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Cycling History – Your Passion In Pictures Contents Page Foreword – The Magical History of Cycling 4 How It All Began 5 Pedestrian Hobby-Horse 8 Lady’s Pedestrian Hobby-Horse 9 Macmillan’s Lever-Driven Bicycle 10 Sawyer’s Velocipede 11 Michaux Velocipede 12 Coventry Rotary Tricycle 13 Singer Tricycle 14 “Salvo” Tricycle 15 Lawson’s “Bicyclette” 16 Sociable Tricycle 17 Post Office Centre Cycles 18 “Invincible” Bicycle 19 Rucker Tandem Bicycle 20 “Rover” Safety Cycle 21 “Invincible” Tandem Tricycle 22 Olympia Tandem Tricycle 23 Publishing Copyright © Prime Source Products 2017 [1] Cycling History – Your Passion In Pictures The First Pneumatic-Tyred Bicycle 24 A Notable Tricyclist – F.T. Bidlake 25 Simpson Lever Chain 26 Companion Safety Bicycle 27 Bicycle of the Late ‘90s 28 Tandem of the ‘90s 29 Pacing Triplet 30 Novel Tandem of the ‘90s 31 Lady Cyclist, 1896 32 Dursley Pedersen Cantilever Bicycle 33 Lady Cyclist Wearing Divided Skirt 34 Lady Cyclist, 1939 35 Lady’s Bicycle (3 Speed Gear and Dynamo Lighting) 36 Italian Velocino Bicycle 37 Touring Tandem 38 Racing Tandem 39 Racing Tricycle 40 Path Racing Bicycle 41 Light Roadster Bicycle 42 Horizontal Bicycle 43 Road Time Trial Bicycle 44 Publishing Copyright © Prime Source Products 2017 [2] Cycling History – Your Passion In Pictures American Bicycle 45 Saddles 46 Family Tandem with Side-Car 47 Cyclists and the Y.H.A. 48 International Cycle Touring 49 Six-Day Racing 50 Massed-Start Racing Position 51 Track Tandem Position 52 Touring Position 53 Road Time Trial Position 54 Track Racing Position 55 Road Records: S.H. Ferris 56 Bicycle Polo 57 Conclusion 58 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission from the copyright owners. Publishing Copyright © Prime Source Products 2017 [3] Cycling History – Your Passion In Pictures Foreword The Magical History of Cycling Like it or loath it, history shapes us, shows and teaches us constantly. After all, everything we have and everything we see today has almost always been done before, albeit in a different way and day and age. Looking back we can see the origins of most of the things we take for granted today. Primitive, clumsy, unattractive and not terribly functional to our modern eye, they might have been, but the idea, the beginning was there. 2000 years old Roman villa central heating; Stevenson’s Rocket; wood, canvas and string aircraft; the first motor cars; and 1,001 other early ideas that shaped the lives we have today. There is a beauty in all ancient things, particularly those things in recent history that have evolved and are in everyday use today in the 21st century. One of the greatest inventions that has influenced the lives of both young and old worldwide is the bicycle, which remains the prime mode of transport for countless millions of people and which will undoubtedly continue to do so ad infinitum. In these pages you can wonder and marvel at the invention of the bicycle and see at first hand its early and subsequent development. Taken from early cigarette card artwork and drawings in the early 20th century, you have here a fascinating record of the birth and development of the cycle. Enjoy! Publishing Copyright © Prime Source Products 2017 [4] Cycling History – Your Passion In Pictures How It All Began! The Celerifere The first known attempt at two-wheeled personal transport is believed to have originated in France around 1790. Named a Celerifere it was little more than a wooden scooter with a saddle. There is no record of any real success or popularity with this machine. The Hobby Horse Although it could hardly be called a bicycle, the second recorded attempt at travel on two wheels was an invention by a gentleman by the name of Baron Von Drais in 1817. The machine consisted of two wood same-sized wheels mounted on a wooden frame. Sitting on a saddle between the two wheels, the rider propelled himself along by pushing the ground with his feet. There were no pedals, or brakes, although the front wheel could be steered. Known as the Draisienne it was nick-named the Hobby Horse and needless to say the contraption had very limited use and a short life, but it was the beginning of things to come! The Macmillan Pedal Bicycle It’s believed by some researchers of early cycling that the first true bicycle using pedals to propel it was an invention by a Scottish blacksmith named Kirkpatrick Macmillan in 1839. Kicking the ground with your feet to propel yourself along seemed ungainly and laborious to Macmillan and he set about creating a two-wheeled vehicle that could be ridden using pedals to drive the front wheel, which made riding more effective, faster, comfortable, and capable