Bicycles are well named. Their name means "two wheels."
No one knows who first had the idea of a bicycle. One of the earliest bicycles we know about was made by Baron Karl Drais, a German. He called it a draisine. The draisine was introduced into England in 1818. This bicycle had no pedals. It was made of two wheels joined by a wooden bar. The rider sat on the bar and kicked the ground to push himself along. The draisine was nicknamed the "dandy horse" because young English dandies liked to ride this new contraption.
Twenty-five years or so later a Scotch-man, Kirkpatrick MacMillan, built the first bicycle with pedals. The pedals turned the back wheel. No one paid much attention to this bicycle, although its inventor was arrested for "furious driving."
In 1866 a Frenchman, Fierre Lallement, was given the first patent for a bicycle. His bicycle was nicknamed a "boneshaker" because it jolted the rider so much. Its pedals were attached to the front wheel.
Someone then got the idea that a bicycle would go faster if the front wheel were bigger. Bicycles were made with front wheels almost as tall as a man and with very small back wheels. These bicycles did go fast, but they were hard to mount and to balance.
Then came bicycles with a big back wheel and a small front wheel. They were not easy to ride, either.
Finally bicycle makers went back to the idea of having two wheels of the same size. But the new bicycles were very much better than the early bicycles built on that plan. The rider, by pushing pedals, made a chain turn the back wheel. The chain was arranged so that turning the pedals once made the back wheel turn more than once around. These "safety" bicycles could go as fast as the big-wheeled ones. Improvements then came rapidly. Air-filled rubber tires, coaster brakes, and speed gears were a few of them. When safety bicycles were new, bicycles for two were a fad. There were even some bicycles for four riders.
Today many boys and girls in the United States have "bikes." Not many grown people do. In Europe the story is different. There, many grown people ride bicycles to work. It is a common sight in some cities to see the streets crowded with bicycles at the end of a working day.
