Chronology of the Growth of Bicycling and the Development of Bicycle Technology
Note: Many people claim credit for inventing the first bicycle. The answer to the question often depends upon the nationality of who you ask; the French claim it was a Frenchman, Scots claim a Scotsman, the English an Englishman, and Americans often claim that it was an American. Since the early 1990's the International Cycling History Conferences, with proceedings Cycle History (San Francisco), has worked to get past the jingoism. Our current understanding of the history of the bicycle suggests that many people contributed ideas and developments:Date Development
1418 | Giovanni Fontana built the first human powered land vehicle -- it had four wheels and used an endless rope connected via gears to the wheels. |
1493 | Sketches showing a primitive version of a bicycle, purported drawn by Leonardo da Vinci, surfaced in 1974. Further examination of the drawings indicates these are not by da Vinci's hand. The speculation that these are a sketch by a pupil after a lost drawing by da Vinci is also considered false. An age test was performed, but the library in Milan (belonging to the Vatican) conceals its negative outcome, seehttp://www.cyclepublishing.com/history/leonardo%20da%20vinci%20bicycle.html . Experts consider the sketches a hoax. |
1791 | Comte de Sicrac is credited with building the "celerifer" - purportedly a hobby horse with two wheels instead of a rocker. This is now considered a patriotic hoax created by a French historian in 1891. It was debunked by a French researcher in 1976. In fact, a Jean Sievrac (!) of Marseille obtained an import price for a four-wheeled speed coach called celerifer in 1817. |
? | Heinrich Mylius' bicycle, the Heimat Museum, Themar, Germany |
1817 | |
1839 | Another entry in bicycle lore: Kirkpatric Mcmillan, a Scottish blacksmith adapted a treadle-type pedals to a bicycle, is considered a hoax, see the David Herlihy's book. |
1863 | |
1870 | Ordinary: These are better know as the "high wheelers". It is more comfortable to ride than its predecessor, but it requires an acrobat so they popularity has always been limited. This was the first all metal machine to appeared. (Previous to this metallurgy was not advanced enough to provide metal which was strong enough to make small, light parts out of.) The pedals were still attached |
1872 | Friedrich Fischer (German) first mass-produces steel ball bearings, patented by Jules Suriray in 1869. |
1876 | Browett and Harrison (English) patent an early caliper brake. |
1878 | Scott and Phillott (English) patent the first practicable epicyclic change-speed gear fitted into the hub of a front-driving bicycle. |
1878 | The first American manufacturer of cycles begun with the Columbia Bicycle at the Weed Sewing Machine Company factory in Hartford, Ct. The first regular trade catalogue was twenty pages long. The first bicycles were the 60" High Wheelers and sold for $125.00 when sewing machines sold for $13.00. |
1879 | Henry J. Lawson (English) patents a rear wheel, chain-driven safety bicycle, the “Bicyclette” (his earlier models were lever driven). |
1880 | Thomas Humber (English) adapts the block chain for use with his range of bicycles. |
1880's | |
1880 | Bicycle Activism: Good roads society organized by bicyclist and lobbied for good roads -- paving the way for motor vehicles! |
1884 | Thomas Stevens struck out across the country, carrying socks, a spare shirt and a slicker that doubled as tent and bedroll. Leaving San Francisco at 8 o'clock on April 22, 1884, he traveled eastward, reaching Boston after 3700 wagon trail miles, to complete the first transcontinental bicycle ride on August 4, 1884. After a pause, he continued east, circumnavigating earth, and returning to San Francisco on Dec 24, 1886. See Around the World by Bicycle, 2000 reenactment of 1884 ride, and 2006 reenactment of 1885 ride. |
1885 | ![]() |
1888 | Pneumatic tire: First applied to the bicycle by an Irish veterinarian who was trying to give his sickly young son a more comfortable ride on his tricycle. This inventive young doctor's name was Dunlop. Now that comfort and safety could be had in the same package, and that package was getting cheaper as manufacturing methods improved, everyone clamored to ride the bicycle. |
1890 | |
1890 | Mass Production: The bicycle helped make the Gay Nineties what they were. It was a practical investment for the working man as transportation, and gave him a much greater flexibility for leisure. Women would also start riding bicycles in much larger numbers. |
1894 | |
1894 1894 | Bamboo bikes are manufactured. |
