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Today, the bicycle is the primary
transportation of the human race. About 1.6 billion bicycles are in use
throughout the world - in cosmopolitan cities, along remote country lanes,
and in the smallest villages - and hundreds of millions of bikes are
manufactured every year to meet the continuing demand for cheap wheeled
transport.
Yet the bicycle is hardly a new vision of how
humans can move. Historians speculate about Leonardo da
Vinci's 1490s drawings and a 1580s stained glass window in
England that appear to depict a two-wheeler. The first
widely recognized two-wheeler in actual use, however, was the pedal-less
Celerifere, a toy of the French nobility in the
1790s. The more famous Draisienne followed that
toy in 1816, still without pedals. The front wheel could be steered, and
this two-wheeler was eventually mass-produced in Europe, particularly in
England. Ernest Michaux added cranks to the
two-wheeler in 1855. At the age of 14, Michaux
copied the crank from a hand-grinding wheel in his father's
locksmithy and started a revolution in human
transportation - the Velocipede.
By 1870, sophisticated metal Velocipedes were
in production in Europe and the United
States. Over time, they gave way to the Ordinary or high-wheeler. The
Ordinary was the beginning of the heyday of bicycling. It was speedy and
capable of long trips on poor roads, so its use spread fast and far. In a
day when a skilled person might earn 25 cents per hour in wages, a good
Ordinary sold for $75 to $125, making it more expensive than building a
house. Nevertheless, they sold at a furious pace.
Ordinaries had a big problem, however. When
the front wheel came up against any obstacle that it could not roll over,
the bike simply pitched the rider headfirst onto the ground. Called a
"header," this characteristic problem spawned the "safety bicycle" in the
1890s. With two wheels of equal size, plus a roller chain geared
transmission, the safety bicycle was the direct ancestor of today's
machines. Not only were these practical machines, but also, with a slight
adaptation, they attracted thousands of women to cycling.
Now having transportation that did not need
assistance from anyone, women gained a larger measure of freedom than they
had enjoyed. The bicycle revolutionized female attire, making it a subject
of controversy. Schools sprang up to teach women to ride. Many historians
point to the safety bicycle as the beginnings of suffrage, women's rights,
and feminism.
Brakes, lights, innovative tires and
inventions of every sort were created to accompany the safety bicycle. In
fact, patents filed in the 1890s laid the groundwork for a startling number
of "state of the art" inventions a century later, in the 1990s. In
England, in 1909, the Raleigh bicycle, equipped
with a Sturmey Archer 3-Speed hub, started
production. The classic 3-speed bicycles based on the
Sturmey Archer 3-Speed hub design spread worldwide along with the
British Empire. These designs are still in production in British-built
plants in India, Africa, and China.
In the 1930s, British-built "lightweight"
bicycles, suitable for the packed earth of country roads, were being
imported into the United States. Used on
the gravel roads of the day, lightweights were unfortunately not as sturdy
as the riders in the U.S. required. The American balloon-tired cruiser
bicycle, equipped with a coaster brake, emerged out of a need for
unbreakable rough-road bicycles. Evolving rapidly into the "gas tank"
cruisers of the 195Os, these bicycles are still in production. Now, some
even are made with titanium frames and sophisticated internal hub
transmissions. Yet, they would blend into any street scene of the 1950s.
In the 1960s, the high-rise bicycle - a
20-inch wheel bicycle for children - was the success story of the decade.
The Schwinn Sting-Ray was the most desired
bicycle of the day, selling in tremendous volume. By the late 1960s,
European lightweight derailleur-equipped bicycles began to appear in the
United States. Common in Europe since the
1940s, with the Italians and the French dominating both racing and the
production of high performance bicycles, the 10-speed changed the look of
American cycling. The new look featured the dropped handlebar position,
which also reduced drag and increased speed.
The 10-speed bicycle fueled the astonishing
"Bike Boom" of the 1970s, during which Baby Boomers just reaching their
physical peak pedaled throughout the
United States and Canada, as well as many countries in Europe. The Japanese
introduced their first 10-speeds into the United States in the early 1970s.
The quality and value of their exports quickly gained them a dominant
position in the marketplace - even as it drove most European makers and
virtually all domestic manufacturers out of the adult bicycle market in the
United States.
At the same time in the
United States, BMX racing was being born in and started
to hit its stride late in the decade. BMX bicycles were descendants of the
high-rise bicycles of the 1960s. This exciting sport involved youthful
riders racing on a short, closed dirt track. In the early 1980s, a few
California riders started putting derailleur gears on old balloon-tire
cruisers and riding them down steep mountain roads. The bicycles they
created were the first mountain bikes. Those California riders, such as Gary
Fisher, Tom Ritchey, and Mike Sinyard
(Specialized), are now as famous as the labels on a number of popular brands
of mountain bikes.
During the same period, a few American bicycle
manufacturers started domestic production of aluminum and carbon fiber
bicycles. Superior products resulted in rapid growth and helped unseat
Japanese bicycle companies, who till then had held a dominant position. This
new U.S. production, combined with the
emergence of Taiwan and China as quality lower price bicycle builders,
emphasized the worldwide nature of the bicycle business in the 1980s and
90s.
The early 1980s saw the creation of the
"Freestyle" or trick bicycle. Originally a street sport, riding it grew into
a jaw-dropping spectacle of flying, leaping bicycles and dancing riders.
ESPN, ESPN2, and other television networks often feature this "X-treme"
new sport. Now in the late 1990s, the hybrid bicycle, the road bike, and the
mountain bike have proved to be the dominant machines of the decade.
In the near future, electrically assisted bicycles,
recumbent bicycles, and aerodynamic chassis for bicycles promise new levels
of comfort, speed, and efficiency for bike lovers.
From their beginning, bicycles have been high
technology. The steel two-wheelers of the 1860s were the most sophisticated
machines of their day. The ball bearing, the tensioned
spoked wheel, seamed and seamless tubing, pneumatic tires, roller
chains, planetary gears, and many more key mechanical inventions were first
created for the bicycle, and some even percolated out to improve other
devices that people find useful. Today, the bicycle continues to be the most
energy and cost efficient transportation device in the world. Bikes are
still high technology. They are made from the most advanced materials, with
bicycle builders using the same materials and techniques that the most
advanced military aircraft use.
After all, the first airplane was built in a
bicycle shop!
Centric Media, 1998
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