[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":111},["ShallowReactive",2],{"2JiJ_BxkXN8Y2WildLJ-EWvdLOWNUjjpZvam21xY1QQ":3,"article_whirlwind-engineering-history-bicycle_solidworks":10,"_apollo:default":109,"_apollo:identified":110},{"mailchimpAudience":4},{"actionUrl":5,"slug":6,"locale":7,"default":8,"__typename":9},"","whirlwind-engineering-history-bicycle","en","https:\u002F\u002F3ds.us3.list-manage.com\u002Fsubscribe\u002Fpost?u=ed4601044e1936748c0d2aa6b&id=e5080ff9fe&f_id=002d4de2f0","MailchimpAudience",{"posts":11},{"nodes":12,"__typename":108},[13],{"id":14,"slug":6,"title":15,"uri":16,"excerpt":17,"locale":18,"featuredImage":21,"tableOfContents":30,"content":31,"date":32,"authorJobTitle":5,"author":33,"masterings":43,"globalTags":47,"products":66,"disciplines":78,"seo":97,"__typename":107},"cG9zdDozMTk4MQ==","The Whirlwind Engineering History of the Bicycle","\u002Fproducts\u002Fsolidworks\u002Fwhirlwind-engineering-history-bicycle","\u003Cp>Stridewalkers, Boneshakers, Penny Farthings. The bicycle has been privy to some curious…\u003C\u002Fp>\n",{"locale":19,"__typename":20},"en_US","Locale",{"node":22,"__typename":29},{"large":23,"__typename":24,"medium_large":25,"thumbnail":26,"srcSet":27,"sizes":28},"https:\u002F\u002Fblog-assets.solidworks.com\u002Fuploads\u002F2025\u002F12\u002Fwatson_00001575-4781-1024x722.jpg.webp","MediaItem","https:\u002F\u002Fblog-assets.solidworks.com\u002Fuploads\u002F2025\u002F12\u002Fwatson_00001575-4781-768x542.jpg.webp","https:\u002F\u002Fblog-assets.solidworks.com\u002Fuploads\u002F2025\u002F12\u002Fwatson_00001575-4781-150x150.jpg.webp","https:\u002F\u002Fblog-assets.solidworks.com\u002Fuploads\u002F2025\u002F12\u002Fwatson_00001575-4781-1024x722.jpg.webp 1024w, https:\u002F\u002Fblog-assets.solidworks.com\u002Fuploads\u002F2025\u002F12\u002Fwatson_00001575-4781-300x212.jpg.webp 300w, https:\u002F\u002Fblog-assets.solidworks.com\u002Fuploads\u002F2025\u002F12\u002Fwatson_00001575-4781-768x542.jpg.webp 768w, https:\u002F\u002Fblog-assets.solidworks.com\u002Fuploads\u002F2025\u002F12\u002Fwatson_00001575-4781-1536x1084.jpg.webp 1536w, https:\u002F\u002Fblog-assets.solidworks.com\u002Fuploads\u002F2025\u002F12\u002Fwatson_00001575-4781-2048x1445.jpg.webp 2048w","(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px","NodeWithFeaturedImageToMediaItemConnectionEdge",[],"\u003Cp>Stridewalkers, Boneshakers, Penny Farthings. The bicycle has been privy to some curious iterations. Fetch your helmet, here’s a whistle-stop tour of the bike’s 220-year history.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Who needs nuclear power when you’ve got a bicycle?\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>That’s what the nation’s listeners of UK Radio 4 programme \u003Cem>You & Yours\u003C\u002Fem> decreed in 2005 when they \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fnews.bbc.co.uk\u002F1\u002Fhi\u002Ftechnology\u002F4513929.stm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">voted\u003C\u002Fa> the bicycle as the most significant technological innovation since 1800. In winning the poll – \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fnews.bbc.co.uk\u002F1\u002Fhi\u002Ftechnology\u002F4513929.stm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">emphatically\u003C\u002Fa> – the humble bike also batted away competition from the computer, radio, the internet, communications satellites, internal combustion engines and the germ theory of infection. Not bad.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>But what’s so special about two wheels, a frame and a saddle?\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Well, it turns out there’s rather more to it than that. So much so that today’s performance bikes are as much the work of \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.cyclingweekly.co.uk\u002Fnews\u002Flatest-news\u002Fmark-cavendishs-custom-2015-s-works-venge-152697\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">F1 engineers\u003C\u002Fa> as bike manufacturers. Yep, the bike’s wheels have rolled an awfully long way since the clunky wooden specimens of the eighteenth century.  