19th Century Bicycles

The Macmillan Bicycle

courtesy of Dumfries&Galloway
Family History Socity

The first bike was invented in France in 1790. It looked much like a wooden horse on wooden wheels. It was called a walk- along. The rider made the bike go by pushing with his feet. Those earlier models had no way of steering until thirty years later. In 1839, a blacksmith added foot pedals that turned the rear wheel. The inventor, Kirkpatrick Macmillan, was known as the first man to have dreamed up the first pedal-driven velocipede. A revolution for the bicycle at that time.

He bicycled 140 miles to Glasgow creating widespread interest. Even Queen Victoria and Prince Albert owned one of Macmillan's bicycles. Although he made and sold several of his bikes there were no further developments made upon his model. The reasons being that France, Germany, and England had their attention on a different mode of transportation. And the popularity of human-powered transportation fell in the shadow of the railway which was looming large at that time.

Ernest and Pierre Michaux

Ernest Michaux was called the "father of the bicycle" by the French. He and his brother Pierre added cranks and pedals as an improvement to Draisienne's bicycle. Pierre Michaux effectively commercialized their model and sparked interest in France and the United States. But the French had to turn their attention to the Franco-Prussin war of 1870-1871. They had to shut down their bicycle factories to focus on armaments. James Starley of Great Britain started where the French left off.

James Starley's Models

As early as 1870 James Starley began working on his "lever-tension" wheel. This had radial spokes and a lever for tensioning. By 1876 he had come up with the tangent-tension method of spoking. He was a self-made genius. This spoking method exists to this day. He developed the model known as the Penny Farthing. The Penny Farthing looked interesting enough with it's large wheel in the front and small wheel in the back. But not many people could ride it safely. However, after many accidents this lead Starley to make, yet, more changes. In 1885 he made the Velocipede a safer and more stable form of transportation. He returned the wheels to a reasonable size to assure stability. This was called the Rover model. It became the prototype for future technical and commercial development of the bicycle that we know today. James Starley did a great deal to improve upon the earlier models of the Velocipede. And was successful in making his mark. But everyone of these men and many more who attempted to create this concept of human-powered transportation were successful not in part but as a whole in bringing the dream of the bicycle to our reality. And we thank them for their efforts.

Even Leonardo Da Vinci enjoyed the concept
and artistry of the Bicycle