A Brief Look at the History of the American Bicycle
BikesDirect opened for business over 15 years ago and serves customers nationwide through an online storefront that sells bicycles for a variety of recreational and sporting purposes. While BikesDirect focuses on the sale and distribution of some of the latest bicycle models, its history as an invention dates back almost 600 years and is generally shrouded in mystery due to the lack of consensus by historians on who created the first bicycle incarnation. For America, the first bicycles entered the market in the early 1800s. Designed by German Baron Karl Drais von Sauerbronn in 1817, the early ancestors of the modern wheel consisted of a steerable front wheel, padded seat, and armrest in front of the body. It received patents in Germany and Paris, France, although the French name vélocipède became the official term until the word “bicycle” came into use 52 years later. The velocipede continued to gain popularity in Europe until it caught the attention of New York resident W.K. Clarkson, Jr., who obtained a US patent for it in 1819. However, it didn’t acquire significant popularity in the US until 1868. Many eastern US cities began establishing riding schools and the activity gained considerable popularity among Harvard and Yale University students. Despite the spike in popularity, interest took a dive nearly a year later due to numerous design flaws and public ordinances against riding on pedestrian sidewalks. American interest in bicycles began rising again in the early 1870s after improvements made the bicycle easier to steer while requiring less physical strength and coordination. The importation of bicycles from England continued until 1878, during which time Albert A. Pope opened the first American manufacturing business at the Weed Sewing Machine Company factory in Hartford, Connecticut. Bicycles continued to evolve in design and function over the next decade, until they came to look as they do today.