The bicycles, with pedals and cranks, first appeared in France around These pedals were attached to the front wheel of the bicycle. This design meant that bicycles were difficult to steer. The frame shapes were also rather wild and typically curved. Manufacturers moved towards a diamond-shaped body, made from steel tubing as it was much stronger and lighter.
The penny-farthing was invented as a way of increasing the maximum speed of the bicycle. That is because, in bicycles with front-mounted pedals, the rotational speed is limited to the size of the wheel. However, with a penny-farthing, the maximum speed is still limited by the leg length of the rider. Penny-farthings were extremely unsafe given their instability and high center of gravity.
Riders would frequently die when their legs became trapped in the spokes and they would have to step off their bicycles when traveling downhill, as most brakes were rear-mounted or, in the case of fixed pedals, were operated by simply backpedaling. The design featured a chain-driven, rear wheel. However, the wheels were often differently sized and the frames were frequently somewhat bizarrely shaped.
Shortly after this the introduction of pneumatic tires and ball bearing hubs made for a smoother ride. The upright bicycle became the standard as recumbent bicycles were banned from competitions, due to the increased speed possible with such designs.
The first breaks were spoon brakes. They were operated by a cord or lever and pressed down onto the rear wheel. The front brake was introduced in by John Kean. First high wheel models become available during s in England, where they were received in good light. Today that invention is regarded as one of the most important moments in bicycle history.
It had featured chain that connected pedals to the rear wheel and steerable front wheel. Since that time, bicycle design and equipment became standardized across the world and they satisfied all four basic aspects — safety, speed, comfort and steering. They all had the basic diamond shape made from metal, pneumatic rubber tires, roller chain, one gear, coaster brakes and more.
In , before obtaining a patent for his vehicle, Lallement exhibited his creation publicly, which may explain how Aime and Rene Olivier — two sons of a wealthy Parisian industrialist — learned of his invention and decided to create a velocipede of their own. Together with a classmate, Georges de la Bouglise, the young men enlisted Pierre Michaux, a blacksmith and carriage maker, to create the parts they needed for their invention. Michaux and the Olivier brothers began marketing their velocipede with pedals in , and the device was a hit.
Because of disagreements over design and financial matters, the company that Michaux and the Oliviers founded together eventually dissolved, but the Olivier-owned Compagnie Parisienne lived on.
By , cyclists were fed up with the lumbering bone-shaker design popularized by Michaux, and manufacturers responded with new designs. Also by , metallurgy had advanced enough that bicycle frames could be made of metal, which was stronger and lighter than wood, according to the IBF. One popular design was the high wheeler, also known as the penny farthing because of the size of the wheels.
A farthing was a British coin that was worth one-fourth of a penny. A penny farthing featured a smoother rise than its predecessor, due to its solid rubber tires and long spokes. Front wheels became larger and larger as manufacturers realized that the larger thre wheel, the farther one could travel with one rotation of the pedals.
A riding enthusiast could get a wheel as large as their legs were long. Unfortunately, the large front-wheel design championed by thrill-seeking young men — many of whom took to racing these contraptions at newly founded bicycle clubs across Europe — was not practical for most riders. If the rider needed to stop suddenly, momentum carries the entire contraption over the front wheel and landed the rider on his head. This is where the term "taking a header" came into being, according to the IBF.
Enthusiasm for penny-farthings remained tepid until an English inventor named John Kemp Starley came up with a winning idea for a "safety bicycle" in the s. Starley began successfully marketing his bicycles in , when he introduced the "Ariel" bicycle in Britain, kicking off that nation's role as the leader in bicycle innovation for many decades to come. Starley is perhaps best known for his invention of the tangent-spoke wheel in This tension-absorbing front wheel was a vast improvement over the wheels found on earlier bicycles and helped make bike riding a somewhat comfortable, enjoyable activity for the first time in history.
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