Bicycle: The History

Bicycle: The History
by David V. Herlihy

Bicycle: The History
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Book Summary Information

Author: David V. Herlihy
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-08-16
ISBN: 0300120478
Number of pages: 480
Publisher: Yale University Press

Book Reviews of Bicycle: The History

Book Review: The Beautiful Invention
Summary: 5 Stars

In the second half of the 19th Century several machines engaged and excited the world's finest inventive minds. Among them were the sewing machine, the locomotive and the gun. But the machine that drew the most attention was the bicycle. In January and February of 1869, as the first craze for the early primitive bicycles hit the United States, the American patent office received about one hundred applications for improvements to the crank-driven two-wheeler. By March, over 100 more were either sent or announced.

Why? The bicycle was that deeply yearned-for device that would satisfy the centuries-old desire for cheap personal transportation.

David Herlihy's wonderful book tells the story of the invention and development of the bicycle from the first dreams set down on paper centuries ago to the present high-tech carbon fiber lightweight. While he covers the entire history of the bicycle, his main emphasis is on the nineteenth century, from 1817 when Karl von Drais made a two-wheeled hobby horse that would facilitate walking, to the bust of the great 1890's bicycle boom.

Along the way Herlihy ponders a couple of interesting questions. What, exactly is a bicycle and who invented it? That inquiry led him to conclude that Pierre Lallement, a Frenchman, is our hero. For the forty years after Drais built his "Draisine", the greatest mechanical minds searched for an efficient way propel the machine, but to no avail. It was Lallement who had the brilliant insight to attach pedaled cranks to the front wheel and turn them with his legs. And thus, the bicycle was born.

This early bicycle, or "Velocipede", was a far cry from the chain-driven modern bicycle that appeared in the late 1880's. Numerous technical improvements were needed, such as ball bearings, a cheap, reliable roller chain, high-quality steel tubing, and the tensioned wire wheel (called "spider wheels" at the time of their invention) before the "horse that eats no oats" could be realized.

Without getting bogged down in the minutia of the technology, yet filled with detail, Herlihy follows the avid inventors, excited cyclists and greedy businessmen as they sought to make and own ever better bikes.

There is a surprising nugget of information on every page. The differential gear, which allows a drive shaft to distribute the automobile's force to the rear wheels so that in a turn the inside wheel can rotate more slowly than the faster moving outside wheel, was invented for the tricycle.

The bicycle wrought profound social consequences. At times, fully one-third of the bicycle buyers in the nineteenth century were women as they used the bicycle as a tool of freedom and emancipation. Roads were improved at the urging of cyclists and thus the way for automobiles was made easier.

Lavishly illustrated, Bicycle took Herlihy fifteen years to complete. He is contemplating a sequel, taking up the story where he left off at the turn of the century. He had better not make us wait another fifteen years.
-Bill McGann, Author of The Story of the Tour de France

Summary of Bicycle: The History

This lively and lavishly illustrated book tells the extraordinary history of the bicycle, an invention that precipitated nothing short of a social revolution. Recounting a story replete with disputed patents, brilliant inventions, and missed opportunities, David Herlihy shows us why the bicycle captured the public?s imagination and the myriad ways it has reshaped our world. 
“A comprehensive genealogy of the two-wheeled savior of mass transit. . . . Herlihy takes what could have been just another history book and makes it a story worth telling your friends about.?—Publishers Weekly      
"Fun and informative."—Baltimore Sun 
“Immensely absorbing.?—Edward Koren, New York Times Book Review
"Lovingly written and beautifully illustrated."—David Schoonmaker, American Scientist 
“A delight.?—Robert Messenger, Wall Street Journal 
“Herlihy has traced the bicycle?s family tree with a thoroughness reminiscent of Laura Hillenbrand and her thoroughbred, Seabiscuit. . . . Bicycle is a good read for all and a must for the cyclist?s home library.?—Joe Simnacher, Dallas Morning News
"[One of] the best cycling-related books I've seen in the past decade."—Joe Lindsey, Mountain Bike

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