On Yer Bike! – The Tale of Two Wheels. The History of the Bicycle.

This video follows the evolution of the Bicycle from the running machine to the mountain bike.

We say it’s as easy as riding a bike it’s something that is so simple that we even teach our children how to do it learning to ride a bike as a child is a kind of write of Passage that most of us go through it’s so easy and the modern

Bicycle hasn’t changed much in the last 130 plus years even today how it’s possible to balance on two wheels is not entirely clear it is also not entirely clear why anyone would have thought of Designing such a thing the first diagram of something that looked anything like a

Bicycle was a sketch by Leonardo devinci dated 1493 he visualized the concept but he didn’t build it possibly because of the limited materials available at the time it wasn’t until the late 18th century that serious attempts at designing something like a bicycle began in 1817 Carl D a German Baron invented the

Dine or running machine it consisted of a wooden frame with two wheels and a handlebar for steering but it lacked pedals Riders propelled themselves by pushing their feet against the ground this was the period just after the Napoleonic Wars and a period of agricultural crisis and there were many

Failed harvests it is said that his reason for Designing this machine was to create a form of transport that was faster than walking at a time when there was an enormous shortage of fodder for horses the original draine was made mainly of wood and weighed about 22

Kilos a little under 550 lb in weight it might seem primitive and cumbersome by our standards but it managed to travel 13 km less than an hour on its first public trip not bad despite the fact that D took out a patent in 188 18 copies of his invention

Were soon appearing in various parts of Europe in England these were often referred to as Dandy horses and they were called Dandy horses because they were mainly ridden by dandies dandies Were Young Rich and fashionable men within a year more refined models were appearing and were often referred to in

London as the hobby horse these new versions contained more metal Parts which meant that the hobby horse was lighter than the original machine in 1839 in dumre in Scotland a man called KK Patrick McMillan at blacksmith is said to have devised the first kind of pedals for bicycles which

Involved iron wads which connected the back wheel to two tles which could be pushed by the feet as you can see here the rider needed to push the tles forwards instead of down and their position interfered with the steering of the front wheel it was pretty unstable and didn’t catch

On it was an engineering dead end however in 1863 pedals were added directly to the front wheel by Pierre mishel a French blacksmith that quickly became popular in the 1860s this design was known as the Michelle velocipede due to its velocity or speed LS complimentary name was the

Bone shaker referring to the disc Comfort associated with riding them on the rough roads of the period more about Comfort later most rows at this time were pretty rough and so all forms of bicycle could be described as bone shakers one way to overcome the problem was to increase the

Size of the wheels and thus even out the ride the penny faring or hide bicycle was born the penny farthing with its large front wheel and small rear wheel gained popularity in the 1870s is while it offered a smoother ride because of its larger wheel mounting and dismounting were challenging and

Accidents were common due to its high center of gravity they were the first machines to be popularly referred to as bicycles they were very popular with daring young men and racing them became a popular sport people who didn’t want the danger of these bikes used tricycles or other similar Vehicles which were

Pedal in the same way but with without the danger what was needed was a machine that combined the speed and versatility of the penny faving with the safety of the tricycle the safety bicycle featuring a chain driven system an equal-sized wheel and a lower center of gravity was introduced in the

1880s this design which closely resembles the modern bicycle provided safer and more stable ride leading to increased popularity this provoked a boom in bicycle sales for the first time you didn’t need to be an athlete or a daredevil to cycle cycling became not only a sport but also

A means of Transport from millions of people around the world and it gave personalized transport to women of all classes there was still a problem however the ride was very bumpy and uncomfortable John Boyd Dunlop was a Scottish vet and inventor who lived in Belfast it is said he developed the

Pneumatic inflatable Tire because his son complained that his tricycle gave him a sore bottom because of its solid wheels and the rough nature of Belfast streets the answer was pneumatic inflatable Tire which he developed in 1888 this Innovation greatly improved the comfort and traction making cycling more practical and enjoyable it was

Actually more efficient as well technically it reduced the unsprung weight when a solid wheel goes over a bump the whole wheel and therefore the whole bik has to go up as well this is not only uncomfortable but it uses a lot of energy when a pneumatic tire goes

Over a bump the tie is kind of squished a bit and it doesn’t raise the bicycle so much thus saving energy in time the potential of the pneumatic tires was recognized and the Dunlop company was founded it still exists today Dunlop himself took no part in the business but

He gained the loyalties and he lived comfortably with his son who no longer had a s bottom so all’s well that ends well there was one fly in the ointment another Scott Robert Thompson had taken out a patent for a pneumatic tire in 1845 43 years earlier however this

Patent had been for the Improvement of carriage reels but also with for applications in other rolling bodies whereas dunlop’s 1888 patent was for the Improvement in tires for wheels of bicycle tricycles and other road cars some might claim that t Dunlop stole the idea and some of Thompson’s supporters

Suggested that Dunlop had known Thompson back in Scotland years earlier I suspect we’ll never know the truth at this late stage but as we have seen in previous videos when you have lots of people working in the same area some people are bound to have the same or similar

Ideas in the 1890s there was a cycling boom with increased manufacturing improved designs and widespread popularity bicycles became a symbol of freedom and Independence both for men and women many manufacturers had started making bicycles originally in small workshops in the 20th century many of these built factories and the cost of

Bicycles continued to fall Brands like rale in Britain Schwin in the United States and bian in Italy and many many more became households old names other bicycle makers like the mois company in Oxford started with a small Bicycle Workshop but later moved on to make cars it’s interesting to compare the massive

Cly Car Works in the south of oxwood with the original little workshop in the city center during the turn of the 20th century cycling went from strength to strength bicycle racing was included in the first modern Olympics in 1896 the first tour to fronts started in 1903 in the 1930s geared bicycles became

Available making cycling even more accessible to a wider public the late 20th century bought Innovations like mountain bikes designed for off-road terrain and BMX bicycle motorcross popularized in as a sport this was allo helped by the development of newer lighter and stronger materials like Det tanium and carbon fiber these materials naturally

Found their way into conventional road bikes in the 20th century advancements in materials design and Technology have continued to improve bicycles electric bikes ebikes have gained popularity offering assisted pedaling and increased range I have to say that bicycles with electric motors feel like cheating to me transport congestion pollution reduction

And environmental concerns have really given the bicycle a new lease of Life the range of different types of bicycles now is quite incredible from mountain bikes Road Cruisers racing bikes and many many more cities all over the world have invested in bike rental schemes like this one combined with dedicated cycle

Lanes there are now over 1 billion bikes in the world in many countries the number of people using bicycles to commute to work has increased massively although obviously this varies according to infrastructure geography climate safety and many other factors in bicycle friendly cities like Copenhagen over 37%

Of people cycle to work so maybe climate is not such a deciding factor most people would say safety and infrastructure are the key elements as we go forward this wonderfully simple machine is likely to go from strength to strength not bad considering we still don’t know how the physics of cycling

Works bye for now