The word bicycle came into use in Europe in 1868 to replace the cumbersome vélocipède de pedale. The first velocipede powered via pedals mounted on the front wheel was built in Paris during the early 1860s, but there is no conclusive evidence proving who conceived the idea of applying pedals to the front wheel or who actually did so. There is evidence that Pierre Lallement, a French mechanic, built and demonstrated such a machine in Paris in mid-1863. At that time he was working for M. Strohmayer, a Parisian maker of carriages for children and invalids. Lallement took parts for an improved velocipede with him when he went to the United States in 1865, and he completed his new veloce in Ansonia, Connecticut. Although a United States patent was issued in 1866, a manufacturer could not be enlisted, and Lallement returned to France sometime in 1868. In that same year, French velocipedes built by Michaux et Cie. (a company that made carriage locks) started a craze in America, and Lallement was able to sell his patent to American entrepreneur Calvin Witty for $2,000. This would soon have consequences for the American industry.

Pierre Michaux and his son Ernest presented their pedal-driven velocipede in the 1860s. The best evidence indicates that they built it in Paris in early 1864 (not 1861 or 1855, as stated in many histories), and a few more were built in 1865 and 1866. Some had malleable cast-iron frames, apparently in anticipation of large-scale production. Cranks and pedals were attached to the front wheel, which was 86 to 91 cm (34 to 36 inches) in diameter. The rear wheel was slightly smaller. Although the company filed no claim to the basic design, it patented a number of improvements in April 1868.

Major bicycle production in Britain began in 1868, when Rowley B. Turner took a Michaux bicycle to Britain and showed it to his uncle, Josiah Turner, manager of the Coventry Sewing Machine Company. Rowley Turner ordered 400 machines, which were slated to be sold in Britain and France. Although the French sales were ultimately lost because of the war there, the British market easily absorbed the entire batch.

Two British companies exhibited bicycles at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. Albert E. Pope, a Boston industrialist, liked what he saw and began to import British ordinaries. By 1880 the Pope Manufacturing Co. was making the Columbia, a copy of the British Duplex Excelsior. This was the beginning of the American bicycle industry. The ordinary’s cranks were directly connected to the front wheel, and its speed was limited by pedaling cadence and wheel diameter. Larger front wheels went faster and handled better on bad roads. Tension spoking allowed front wheels ranging from 40 to 60 inches (102 to 152 cm) in diameter, according to the owner’s leg length. Though these high bicycles were called ordinaries, by the 1890s the term penny-farthing had come into use as a pejorative, comparing the front wheel to the large British penny and the rear wheel to the much smaller farthing (quarter-penny). Ordinaries typically weighed about 40 pounds (18 kg), but track-racing models could weigh as little as 16 pounds (7 kg). The ordinary was inherently unsafe. Mounting and dismounting required skill, and the rider sat almost directly over the large front wheel. From that position he could be pitched forward onto his head by road hazards. Also, the ordinary was slowed by reverse pressure on the pedals or by a lever-operated spoon brake, and severe braking or even hard back-pedaling could pitch the rider forward. Finally, the ordinary was expensive, so that most riders were athletic young men from the upper and middle classes.

The essential features of the safety bicycle were: spoked wheels roughly 30 inches (76 cm) in diameter, a chain-driven rear wheel with the front chainwheel roughly twice as large as the rear sprocket, a low center of gravity, and direct front steering. Safety bicycles had decisive advantages in stability, braking, and ease of mounting. The first bicycle to provide all of these features and to achieve market acceptance was the 1885 Rover Safety designed by John Kemp Starley (James Starley’s nephew). Prior to 1885 many alternative designs were called safety bicycles, but, after the Rover pattern took over the market in the late 1880s, safety bicycles were simply called bicycles. The last catalog year for ordinaries in England was 1892.

The early safety bicycles had solid rubber tires. In 1888 the pneumatic tire was introduced by John Boyd Dunlop, a Scottish veterinarian living in Belfast. These provided a more comfortable ride with greatly reduced rolling resistance. By 1893 virtually all new bicycles had pneumatic tires which immensely increased their popularity. The pneumatic tire and the tension-spoked wheel did as much as the crank and pedal to establish the bicycle as a serious alternative to the horse. The 1890s saw mass production of practical bicycles with diamond-pattern frames, pneumatic tires, chain drives, and brakes. By the late 1890s most bicycles weighed only 25 to 35 pounds (11 to 16 kg).

