Showing posts with label j.b. dunlop. Show all posts
Showing posts with label j.b. dunlop. Show all posts

Monday, February 6, 2012

A brief history of the bicycle


With some of my recent posts about the new bikes for 2012, I thought it was about time to have a look at how the bicycle came to be.

The humble bicycle is almost unrecognisable to the rough drawing of one of Leonardo da Vinci’s students, in the 15th century. Despite all of the components being available to the general public, nobody considered putting them all together. It wasn’t for another few hundred years, before things really got going.

Karl Drais
The real history of the bike starts with Karl Friedrich Christian Ludwig Freiherr Drais von Sauerbronn, or simply known as Karl Drais. Aristocrat, Drais was one of the most creative of his time; however, he was regularly ridiculed by his peers. Many of his inventions are still in use today, including the meat grinder, but it was his bicycle that really made his famous.