels, the front of which was steer-able. You pushed your feet along the ground, propelling yourself into a kind of glide (about 7 miles/hr.).

While use of the Draisienne continued until the 1860's, it was little more than a fad of Segway-type proportions (no matter whose police department is purchasing the things). Working and middle class people could not afford these play-things of the rich.

Bone-shaking Changes

In 1865, a Scottish man by the name of Kirkpatrick MacMillan invented the velocipede or Boneshaker. A person could ride this contraption with both feet off the ground owing to the use of pedals attached to the front wheel. That is, if you wanted to risk your bottom by riding the thing through your hometown. The combination of its wooden wheels and old-fashioned street cobblestones did not make for comfortable cruising.

Interestingly, there are questions being raised about whether the velocipede ever actually existed.