Among the early velocipedes there were designs with one, two, three, four, and even five wheels. Some two-wheeled designs had pedals mounted on the front wheel, while three- and four-wheeled designs sometimes used
treadles and
levers to drive the rear wheels. The earliest usable and much-copied velocipede was created by the German
Karl Drais and called a (German for 'running machine'), which he first rode on 12 June 1817. He obtained a patent in January 1818. This was the world's first
balance bicycle and quickly became popular in both the United Kingdom and France, where it was sometimes called a
draisine (German and English), (French), a (French), a
swiftwalker, a
dandy horse (as it was very popular among
dandies) or a
hobby horse. It was made entirely of wood and metal and despite the condition of the roads at the time was sometimes ridden for long distances. It was almost 40 years until
velocipede came into common usage as a generic term, with the launch of the first
pedal-equipped
bicycle, developed by
Pierre Michaux,
Pierre Lallement and the
Olivier brothers in the 1860s. The
Michaux company was the first to
mass-produce the velocipede, from 1857 to 1871. That French design was sometimes called the boneshaker, since it was also made entirely of wood, then later with metal tires. That feature, in combination with the
cobblestone roads of the day, made for an extremely uncomfortable ride. These velocipedes also became a fad, and indoor riding academies, similar to roller rinks, could be found in large cities. In 1891 (
Cycling Industry) magazine described as 'the oldest velocipede manufacturer in France', having been founded in 1876 by M. Reynard, and awarded the 'Diploma of honour' at the
(1878) (World's Fair). During the 1870s advances in metallurgy led to the development of the first all-metal velocipedes. The pedals were still attached directly to the front wheel, which became larger and larger as makers realised that the larger the wheel, the farther you could travel with one rotation of the pedals.
Solid rubber tires and the long spokes of the large front wheel provided a much smoother ride than its predecessor. This type of velocipede was the first one to be called a bicycle ("two wheel"), and its shape led to the nickname
penny-farthing in the United Kingdom. They enjoyed a great popularity among young men in the 1880s who could afford them. While young men were risking their necks on the high wheels, ladies and dignified gentlemen such as doctors and clergymen of the 1880s favoured the less risky tricycle. Many innovations for tricycles eventually found their way into the
automobile, such as
rack and pinion steering, the
differential, and
band brakes, the forerunners to
drum brakes. File:1880velocipede.jpg|1880 Velocipede File:The American Velocipede.jpg|
The American Velocipede, 1868, a
wood engraving from ''
Harper's Weekly'' File:McCall1869.jpg|
Thomas McCall in 1869 on his velocipede == Boneshaker ==