Today the world’s \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fcomingthru.com\u002F2010\u002F07\u002F15-fun-facts-about-bicycles\u002F\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">one billion bikes\u003C\u002Fa> represent \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fcomingthru.com\u002F2010\u002F07\u002F15-fun-facts-about-bicycles\u002F\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the most efficient vehicle the world has ever seen\u003C\u002Fa>.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Behold its history.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\n1817: The world’s first bike?\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Step forward German inventor \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FKarl_Drais\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Karl Drais\u003C\u002Fa>, who in 1817 patented the design for his \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FKarl_Drais\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Laufmaschine\u003C\u002Fa> (translation: running machine). Riders straddled a wooden frame and – in the absence of pedals and chain propulsion – pushed their feet along the ground to get the wheels moving. Hence the distinctly sci-fi sounding nickname: Stridewalker.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003Cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"615\" height=\"461\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fblog-assets.solidworks.com\u002Fuploads\u002F2025\u002F12\u002Flaufmaschine_des_karl_drais_1817_-_deutsches_museum_verkehrszentrum-615x461-1.jpg.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-31983\" srcset=\"https:\u002F\u002Fblog-assets.solidworks.com\u002Fuploads\u002F2025\u002F12\u002Flaufmaschine_des_karl_drais_1817_-_deutsches_museum_verkehrszentrum-615x461-1.jpg.webp 615w, https:\u002F\u002Fblog-assets.solidworks.com\u002Fuploads\u002F2025\u002F12\u002Flaufmaschine_des_karl_drais_1817_-_deutsches_museum_verkehrszentrum-615x461-1-300x225.jpg.webp 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 615px) 100vw, 615px\" \u002F>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\u003Cp>1839: The birth of pedal power \u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FKirkpatrick_Macmillan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kirkpatrick MacMillan\u003C\u002Fa>, a Scottish blacksmith, makes what would become the most influential addition to the story of the bicycle: a mechanical crank-drive system attached to the rear wheel. Hello pedals, goodbye scuffed shoe soles.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\n1863: The Boneshaker becomes the world’s first mass-produced bicycle\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Building on MacMillan’s crank-drive innovation, \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FPierre_Michaux\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pierre Michaux\u003C\u002Fa> (another blacksmith) and his son Ernest developed the world’s first mass-produced bicycle in 1863. It was called the velocipede and had flanged wheels that endowed it with the unique ability to ride along rail tracks. Hmm. Back on the cobbled streets of the nineteenth century, the wooden-rimmed wheels were particularly unforgiving – earning Michaux’s bicycle the nickname ‘Boneshaker’.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003Cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"367\" height=\"472\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fblog-assets.solidworks.com\u002Fuploads\u002F2025\u002F12\u002F1869_boneshaker_bicycle_4.jpg.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-31984\" srcset=\"https:\u002F\u002Fblog-assets.solidworks.com\u002Fuploads\u002F2025\u002F12\u002F1869_boneshaker_bicycle_4.jpg.webp 367w, https:\u002F\u002Fblog-assets.solidworks.com\u002Fuploads\u002F2025\u002F12\u002F1869_boneshaker_bicycle_4-233x300.jpg.webp 233w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 367px) 100vw, 367px\" \u002F>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\u003Cp>Image Courtesy of \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.oldbike.eu\u002Fwordpress\u002F?page_id=5277\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">OldBike.eu\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>1870: The birth of