bicycle history
Several Italians recorded designs for wind driven vehicles. The first was Guido da Vigevano in 1335. It was a windmill type drive to gears and thus to wheels. Vaturio designed a similar vehicle which was also never built. Later Leonardo da Vinci designed a clockwork driven tricycle with tiller steering and a differential mechanism between the rear wheels.

A Catholic priest named Father Ferdinand Verbiest has been said to have built a steam powered vehicle for the Chinese Emporer Chien Lung in about 1678. At a bicycle factory in Conventry, England, James Starley along with William Hillman designed the Ariel, an ordinary bicycle prototype that employed ribbon wheels which produced a patent for tension spokes. The Ariel is said to have been named after a so-called "tricksy spirit" appearing in one Shakespeare's works. This bicycle, a first with its all-metal construction, was even lighter than its predecessors, and it was the world's first model to employ a center steering head which is still used today in modern-day bicycles. Thanks to its adjustable crank and a number of other epoch-making new mechanisms, the Ariel racked up record speeds of between 23 and 24 km/h.

The first vehicle to move under its own power for which there is a record was designed by Nicholas Joseph Cugnot and constructed by M. Brezin in 1769. A replica of this vehicle is on display at the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers, in Paris. I believe that the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D. C. also has a large (half size ?) scale model. A second unit was built in 1770 which weighed 8000 pounds and had a top speed on 2 miles per hour and on the cobble stone streets of Paris this was probably as fast as anyone wanted to go it. The picture shows the first model on its first drive around Paris were it hit and knocked down a stone wall. It also had a tendency to tip over front-wards unless it was conter-weighted with a canon in the rear. the purpose of the vehicle was to haul canons around town.

In 1817 Baron von Drais invented a walking machine that would help him get around the royalThe first tricycle mass-produced by Coventry Lever, it was equipped with a Lever gear built by James Starley. The three-wheeled Salvo built by Starley, incorporated innovations such as a lighter frame, spoke wheels, and a highly advanced chain drive. It also placed emphasis on performance. In particular, the use of a balance gear or double-drive gear enabled smoother turning on curves because the outer wheel in respect to the curve was able to spin faster than the inner wheel. It was also equipped with a lamp for nighttime rides, and became a popular vehicle because it was more convenient and accessible than a horse carriage. gardens faster: two same-size in-line wheels, the front one steerable, mounted in a frame which you straddled. The device was propelled by pushing your feet against the ground, thus rolling yourself and the device forward in a sort of gliding walk. The machine became known as the Draisienne or hobby horse. It was made entirely of wood. This enjoyed a short lived popularity as a fad, not being practical for transportation in any other place than a well maintained pathway such as in a park or garden.

August 1888, William Steinway, owner of Steinway & Sons piano factory, talked to Daimler about US manufacturing right and by September had a deal. By 1891 the Daimler Motor Company, owned by Steinway, was producing petrol engines for tramway cars, carriages, quadricycles, fire engines and boats in a plant in Hartford, CT.The most successful bicycle was invented by the Englishman E.C.F. Otto during the heyday of the ordinary cycle in 1880. Its two large wheels placed side by side were driven by a left and right pedal. The vehicle enabled smooth turning by relaxing the pedal on the side of the turn so that the wheel on the other side spun faster. Compared to the ordinary cycle which placed the rider high in the air, the dicycle offered a more stable feeling, placing the rider between the right and left wheels. This high degree of safety made it a hot topic as the vehicle of the times. Upon the introduction of the dicycle, the Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA) in England almost immediately produced 1,000 of these vehicles.

February, 1893 and ready for road trials by September, 1893 the car built by Charles and Frank Duryea, brothers, was the first gasoline powered car in America. The first run on public roads was made on September 21, 1893 in Springfield, MA. They had purchased a used horse drawn buggy for $70 and installed a 4 HP, single cylinder gasoline engine. The car (buggy) had a friction transmission, spray carburetor and low tension ignition. It must not have run very well because Frank didn't drive it again until November 10 when it was reported by the Springfield Morning Union newspaper. This car was put into storage in 1894 and stayed there until 1920 when it was rescued by Inglis M. Uppercu and presented to the United States National Museum.

Ransom Olds produced a small number of electric cars around the turn of the century. Little isThe Bayliss Thomas actively incorporated a variety of new technologies to provide a more comfortable ride and achieve faster speeds. With this model, the once solid steel frame was replaced by hollow tubing including the front fork. This ordinary employed plain bearings in the wheel axles and achieved a weight of only 22 kg with the use of radial spokes, rubber pedals, and other light-weight innovations. known about them and none survive. The picture ar left is the only known picture of one of these rare cars. It was taken at was taken at Belle Island Park, Michigan. In 1899 and 1900, electrics outsold all other type of cars and the most popular electric was the Columbia built by Colonel Albert Augustus Pope, owner of American Bicycle Company. 
 

Who invented the bicycle? No one really knows. It seems the original bicycle, of course we are speaking of the non electric variety, dates back into the late 1700s and was known as velocipedes

The early bicycles were more like what we today call, a scooter, where one foot would remain on a platform between two wheels, while the other foot spent most of its time pushing you along.The Bayliss Thomas actively incorporated a variety of new technologies to provide a more comfortable ride and achieve faster speeds. With this model, the once solid steel frame was replaced by hollow tubing including the front fork. This ordinary employed plain bearings in the wheel axles and achieved a weight of only 22 kg with the use of radial spokes, rubber pedals, and other light-weight innovations.

