However, bicycle races were staged and well-attended by the public, which spread interest for the high-wheeler to the rest of Europe, the USA, and indeed all over the world because of the far-flung British colonies, by the end of the decade. In addition, they were expensive, and thus riders were mostly wealthy young men who formed an elite brotherhood. Front-wheel sizes quickly grew to as much as 5 feet (~1.5 meters), and the bicycles were considered by the general public to be quite dangerous. This type of bicycle was known in its day as the "ordinary", but people later began calling it a " penny-farthing" because of the resemblance of its wheel sizes to the largest and smallest English copper coins of the time today it is most often called a "high-wheel". But the design changed drastically, with the front wheel becoming larger and larger, and with many other improvements making the ride more comfortable. Another factor in their demise was the extremely uncomfortable ride, because of the stiff wrought-iron frame and wooden wheels surrounded by tires made of iron - this led to the pejorative name "boneshaker", which is still used today to refer to this type of bicycle.Īgain, England was the only place where the concept remained popular during the early 1870s. But exactly as with the dandy-horse, pedestrians complained about them, and the craze again faded quickly.
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They began the first mass-production of bicycles (still called "velocipedes") in 1868, as the first real bicycle craze had begun the year before, reaching full force all over Europe and America in 18. The Olivier brothers recognized the commercial potential of this invention, and set up a partnership with blacksmith and bicycle maker Pierre Michaux, using Michaux's name, already famous among enthusiasts of the new sport, for the company. Then in the early 1860s the first true bicycle was created in Paris, France, by attaching rotary cranks and pedals to the front wheel hub of a dandy-horse. But none of these achieved much popularity. Drais got a patent for his invention in 1818, and the craze swept Europe and the USA during the summer of 1819 while many manufacturers (notably Denis Johnson of London) either copied Drais's machine or created their own versions, then quickly died out as many pedestrians began to feel threatened by the machines and municipalities enacted laws prohibiting their use.ĭuring the next 43 years, chiefly in England, inventors continued to explore the concept of human-powered transport, but on vehicles with 3 or 4 wheels (called " tricycles" and " quadracycles" respectively), which were thought to be more stable, not requiring the balance that is necessary for 2-wheeled vehicles. This machine was invented by Baron Karl von Drais, and was called variously a " draisine" ( English) or "draisienne" ( French) after his name, a " velocipede" from the Latin terms for "fast foot", a "hobby horse", or a " dandy horse", the last name being perhaps the most popular. The first period which may be called a bicycle craze actually refers to a precursor of the bicycle which was pushed along by the feet on the ground as in walking, and did not have pedals.
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