of longer journeys. Indeed it is recorded that Kirkpatrick rode his machine 68 miles to visit relatives. This created considerable publicity for his invention, but at what discomfort to his backside is not recorded considering the wooden wheels had iron rims ... ouch! Macmillan’s invention was soon copied and sold, but he made little money from his ideas. Publishing Copyright © Prime Source Products 2017 [5] Cycling History – Your Passion In Pictures The Velocipede The next big step in the world of cycling came around 1865 when a father and son team of carriage-makers in Paris, Pierre and Ernest Michaux, turned their attention to building a cycle (the Velocipede) that was driven via cranks and pedals connected to the front wheel. However an employee took the development details with him to America and filed for the first bicycle patent with the U.S. Patent Office in 1866. The Velocipede (“fast foot”) earned the nick-name “Boneshaker” due to its very rough ride caused by the iron frame and iron-clad wooden wheels. You must have been keen to buy a bike in those days!! Surprisingly, however, the first bicycle riding rinks for fun and exercise began to appear. The Penny Farthings During this time bicycles continued to evolve and change quite rapidly – the genie had been let out of the bottle, as they say – and cycling continued to grow and grow as the “everyman” mode of transport. Since pedals were attached to the front wheels, the only way to increase speed was to increase the size of the wheel. Inevitably this led to the ridiculous situation of what became known as the Penny Farthing bicycles, with a huge front wheel and a tiny rear wheel. Difficult to mount and dismount, they were precarious to ride and certainly not suitable for ladies of that time with their long voluminous dresses and skirts. It was obvious that changes to bicycle design were urgently required and so designers got to work to produce a more practical and safe bicycle. Among the many new designs was a kind of Penny Farthing in reverse bicycle. The big wheel became the rear wheel and the small wheel the front wheel. But although this was an improvement over the original Penny Farthing design, it was doomed to failure. High Wheel Tricycles These three-wheeled machines were designed with two large wheels at the rear and a single smaller wheel at the front. These tricycles were better suited for ladies and the more dignified members of society. Many of the design concepts used on these tricycles went on (modified, of course) to be used in the burgeoning car industry. Publishing Copyright © Prime Source Products 2017 [6] Cycling History – Your Passion In Pictures The Modern Age Bicycle Arrives 1885 was the year that saw the emergence of what can be truly called the modern bicycle, that is to say a machine that was of all metal construction and used technology which was the forerunner of what we still use today; technology which included a drive chain, a gear which enabled smaller size wheels to be used, and which greatly improved stability, control, safety and all-round performance. Five years later, the early 1890s, and bicycle production really began to explode with factories producing cycles with a double-diamond frame which has not changed hugely to this day. Things were moving forward fast in bicycle development at this time as more and more entrepreneurs saw the huge commercial and financial benefits that cycling could bring them. However, riding comfort was still a big issue as solid rubber tyres were still in use, but “cometh the hour, cometh the man” as the saying goes, and a young inventive Scottish veterinarian seeking to make cycling more comfortable for his son, invented the pneumatic tyre. This single invention revolutionised bicycles and cycling like nothing else, and indeed John Boyd Dunlop’s invention was to have massive implications for travel comfort and safety to this day. Along with suspension systems, long wheel spokes, bicycle frame designs for women, faster production systems and lower purchasing prices that put cycling within reach of ordinary folk, the bicycle revolution had finally arrived. Soon cycling clubs sprang up, as did cycle racing of all sorts including the legendary Tour de France in 1903. Cycling was here to stay for countless millions. The advent of the bicycle can never be under-estimated and its use and impact is still as huge now in the 21st century; and no doubt will continue to be so. The invention of the bicycle must rank with anything else invented since, in its impact and benefits to human- kind. From two wooden wheels, a plank of wood and a saddle, “the rest is history”, as they say.

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