Who Invented the Bicycle

An article by Peter Pierce    Comments Off

Bicycles were introduced in 17th century. It was the first medium of transport made using two wheels. The term Bicycle was coined in 1860 in France. The invention of bicycle has brought an enormous impact on society with respect to culture and development of modern industrial methods. It acted as a key factor to several developments in automobile industry.

The first bicycle is said to be invented by Pierre Michaux along with Pierre Lallement. In 1860, these Frenchmen added to the front wheel, a crank drive which had pedals. This sent the velocipede in a new direction, giving way to the modern bicycle. Though this had been tried many years ago with a prototype built by Douglas Grasso, it was Michaux and Lallement who gave the world a successful working model of the bicycle. Baron Van Drais from Germany had invented another bicycle in the year 1817. However, his invention was made of wood and steerable wheel with no pedals.

Bicycle as an important mode of transport for people picked up popularity in 19th century. This has been the principle mode of transportation in many countries for centuries now. It is a pedal driven and single track vehicle with two wheels, and the bicyclist or a cyclist is required to use human effort in order to propel the bicycle. However, with the gears being introduced in to cycles, the speed can now be easily increased with minimal effort.