The bicycle: two centuries of change

AThe story of the bicycle begins in 1817 in the German city of Mannheim, where an inventor named Karl von Drais demonstrated what he called a “running machine”. It consisted of a wooden frame with two wheels in a line, a seat and a simple steering bar. There were no pedals: the rider sat on the frame and pushed against the ground with his feet, rather like a child on a modern balance bike. On a good road, Drais's machine could travel considerably faster than a person walking, and for a short time it became a fashionable novelty among wealthy young men in Europe. Some historians have suggested that Drais was looking for an alternative to the horse after poor harvests had made animal feed expensive, though this theory is difficult to prove. Whatever its origins, the craze soon faded, partly because riders were banned from pavements in several cities after colliding with pedestrians.

BFor the next fifty years, inventors experimented with ways of turning the wheels mechanically. By the 1860s, French manufacturers were attaching pedals directly to the front wheel. Because there were no gears, the only way to go faster was to make that wheel larger, since each turn of the pedals then carried the rider further. The result, in the 1870s, was the high-wheeler, later nicknamed the “penny-farthing”, whose front wheel could be as much as one and a half metres in diameter. These machines were fast, and they were used in some of the first organised races, but they were also extremely dangerous. The rider sat high above the front wheel, and any sudden stop, caused by a stone or a hole in the road, could throw him forwards over the handlebars. Cycling at this time was largely a sport for athletic young men who were willing to accept the risk.

CThe breakthrough came in the 1880s with what was called the “safety bicycle”. It had two wheels of equal size, and the rider sat between them, much lower to the ground. Instead of driving the front wheel directly, the pedals turned a chain connected to the rear wheel, and by using toothed wheels of different sizes, designers could make the wheel turn faster than the pedals without making it bigger. A few years later, the introduction of air-filled rubber tyres made the ride far more comfortable on rough roads. The basic design that resulted has hardly changed since. Within a decade, prices had fallen, production had increased dramatically, and cycling was no longer a dangerous hobby for the few but a practical activity for millions.

DThe effects of this boom reached far beyond transport. For many working people, the bicycle offered a cheap way to travel to jobs that were too far to reach on foot, and to explore the countryside at weekends. Its impact on women was particularly striking. Riding a bicycle in the long, heavy skirts of the period was difficult, and the popularity of cycling encouraged a move towards more practical clothing. More importantly, the bicycle allowed women to travel independently, without needing a male companion or a carriage. Some campaigners for women's rights at the end of the nineteenth century regarded it as a powerful symbol of freedom.

EIn the twentieth century, however, the bicycle's position in many Western countries was gradually undermined. As cars became affordable to ordinary families, roads were redesigned around the needs of motor traffic, and cycling came to be seen by many as slow, old-fashioned and increasingly dangerous. In some cities, the number of journeys made by bicycle fell sharply in the decades after the Second World War. The decline was not universal: in the Netherlands and Denmark, and in many parts of Asia, cycling remained an everyday form of transport. Even in these places, though, planners often had to fight to preserve space for cyclists.

FIn recent decades, the bicycle has regained much of the ground it lost. Concerns about traffic congestion, air pollution and public health have persuaded many city authorities to build separate cycle lanes and to introduce public bike-sharing schemes. Electric bicycles, which provide assistance from a battery-powered motor, have made cycling possible for people who live in hilly areas or who would otherwise find longer journeys too tiring. Not everyone has welcomed these changes; some drivers and shopkeepers complain that cycle lanes take away road space and parking. But it seems likely that a machine first demonstrated more than two hundred years ago will continue to play an important part in the future of urban transport.