Tag: Radical

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…

Strange Bikes: Ed Hood has been looking back in time when bikes were ‘innovative’ in very radical ways, and not always for the best. Here is his choice of radical/unorthodox bike designs, some artisan beauty and some just plain ugly.The low profile – The beginning of the end for Stephen RocheIt was Stephen Roche who said that with the advent of the low profile design, bicycles ceased to be beautiful. And whilst todays carbon – or is it plastic as the old boys say? machines are striking, it would be pushing it to call them beautiful in the way you can a 70s Raleigh, Bianchi or Masi. We thought it might be interesting to have a wander through some alternative…