20 January 2026

The humble bicycle transformed societies by making it possible for ordinary people – both women and men – to travel independently beyond their immediate neighbourhood.  But which nation can claim the credit for this invention?  Stuart Warburton, who is a former curator of Snibston Discovery Park and an avid collector of veteran bicycles, assessed (quite literally) the runners and riders.

Italy’s claim can be dismissed: although there is a clear image of a bicycle in one of Leonardo da Vinci’s codexes, it turns out to have been a forgery added in the 1970s!  The first two-wheeled vehicle that the rider sat astride was Germany’s Laufmaschine.  Developed in 1816, when horses were in short supply because of the Napoleonic wars, it became a fad for a few years and was much satirized by cartoonists.  However, Stuart disqualifies it as a bicycle because the rider merely scooted along the ground.

Scottish court records of 1839 report that a blacksmith called Kirkpatrick MacMillan knocked over a child while riding his hand-cranked “velocipede” but we do not have any other details that could substantiate this as a claim to the bicycle as a British invention.

In Stuart’s opinion, the French have the best claim.  In 1861, both Ernest Michaux and Pierre Lallement sold a true bicycle with pedals, albeit they were located on the front axle.  (The two men disputed who had developed it first.)  Known in English as the “boneshaker”, this design rapidly became extremely popular, despite lacking gears and being too heavy to ride uphill.  The first British manufacturer was probably Rowley Turner, who took advantage of a slump in Coventry’s silk industry to set up a factory using the skills and labour available there – the foundation of the city’s motor industry.

Early bicycles were still expensive so were owned only by the upper and middle classes, who created clubs along military lines for touring and racing them.  Stuart was decked out in a club costume of the 1870s, with a pillbox hat, short tunic and breeches based on cavalry uniform.  Having a larger front wheel meant you could win more races, which led to the development of the penny-farthing (though that name was not used until much later).  They were difficult to get onto and could not be stopped suddenly without risk of injury so in the 1880s the “safety bicycle” was created.  It had wheels of roughly equal sizes and a chain drive to the rear wheel which, by using sprockets of different diameters, provided some gearing to make it easier to ride.  Later improvements included tubular frames, wire spokes and air-filled tyres.  The frame could be adapted so that ladies could ride in long skirts and soon cycling was accessible to everyone.

Cycling became a popular spectator sport and Leicester produced the 1887 world champion, Fred Wood.  Illicit drug use was an early problem: one of Stuart’s ancestors had been banned as a promoter for providing caffeine to his riders!  Many football clubs, including Leicester and Chelsea, began by making use of the spaces in the middle of cycle tracks.  Cycling also had effects on ladies’ fashions.  Culottes were developed to avoid “the passage of cold air” between the legs, while still keeping the ankles modestly hidden.  The Rational Dress Society campaigned against any fashion that “deforms the figure or impedes the movements of the body” and eventually, despite some setbacks in court, it became acceptable for female cyclists to dress in a more practical manner.