the penny-farthing \u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>It might have looked ridiculous, but the \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FPenny-farthing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Penny-Farthing\u003C\u002Fa> was built to serve a very practical need: the need for speed. Without gearing, the only way to increase bicycle speed was to increase the size of the wheel attached to the pedals – and the enhanced availability of steel meant large wheels were a simple engineering challenge. Unfortunately, penny-farthings were incredibly difficult to mount, much less ride, and became the preserve of the brave, the skilful and the foolish.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\n1879: The birth of modern bicycles\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>During the late 1870s a number of inventors developed an alternative to the penny-farthing, marketed as the \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FSafety_bicycle\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">safety bicycle\u003C\u002Fa> for obvious reasons. With a chain drive that allowed the rider to sit at the centre of the frame, a height that made it easy for riders to reach the ground and wheels that were broadly the same size, the safety bicycle fuelled the surge of bicycle popularity in the 1890s and the birth of companies such as Raleigh and Schwinn. The same design is used to this day. Yep, for the last 140 years all we’ve been doing is tweaking a design classic.\n1888: Watch where you tread\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Scottish veterinary surgeon and inventor \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FJohn_Boyd_Dunlop\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">John Dunlop\u003C\u002Fa> is the first to add pneumatic tyres to a bike while successfully attempting to make his son’s tricycle safer. He then brought his innovation to cycle racing and it was quickly adopted. The following fifty years was a time of major innovation in terms of gearing, brakes and derailleurs.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\n1940: Changing gear gets simple\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Italian bicycle component manufacturer par excellence Campagnolo invent a derailleur called the cambio corsa. It’s revolutionary. Instead of stopping and flipping their rear wheel to change gear, riders can simply flick a rod located above the rear wheel.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\n1986: The clamour for carbon\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>The 1980s were the dawn of an era of serious engineering innovation for bikes. Suddenly the everyday consumer could purchase BMXs, mountain bikes, road bikes, commuter bikes, elite racing bikes, tandems and more. One of the most major innovations of the 80s comes when manufacturer Look produce a racing bike with a carbon fibre frame. Ridden by Greg LeMond, Look’s KG86 wins the 1986 \u003Cem>Tour de France\u003C\u002Fem>.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003Cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"615\" height=\"434\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fblog-assets.solidworks.com\u002Fuploads\u002F2025\u002F12\u002Fwatson_00001575-4781-615x434-1.jpg.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-31985\" srcset=\"https:\u002F\u002Fblog-assets.solidworks.com\u002Fuploads\u002F2025\u002F12\u002Fwatson_00001575-4781-615x434-1.jpg.webp 615w, https:\u002F\u002Fblog-assets.solidworks.com\u002Fuploads\u002F2025\u002F12\u002Fwatson_00001575-4781-615x434-1-300x212.jpg.webp 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 615px) 100vw, 615px\" \u002F>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\u003Cp>Image Courtesy of \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.cyclingweekly.co.uk\u002Fcycling-weekly\u002Fthe-top-10-game-changing-road-bikes-172711\">Cycling Weekly\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>1990: The UCI define what a bicycle is\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>UCI, the governing body of cycling, define what a bicycle is. All race bikes must abide these parameters and bicycle engineers everywhere have a strict set of limitations within which to innovate.