1894-95 | Annie Kopchovsky (nee Cohan) (a.k.a. Annie Londonderry) was a Latvian Jewish immigrant to Boston, who traveled around the world. She started in Boston in June 1894 on her Sterling bike and finishing her ride in Chicago in Sept 1895. She was probably the first woman to take a bicycle on a world trip. Reports suggest that she traveled mainly on ships and trains -- riding her bicycles mostly to and from the main ports. She was sponsored by The Londonderry Lithia Spring Water Co. |
1895 | Ignatz Schwinn and Adolph Arnold formed Arnold, Schwinn & Company to produce bikes. Albert Pope purchased 75 small bicycle manufacturers to form the American Bicycle Company. |
1896 | "Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel. It gives woman a feeling of freedom and self-reliance." Susan B Anthony |
1898 1899 1900 | Major Taylor was the American cycling sprint champion, and he topped all European champions as well. Taylor was one of the first black athletes to become a world champion in any sport. (Taylor is celebrated in Andrew Richie's book |
1899-1901 | Bicycles first used in conflict in the Second Anglo-Boer War in South Africa. Military Bicycles: A Short History |
1903 | |
1920 | Kids Bikes: The focus of planning and development of the transportation infrastructure was the private automobiles. Bicycles use declined and the bicycle was considered primarily as children's toys. Kids bikes were introduced just after the First World War by several manufacturers, such as Mead, Sears Roebuck, and Montgomery Ward, to revitalize the bike industry (Schwinn made its big splash slightly later), these designs, now called "classic", featured automobile and motorcycle elements to appeal to kids who, presumably, would rather have a motor. If ever a bike needed a motor, this was it. These bikes evolved into the most glamorous, fabulous, ostentatious, heavy designs ever. It is unbelievable today that 14-year-old kids could do the tricks that we did on these 65 pound machines! They were built into the middle 50s, by which time they had taken on design elements of jet aircraft and even rockets. By the 60s, they were becoming leaner and simpler. |
1930 | Tullio Campagnolo patents the quick release hub. |
1930's | Schwinn introduced the fat tire, spring fork, streamline Excelsior, designed to take the abuse of teenage boys, which was the proto-type mountain bike. The Schwinn Excelsior frames became the model for the early mountain bikes almost fifty years later. |
1934 | Recumbents banned from racing. This had the effect of putting the recumbent bicycle design in the closet for fifty years, until it was re-discovered, primarily by MIT professor David Gordon Wilson and his students. |
1938 | Simplex introduced their cable shifted derailleur. |
Historic European footage of unusual bikes from the late 1930s and early 1940s.www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdlpJqHxLxk | |
1940 | Women bicyclists in the French Resistance. by Rebecca G. Halbreich, published in Ex Post Facto, 1994 |
1950s | |
1958 | Women ride in the first-ever World Championships on the road and track. Balina Ermolaeva becomes the first women's World Sprint Champion; Elsy Jacobs takes the road race. |
1962 | Renaissance: President's Council of Physical Fitness. Renewed interest in bicycle for recreation and fitness. This was the seed of a new major bicycle boom that accelerated through the 60's. The "English 3-speed" was the fancy consumer model of the time. Before the end of the decade it was the 10-speed derailleur "racing bike" which dominated the American market (the derailleur had been invented before the turn of the century and had been in more-or-less common use in Europe since). |
1970 | Earth Day: Increased awareness of westerns civilization's level of consumption of natural resources, air pollution, and destruction of the natural environment. This generated a new spurt in the growth of bicycle sales and bicycling, especially around college campuses. |
1973 | Oil embargo: Fuel shortages and shifts in relative price of transportation options created an environment which encouraged bicycle commuting. Many of the new recruits to bicycling stuck to it after the end of the embargo and became enthusiasts. There was also reinvigorated interest in the engineering of bicycles, including renewed interest and fairings. |
1977 | The prototype of the mountain bikes were first developed in Marin Co, California, north of San Francisco. Joe Breeze, Otis Guy, Gary Fisher, and Craig Mitchell were the earliest designers, builders and promoters. |
1978 | A new round of steep oil prices increases further encouraged bicycling. More bikes than car were being sold in the USA. Triple chain-ring cranks had become widely available, adding to the range of situation that bicycle were practical for. |
