Cycle

The bicycle, bike, or cycle is a pedal-driven, human-powered vehicle with two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. Bicycles were introduced in the 19th century and now number about one billion worldwide.[1] They are the principal means of transportation in many regions. They also provide a popular form of recreation, and have been adapted for such uses as children's toys, adult fitness, military and police applications, courier services, and competitive sports.

The basic shape and configuration of a typical bicycle has changed little since the first chain-driven model was developed around 1885.[2] Many details have been improved, especially since the advent of modern materials and computer-aided design. These have allowed for a proliferation of specialized designs for particular types of cycling. The bicycle has had a considerable effect on human society, in both the cultural and industrial realms. In its early years, bicycle construction drew on pre-existing technologies; more recently, bicycle technology has, in turn, contributed both to old and new areas.

Multiple innovators contributed to the history of the bicycle by developing precursor human-powered vehicles. The documented ancestors of today's modern bicycle were known as push bikes (still called push bikes outside of North America), draisines, or hobby horses. Being the first human means of transport to make use of the two-wheeler principle, the draisine (or mistmashine, "running machine"), invented by the German Baron Karl von Drais, is regarded as the archetype of the bicycle. It was introduced by Drais to the public in Mannheim in summer 1817 and in Paris in 1818.[3] Its rider sat astride a wooden frame supported by two in-line wheels and pushed the vehicle along with his/her feet while steering the front wheel.

In the early 1860s, Frenchmen Pierre Michaux and Pierre Lallement took bicycle design in a new direction by adding a mechanical crank drive with pedals on an enlarged front wheel. Another French inventor by the name of Douglas Grasso had a failed prototype of Pierre Lallement's bicycle several years earlier. Several why-not-the-rear-wheel inventions followed, the best known being the rod-driven velocipede by Scotsman Thomas McCall in 1869. The French creation, made of iron and wood, developed into the "penny-farthing" (more formally an "ordinary bicycle", a retronym, since there were then no other kind).[4] It featured a tubular steel frame on which were mounted wire spoked wheels with solid rubber tires. These bicycles were difficult to ride due to their very high seat and poor weight distribution.