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\nWhat’s the future of bikes?\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>The UCI parameters mean that the basic design of bicycles for competitive races isn’t going to change anytime soon. That doesn’t mean visionaries can’t have their fun with concept bikes and commuter bikes. Oh and lest we forget the revolutionary trikes that Van Raam have \u003Ca href=\".\u002Fbrands\u002Fsolidworksblog\u002F2016\u002F05\u002Fsolidworks-assisting-van-raams-bike-builds.html\">developed in SOLIDWORKS\u003C\u002Fa> for those with mobility issues and their carers.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>>> \u003Ca href=\".\u002Fbrands\u002Fsolidworksblog\u002F2016\u002F05\u002Fsolidworks-assisting-van-raams-bike-builds.html\">How SOLIDWORKS is assisting Van Raam’s bike builds\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>>> \u003Ca href=\".\u002Fbrands\u002Fsolidworksblog\u002Fsearch\u002Fheadkayse\">Headkayse Improves Cyclist Safety with Folding Helmet\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fp>","2017-06-20T09:03:19",{"node":34,"__typename":42},{"nicename":35,"description":36,"slug":35,"name":37,"firstName":5,"lastName":5,"avatar":38,"__typename":41},"tgreenwell","Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp. offers complete 3D software tools that let you create, simulate, publish, and manage your data. SolidWorks products are easy to learn and use, and work together to help you design products better, faster, and more cost-effectively. The SolidWorks focus on ease-of-use allows more engineers, designers and other technology professionals than ever before to take advantage of 3D in bringing their designs to life.","SOLIDWORKS UK",{"url":39,"__typename":40},"https:\u002F\u002Fblog-assets.solidworks.com\u002Fuploads\u002F2025\u002F12\u002Fc84035a7d2eb9ede8f23fa6104dc2e5c_400x400.png.webp","Avatar","User","NodeWithAuthorToUserConnectionEdge",{"nodes":44,"edges":45,"__typename":46},[],[],"PostToTaxonomy_masteringConnection",{"nodes":48,"__typename":65},[49,55,60],{"id":50,"name":51,"slug":52,"uri":53,"__typename":54},"dGVybTo5NjAx","3D CAD","3d-cad","\u002Ftags\u002F3d-cad\u002F","Taxonomy_tag",{"id":56,"name":57,"slug":58,"uri":59,"__typename":54},"dGVybTo5NTk5","Design","design","\u002Ftags\u002Fdesign\u002F",{"id":61,"name":62,"slug":63,"uri":64,"__typename":54},"dGVybTo5NjAz","SOLIDWORKS","solidworks","\u002Ftags\u002Fsolidworks\u002F","PostToTaxonomy_tagConnection",{"edges":67,"nodes":75,"__typename":77},[68],{"isPrimary":69,"node":70,"__typename":74},false,{"id":71,"name":62,"slug":63,"uri":72,"__typename":73},"dGVybTo1Ng==","\u002Fproducts\u002Fsolidworks\u002F","Taxonomy_product","PostToTaxonomy_productConnectionEdge",[76],{"id":71,"name":62,"slug":63,"uri":72,"__typename":73},"PostToTaxonomy_productConnection",{"nodes":79,"edges":92,"__typename":96},[80],{"id":81,"name":51,"slug":52,"uri":82,"parentId":83,"disciplines":84,"__typename":91},"dGVybTo2MA==","\u002Fdisciplines\u002F3d-cad\u002F","dGVybTo1OA==",{"nodes":85,"__typename":90},[86],{"title":51,"uri":87,"parentId":88,"__typename":89},"\u002Fdisciplines\u002Fdesign-engineering\u002F3d-cad","cG9zdDozNzcz","Discipline","Taxonomy_disciplineToDisciplineConnection","Taxonomy_discipline",[93],{"isPrimary":69,"node":94,"__typename":95},{"parentId":83,"id":81,"name":51,"slug":52,"uri":82,"__typename":91},"PostToTaxonomy_disciplineConnectionEdge","PostToTaxonomy_disciplineConnection",{"canonical":5,"title":98,"metaDesc":5,"opengraphAuthor":5,"opengraphDescription":99,"opengraphTitle":15,"opengraphUrl":100,"opengraphSiteName":101,"opengraphPublishedTime":102,"opengraphModifiedTime":103,"twitterTitle":5,"twitterDescription":5,"readingTime":104,"metaRobotsNoindex":105,"__typename":106},"The Whirlwind Engineering History of the Bicycle - Blog Solidworks","Stridewalkers, Boneshakers, Penny Farthings. The bicycle has been privy to some curious…","\u002Fproducts\u002Fsolidworks\u002Fwhirlwind-engineering-history-bicycle\u002F","Blog Solidworks","2017-06-20T13:03:19+00:00","2026-02-13T02:04:37+00:00",4,"noindex","PostTypeSEO","Post","RootQueryToPostConnection",{},{},1777121079606]