The bicycles history dates back to the 1490's. During this time Leonardo da Vinci, a famous artist, as an well as inventor created a primitive drawing of the bicycle. These pictures were more advanced then many ancestors of the modern day bicycle. Da Vinci's sketches showed a bicycle with gears and a chain rotating the rear wheel, but these bikes were not manufactured until the mid to late 1800's.

The first bicycle built was constructed by Baron Von Drai in 1817. His bicycle was called the hobby horse, its main body was made of wood and the front and rear were solid wooden forks allowing the rider very limited movement. It received the name hobby horse because of its size and shape. The hobby horse was ridden by the movement of your feet. (Like the Flintstones cartoon when Fred is driving his car.) These bicycles were very popular among the rich of the time, since no one else could afford them.

Around 1863 many different inventors experimented with different ways to modify the out of date hobby horse, so with

3) Kolin, Michael J., and De la Rosa, Denise M. The Custom Bicycle. Emmaus, Pa: Rodale Press, 1979.

In 1871 the more popular High Wheelers were being manufactured. A High Wheeler was a bicycle constructed of solid steel with a huge wheel in the front averaging in size of 5-6 feet and a smaller wheel in the back averaging in height 2 1/2 feet. The advancement from the Bone Shaker was that there were handle bars to steer the bike with as well as pedals to put the immense thing in motion. To mount the bicycle took acrobatic skills which made it hard for the average person to learn to ride. The High Wheeler was the first affordable bike of the time, it only took the average worker 6 months worth of his salary to buy one.(McGurn 157)

doing this is by changing styles of shifters from rapid fire index shifters to grip shifters that don't have as many moving parts making it lighter by a few grams.

In conclusion the bicycle starting as a wooden push horse to a machine capable of going over 50 mph. has under gone a metamorphosis in its 200 year life. The future is bright with the advancement of its popularity and technology. Who knows where the bicycle will be 100 years from today?

In 1962 the bicycle was modified from its single speed, kiddy bike format, to a more advanced speed machine. The bicycle was reshaped so it was more pleasurable as well as comfortable for people of all sizes. Some advances to the standard bicycle were a new frame made of aluminum and light weight steel,10 speed derailer that allowed the rider different ratios of gearing that made the bike more convenient, hand brakes that were controlled from the handle bars, wheels that were made of rubber tubing with a more rugged rubber outer layer that protected the wheel from easily being punctured, and suspension was brought back again.(Sloan 249) All of these improvements made the bike of today much more comfortable as well as affordable.

the new technology the new bicycle was known as the "Bone Shaker."(Lehrer 43) It was named this because of the hard materials used to make this bicycle, most were made of a wood frame with steel wheels. The movement of peoples feet were still used. With the wheels being made of steel, riders had a bone shaking experience while people rode them on the cobblestone streets.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1756
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)