A Bumpy Ride

You know how to ride a bike. Just hop on and start pedaling. But what if your bike didn’t have pedals? Or brakes?

- Sharon Katz Cooper & Rachel Young

1818 How did bikes get started? A German forest ranger named Karl von Drais wanted a faster way to roam around the woods. His contraption, called a draisienne (he named it after himself, of course), didn’t have pedals. It was more like a sit-on scooter. Special schools sprang up to teach people how to ride these “hobbyhorses,” but only the rich could afford them. And the dirt roads, meant for real horses, were too rough for comfortable riding.

1821 The hobbyhorse needed more oomph, but people didn’t believe you could balance on two wheels without your feet touching the ground. One solution was a hobbyhorse with a handlebar you pulled to make the front wheel spin faster. These awkward machines were not a hit with anyone but mail carriers, who used them for deliveries.

1839 Kirkpatrick Macmillan, a Scottish blacksmith, built the first real bicycle, with foot pedals that turned the back wheel. It reached top speeds of 14 miles (23 km) per hour, but the pedal-powered bike was hard to steer. Macmillan caused the first bike wreck when he plowed into a crowd of people and knocked down a small child.

1861 A French carriage maker named Pierre Michaux moved the foot pedals to the front wheel. This made the “hobbyhorses” easier to ride, and more people began to try them out. They were even used in carousels at fairs. But with hard metal tires, the machines earned their nickname, “boneshakers.”