Bicycle: The History (review)

Many epochal technological innovations have had their critics as well as their enthusiasts, but who can find fault with the bicycle? For environmentalists and supporters of appropriate technologies, the bicycle offers a nonpolluting, energy-efficient, and inexpensive means of transportation. For lovers of high tech, there are carbon-fiber frames, ultra-lightweight components, and ergonomically designed saddles to inspire awe and indebtedness. On an academic plane, the history of the bicycle offers a set of fascinating case studies in topics such as the process of innovation, the interaction of artifacts with their users, and the ways in which new technologies both shape and reflect their social and cultural environments.

The history of the bicycle can be divided into discrete episodes. Its origins date back to 1817 with Baron Karl von Drais's creation of a wooden-framed two-wheeler that rolled along as the rider's feet pushed against the ground. It enjoyed a brief vogue in Europe and the United States, but offered scant advantages over pedestrianism and within a few years the "draisine" was all but forgotten. The next phase in the two-wheeler's history presents an intriguing question for historians of technology: Why did so many years pass before someone thought of powering the front axle with crank and pedals? There may never be a satisfactory answer to this question, and even the awarding of credit for this insight remains a matter of some dispute. Whatever the ultimate source of its invention, there is no question that what came to be called the velocipede originated in Paris in 1867, and then diffused rapidly throughout the world.

The desire for increased speed next motivated the bicycle's evolution into that icon of late-nineteenth-century culture, the high-wheeler, or "penny-farthing," to use the apt British description. In accounting for the bicycling craze that accompanied first the velocipede and then the high-wheeler, David Herlihy focuses on cycling's clientele, and how the bicycle's ridership influenced its subsequent design. The high-wheeler was fast and uncomplicated, but it was not for the faint of heart; in fact, its inherent danger was a major part of the appeal it had for the young men who were its main users. But in the mid-1880s the bicycle broke out of this specialized niche with the invention of the "safety." Created in England by John Starley, with its relatively small wheels and chain drive it established the pattern that the great majority of bicycles adhere to today. From this point, the bicycle went on to occupy a variety of roles, retaining its traditional sporting and recreational functions while taking on a growing importance as a reliable, economical means of transport for the multitude.

In tracing the evolution of the bicycle, Herlihy operates primarily as a social historian, narrating how riders, entrepreneurs, and the general public have reacted to the bicycle and shaped the uses to which it has been put. On several occasions, he notes that the freedom offered by the bicycle helped to loosen the constraints of traditional sex roles. But the bicycle could not serve as a force for social emancipation by itself, as technological determinists might have it; many riders embodied the bigotry of their era when they excluded blacks and members of the white working class from their clubs and organizations.

While focusing on its social setting, Herlihy also devotes a fair amount of space to the bicycle's technical evolution. As with most significant innovations, the development of the bicycle has been a story of radical breakthroughs, such as the sprocket-and-chain drive that made the safety bicycle possible, which are then complemented by a host of incremental improvements. And while bicycle manufacturers made important innovations such as the tensioned-spoke wheel on their own, they also benefited from inventions from outside the industry, such as the pneumatic tire. Whatever their sources, bicycle technologies themselves diffused into other sectors, notably the infant automobile industry, which made abundant use of ball bearings, tube frames, chain...