Birth of the Bicycle

A 1st Look:

Observant folks will have noticed the date 1817 in the intro at the top of the page, and some have probably been wondering about that.....

Afterall, wasn't the 1st contraption to actually be called a "bicycle" invented in 1870, & weren't "safety bicycles" born in the 1880's?

Well, this site has a brief, and interesting, History of Bicycle Design.

And then there is this from a teaser on the Encyclopedia Britannica site ( but to read more about early bicycle history you have to have a subscription ):

"The first two-wheeled, rider-propelled machine of which there is evidence was the draisienne, invented by Baron Karl de Drais de Sauerbrun and exhibited in Paris on April 6, 1818."

Not to worry! Here is an interesting site I just discovered that has a wealth of information!

Pedaling History Bicycle Museum

Enjoy! :-)