Approaching the mid 1800s a Scottsman, Kirkpatrick MacMillan, developed a treadle that would propel the bicycle allow the rider to remain on the bicycle at all times, except of course, when stopping.

A major advancement came in the later mid 1800s when two French entrepreneurs, Ernest Michaux and Pierre Lallement, devised a method to attach pedals to a larger from wheel. By 1866 Lallement had migrated to America and received a patent on his bicycle. It was called the boneshaker. It must of been something you didn't want to ride as it had wooden wheels wrapped in steel.

In the 1870s a James Starley made some changes to the contraption placing the rider higher over the pedals and increased the front wheel size to allow for greater speed. He also developed a rubber tire which must of been something to ride! The trouble with this bike was that when you fell over, you could really get hurt. This modern bicycle was called an ordinary.

Eventually another ordinary was introduced. 1879 The Bayliss Thomas actively incorporated a variety of new technologies.The dwarf ordinary which had a smaller front wheel, a seat further back and gears came into the picture. Further down the road James Starley's nephew JH Lawson brought about even more change. They addressed the difficulty of front wheel steering and propulsion with a real advancement, putting the drive wheels in back. So in 1885 the drive wheels moved to the back, a chain was employed to turn the back wheels and the Rover was born. This modernized version of todays bicycle were called Safeties or Safety Bicycles. Of course there was a bit more to it all than I've portrayed, but hey, this is just a quick history of the bicycle for you to peruse.

All of this ushed in the 1890s, which by some, is referred to as the Golden Age of Bicycles. Soon This is the safety bicycle produce at the Miyata Gun Factory in 1892 by Eisuke Miyata.came John Dunlop who gave us the pneumatic tire. Many changes occured to our bicycles during this time which really brought them into something that we would recognize today, with brakes, handrails and hand operated brakes. Racing and bicycling clubs became popular and the bicycle was not the main mode of transportation for many, many people.

Motorization, of course, slowed sales in bicycles. By 1910 the heyday was over in America, and many part of Europe. The bicycle remains today as a primary mode of transportation in many countries in Asia, China and Europe.
1928 by Nichibei Shoten.
In countries where there is a strong bicycle culture notably in Asia, the motorized bicycle is particularly popular; in 1996 Shanghai had 370,000 motorized bicycles, and 470,000 other vehicles

http://www.cycle-info.bpaj.or.jp/english/learn/chistory4.html

bi·cy·cle n. A vehicle consisting of a light frame mounted on two wire-spooked wheels one behind the other and having a seat, handlebars for steering, brakes, and two pedals or a small motor by which it is driven. 
Function: noun Etymology: French, from bi- + -cycle (as in tricycle)
: a vehicle with two wheels tandem, handlebars for steering, a saddle seat, and pedals by which it is propelled.
 
bicycle, light, two-wheeled vehicle driven by pedals. The name velocipede is often given to early forms of the bicycle and to its predecessor, the dandy horse, a two-wheeled vehicle moved by the thrust of the rider's feet upon the ground. Probably the first practical dandy horse was the draisine, originated c.1816 by Baron Karl Drais von Sauerbronn, chief forester of the duchy of Baden, to facilitate his inspection tours. Introduced into England in 1818, it was slowly improved, and c.1839 Kirkpatrick MacMillan, a Scottish blacksmith, developed a machine propelled by foot treadles and incorporating cranks, driving rods, and handlebars. The French inventor Ernest Michaux introduced in 1855 a heavy crank-driven bicycle. This was perfected c.1865 by Pierre Lallement, whose velocipede, known as a boneshaker, ran on ironclad wooden rims, the front wheel larger than the rear. Major improvements followed rapidly, including a light, hollow steel frame, ball bearings, tangential metal spokes, and solid rubber tires. By the 1880s the front wheel attained a diameter up to 64 in. (163 cm). Although the larger the wheel, the greater the potential speed, size was limited by the length of the rider's legs, and speed by their strength. The safer tricycle, a three-wheeled vehicle similar to the bicycle, also enjoyed a vogue in the 1880s, especially among women and short men. The safety bicycle, with wheels of approximately equal diameter and a sprocket-chain drive connecting the pedals with the rear wheels, was first manufactured at Coventry, England, c.1885 by the English machinist James Starley; following the invention of the pneumatic tire in 1888 by the Scot John Dunlop, the safety bicycle superseded the high-wheel form. Subsequent modifications include the freewheel (a rear wheel that turns freely when the pedals are stopped), the coaster brake, the hand brake, variable drive gear, and adjustable handlebars. In the 1880s cycling became a fad of major proportions in the United States and Europe. Bicycle clubs were formed; both sexes participated in rides into the country, often on tandem bicycles. The League of American Wheelmen, organized in 1880, was a leader in the agitation for good roads. Although cycling declined in the United States with the introduction of automobiles, it has recently grown in popularity, notably since the introduction in the 1970s of wide-tired, off-road mountain bikes. In many parts of the world the bicycle remains a more important means of transportation than the automobile
 

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