Kewanee's Love Affair with the Bicycle
February 2020 Kewanee’s Love Affair with the Bicycle Our Hometown Embraced the Two-Wheel Mania Which Swept the Country in the 1880s In 1418, an Italian en- Across Europe, improvements were made. Be- gineer, Giovanni Fontana, ginning in the 1860s, advances included adding designed arguably the first pedals attached to the front wheel. These became the human-powered device, first human powered vehicles to be called “bicycles.” with four wheels and a (Some called them “boneshakers” for their rough loop of rope connected by ride!) gears. To add stability, others experimented with an Fast-forward to 1817, oversized front wheel. Called “penny-farthings,” when a German aristo- these vehicles became all the rage during the 1870s crat and inventor, Karl and early 1880s. As a result, the first bicycle clubs von Drais, created a and competitive races came into being. Adding to two-wheeled vehicle the popularity, in 1884, an Englishman named known by many Thomas Stevens garnered notoriety by riding a names, including Drais- bike on a trip around the globe. ienne, dandy horse, and Fontana’s design But the penny-farthing’s four-foot high hobby horse. saddle made it hazardous to ride and thus was Riders propelled Drais’ wooden, not practical for most riders. A sudden 50-pound frame by pushing stop could cause the vehicle’s mo- off the ground with their mentum to send it and the rider feet. It didn’t include a over the front wheel with the chain, brakes or pedals. But rider landing on his head, because of his invention, an event from which the Drais became widely ack- Believed to term “taking a header” nowledged as the father of the be Drais on originated.
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