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Jan 1, 1490
A bicycle imaginary
Sketch created by Leonardo da Vinci -
The Celerifere
The first contraption that can realistically be said resembles a bicycle was constructed around 1790 by Comte Mede de Sivrac of France. Called a celerifere, it was a wooden scooter-like device with no pedals or steering. -
Walking Machine
Baron Von Drais invented the walking machine which was a bicycle without pedals so you walk in a gliding motion. It was made entirely of wood and wasn't practicle for main transportation. -
Human-Powered Cycles
In the intervening decades of the 1820s-1850s witnessed many developments concerning human-powered vehicles often using technologies similar to the draisine, even if the idea of a workable 2-wheel design, requiring the rider to balance, had been dismissed. These new machines had three wheels (tricycles) or four (quadracycles) and came in a very wide variety of designs, using pedals, treadles and hand-cranks, but these designs often suffered from high weight and high rolling resistance. -
Velocipede or Boneshaker
The velocipede also known as the boneshaker was invented. This time the bike had pedals that applied directly onto the front wheel. The bicycle was made purely of wood except for its metal wheels which made it very uncomfortable to ride. -
High Wheeled Bicycle
The high wheeled bicycle, also known as the penny farthing, was invented in 1870. It was the first completely metal bicycle with solid rubber tyres. They discovered the larger the wheel the further you could go on one rotation of the pedals. This meant that the front was larger than the back wheel. -
High Wheel Saftey Bicycle
In the 1880's they resolved the tipping forward problem of the high wheeled bicycle by swapping the wheels so the smallest wheel is at the front and the larger wheel is at the back. -
The Safety Bicycle
A major breakthrough came in 1885 with John Kemp Starley's the creation of (or maybe "return to" is more accurate) a bike design that featured a rider perched much lower between two wheels of the same size, coupled with a sprocket and chain system that drove the bike from the rear wheel. This was the same basic "diamond frame" design still in use in today's bikes. -
the American Thomas Stevens performs the first bicycle trip around the world
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Hard Tired Safey Bike
The invention of the hard tired saftey bicycle commenced in the 1890's. The design related back all the way to the walking machine with two wheels the same size. This was also the year the gears for bicycles' were invented and the hard tired saftey bicycle was the first bicycle to include bicycle gears. Hard tired bicycles had hard rubber tires which made riding it uncomfortable. -
Motorized Bicycles
In the 1900's a motor was added onto the bicycle to make a motorized bicycle and that was the start of the modern motor bikes today. The main reason people decided to make a motorized bicycle was to appeal to children who would rather a bicycle with a motor. -
Monareta Monark
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Chopper
In 1963 the chopper was invented. It was extremly popular with children. The inventors decided to change the design of the chopper so it wasn't to similar to the original design of bicycles. -
Mountain Bicycle
The prototype of the mountain bicycle was developed in Canada
in the year of 1977. -
Cogs Added
In the year 1984 they added cogs to the rear gears. This meant that gear speeds increased from 15 to 18 and 21 to 24. -
Personal Opinion
It is one of the best inventions that has made the human being, as it serves as a means of transport and improves our health,it is necessary to encourage the use of this means of transport to help our planet because it is in our hands the care of the nature that is why I quote Iris Murdoch and her sentence "The bicycle is the most civilized transport known to man. Other forms of transport grow each day more a nightmare. -
Glosary
contraption:machine,device, gadget
gliding : smooth, graceful
boneshaker:dilapidated vehicle:
sketch:A hasty or undetailed drawing or painting often made as a preliminary study.
appeal:An earnest or urgent request, entreaty, or supplication.
nightmarish:A dream arousing feelings of intense fear, horror, and distress.
conveyance:A means of conveying, especially a vehicle for transportation -
