Tag: highwheeler

The bicycle was introduced in the 19th century in Europe by German Inventor Karl von Drais. He is credited with developing the first bicycle. He introduced it to the people in Paris in 1818. It is supposed to originate from the human-powered vehicle called Draisines. Drais invented a walking machine that would help him get around the royal gardens faster. It was known by many names, including the “velocipede,” “dandy horse,” “hobby-horse,” “draisine” and “running machine. It had no pedals and its frame was a wooden beam. It had two same-size in-line wheels with the front one steerable and mounted in a frame which was straddled. In 1839, Kirkpatrick MacMillan, a Scottish blacksmith, allegedly completed construction of a pedal driven…

The name “Penny Farthing” refers to the size of the wheels on the high wheeled bicycles made popular back in the 1880’s, comparing the large “penny” (front wheel) to the small coinage known as a “Farthing” (rear wheel). This early version of the bicycle had no gears or chains and the pedals were attached directly to the front wheel. Each turn of the pedal rotated the wheel, the larger the wheel the faster and farther the bicycle could go. This bicycle, also known a “highwheeler”, “highboy”, and “ordinary” bicycle was the predecessor of the “safety” bicycle, similar to what we ride today.