1980's | Renewed interests in health and fitness, by the middle and upper class perpetuated the acceptance and growth of commuting, recreational and touring bicycling. |
1980's | Bike messengers develop should backs to carry large envelopes flat. The style migrates into general use as an alternative to back packs, ruck sacks and purses. |
1980's | Aerobic exercisers take the padding out of bike shorts and use them in exercise class. The style migrates into general use -- some wearers haven't exercised in decades. |
1984 | Tour de France Feminine run for the first time (winner: Marianne Martin.) |
1984 | Women's road race included in the Olympics for the first time (winner: Connie Carpenter.) Successes by American racing cyclist in the 1984 Olympics drew attention and added prestige to cycling. The ranks of racing cyclists grew substantially. |
1984 | Cogs began to be added to the rear gear cluster the number of speeds increase from 15 to 18, 21 and 24. |
1984 | Three-time national XC champion Jacquie Phelan founds the Women's Mountain Bike and Tea Society; the first formal outreach organization for women. WOMBATS is dedicated to introducing women to mountain biking in a fun, non-competitive environment. |
1990 | Shimano (Japanese) introduces integrated brake/gear levers. |
1994 | Sachs (SRAM) introduces PowerDisc, the first mass-produced hydraulic disc brake system. |
1996 | Mountain Bike compete at the Olympic Games for the first time in Atlanta, GA USA. |
1986 | Department of the Interior and Nielson surveys show that bicycling is the third most popular participatory sport after swimming and general exercise. |
2000 | Rohloff Speedhub 14 speed internal hub gearing system, with no overlapping ratios and a gear range as wide as a 27-speed derailleur system. |
2002 | Campagnolo introduces 10 cog rear cluster, allowing 30 speed bicycles. |
National Bicycle History Archive of America™
Normal histories of most bicycle companies are non-existent or poorly documented. Information regarding specific years, precise details, and clear explanations of specific models is either non-existent or obscure at best. Nearly every bicycle book ever published completely deletes or glosses over the history of American-made bicycles of the period of 1920 to 1965. The few books which have attempted to address this era have been riddled with inaccuracies and/or missing information. Thus, the National Bicycle History Archive of America (NBHAA)™ has been organized to provide accurate and detailed information.
What is NBHAA?It is an archive of historical materials related to bicycles. Materials of NBHAA have been around informally since the 1970s. However since 1993, The Archive has been actively in the process of formally organizing both itself and the history of bicycles. A computerized database is being compiled and an index will soon be available to interested parties, organizations, schools and libraries via the Internet at
NBHAA focuses on the history of American bicycles and the American bicycle industry. This interest also includes history of bicycle dealers, wholesaler/distributors, industry personalities, etc. Of course the bicycles themselves are a central focus of The Archive.
Examples of some original printed matter are bound volumes of League of American Wheelmen (L.A.W.) bulletins from the late l800s to the 1930s; CTC Gazettes from 1800s to the 1930s; mint, autographed turn-of-century books from Thomas Stevens, Major Taylor, Karl Kron and others; one of the first known English language bicycle books (from 1869); a nearly complete run of Columbia bicycle catalogues from 1877 through 1990; industry trade publications such as American Bicyclist, Bicycle World, Bicycle Journal, - and much more. Photos range from tin types to 8xl0 glossies to color transparencies.
Archives of several bicycle (and bicycle-related) companies including Cleveland Welding Company, Shelby, Delta Electric, TroxeI, Colson, Whizzer Motor Bike, Bowden (Bomard), H.P. Snyder, D.P. Harris, Sears Roebuck, Spiegel, Montgomery Ward, Western Auto, Murray-Ohio, Monark-Silver King, Mead Cycle, Manton & Smith and many others have been largely saved and categorized. These archives include original catalogues, photos, factory letters, dealer books, original advertisements and related data.
Of special interest is the historical area of Classic Bicycles (1920 through 1965). These were the deluxe (usually American) bicycles with streamlined styling, fat tires, built-in gadgets such as lights, horns and speedometers. These bicycles were particularly well known to the baby-boomer generation.