Bicycles – History & Uses

The first bicycles made the transition from 2-wheeled push vehicles to driver powered vehicles in the 19th century and have since grown in number to about 1 billion throughout the world. Bicycles are not only a popular form of recreation, but are used for commuting, as kids’ toys, for sports and used in military applications.

The Frenchmen Pierre Michaux and Pierre Lallement are credited with adding a crank drive with pedals onto the front wheel of early push-bike versions of the bicycle thus creating the first driver powered bicycle. Their 1860s invention developed into the Penny Farthing which had a tubular steel frame and wire-spoked wheels. These bicycles were very hard to ride due to uneven weight distribution. Mr Starley developed the first chain driven bicycle in 1885 thus creating the modern bicycle as we know it today.

Bicycles have a variety of uses:

Commuting
Work - used to deliver post, by police patrols and by courier services
Recreation
Sports
Military – mainly used by bicycle infantry units and scouts
Entertainment

There are a variety of bicycle types like:

Mountain bikes
Racing bikes
BMX bikes
Tandem bikes
Folding bikes