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| Civil War Bike? |
Actually the first non-chain, non-pedal bicycle was called a Dandy Horse was invented by Baron Karl Von Drais in Mannheim in the summer of 1817. This bike in the photo which I took at our Civil War Muster today is a forerunner of the velocipede as it has a crank with pedals on the front tire. These bikes were made in the early 1860s, so I guess this man is period correct.Notice the wooden spokes as the wire spokes on bike tires did not emerge until around 1869. Even this man had to *Ride for Safety* as to avoid hitting these modern visitors. -Jimio :-]
Just think of the inhospitable conditions that awaited those first progenitors of bicycles. Only paths, tracks and dirt roads existed at that time. Rut filled, pothole laden, whoop-de-doo ridden roads. But there ARE publications out there that tell of bicycle advocates as being the driving force behind the majority of the first roads built! Jims Bike Blog has an article about that here: http://jimsbikeblog.wordpress.com/2012/02/09/hows-that-for-a-thank-you/
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