The standardized design generated bicycle booms in Britain, the United States, and Europe, and hundreds of makers were spawned. In 1895 more than 800,000 bicycles were made in Britain. In 1899 more than 1.1 million bicycles were made in the United States. Large numbers of women started cycling, and the market greatly expanded; cycling came to symbolize the women’s movement. But the boom quickly ended, and bicycle sales plummeted, which resulted in numerous bankruptcies and much lower bicycle prices. The end of the bicycle boom is incorrectly blamed on the automobile, but a more likely reason was the dynamic growth of early mass transit systems such as streetcars, which provided an attractive alternative to bicycle travel—especially in poor weather.

Bicycle frame tubing is usually made of low-carbon steel. Better-quality bicycle frames use aluminum or chromium-molybdenum alloy steel. More expensive materials, such as titanium and carbon-fibre composites, also are used. The most common design is the traditional diamond frame, which is formed by two triangles of tubing. The main triangle consists of the top tube, the seat tube, and the down tube. The rear triangle consists of the seat tube, chain stays, and seat stays. The seat post and saddle fit on top of the seat tube. The bottom bracket holds the spindle and the cranks. The right crank carries the chainwheel (or chainwheels). The head tube holds the steering forks, the stem, and the handlebars. The step-through, or lady’s frame, has a lower top tube. Full-suspension mountain bikes use a different frame design with a pivoted rear triangle to provide rear wheel movement. There is no standard design.

Bicycle wheels have a rim to retain the tire, a ball-bearing hub, and spokes between hub and rim. Spokes are made of steel wire, laced tangentially and kept under tension by threaded nipples in the rims that are adjusted to keep the rim straight (true). Hub axles are held in the frame either by nuts or by a cam-action (quick-release) lever.

Rim diameters vary from 14 to 27 inches (36 to 69 cm), with the standard mountain bike rim being 26 inches and the standard road rim being 27 inches. Rim widths vary from ³/₄ inch to 1¹/₂ inches (2 to 4 cm). The rim cross section depends on the tire pressure and the brake type. Straight-side rims rely on the tire’s steel bead for retention. Hooked-edge rims rely on air pressure to hold the tire bead under the lip of the rim. Quality rims are extruded from aluminum alloy, and inexpensive rims are made from chrome-plated steel. Tubular rims are used with tubular racing tires, which are glued to the rim.

Inventors have developed a variety of methods to transmit power from the rider’s legs to the bicycle, but none can compete with the high efficiency, reliability, and low cost of chain drives. Derailleurs and internal hub gears are devices that allow riders to match pedaling speed (cadence) to changing terrain.

The rear derailleur moves the chain from one rear sprocket to the next. The front derailleur moves the chain from one front chainwheel to the next. By varying the size of the sprockets and chainwheels, the rear wheel can turn faster or slower than the crank. Modern bicycles have up to 10 sprockets on the rear freewheel and 3 chainwheels on the crank, providing a theoretical maximum of 30 different gear ratios. The rear derailleur includes a spring-loaded pulley to take up chain slack. In the 1990s simple levers for shifting were replaced by trigger and twist-grip mechanisms that precisely positioned the derailleurs in the centred positions and thereby reduced the skill required for shifting gears. Rear internal hub gears are available with 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 14 speeds. They are slightly less efficient than derailleurs.

Utility bicycles usually use a coaster brake inside the rear hub. The brake is activated by backpedaling. In developing countries rod brakes are often used. Rods connect the handlebar levers to stirrups that pull pads of friction material against the inside of the rim. Front and rear brakes on other bikes are actuated by cables connected to a brake lever on each handlebar. Caliper brakes squeeze two pads against the sides of the rim. Drum brakes that force two arcs of friction material against the inside of a steel drum on the hub are less common. Disc brakes have been designed for mountain bikes. They squeeze against a metal disc located near the hub instead of against the rims.

Symptoms of COVID-19 are highly variable, ranging from none to life-threatening illness. The virus spreads mainly through the air when people are near each other. It leaves an infected person as they breathe, cough, sneeze, or speak and enters another person via their mouth, nose, or eyes. It may also spread via contaminated surfaces. People remain infectious for up to two weeks, and can spread the virus even if they do not show symptoms.

Recommended preventive measures include social distancing, wearing face masks in public, ventilation and air-filtering, hand washing, covering one's mouth when sneezing or coughing, disinfecting surfaces, and monitoring and self-isolation for people exposed or symptomatic. Several vaccines are being developed and distributed. Current treatmentsfocus on addressing symptoms while work is underway to develop therapeutic drugs that inhibit the virus. Authorities worldwide have responded by implementing travel restrictions, lockdowns, workplace hazard controls, and facility closures. Many places have also worked to increase testing capacity and trace contacts of the infected.

The responses to the pandemic have resulted in global social and economic disruption, including the largest global recession since the Great Depression. It has led to the postponement or cancellation of events, widespread supply shortages exacerbated by panic buying, agricultural disruption and food shortages, and decreased emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases. Many educational institutions have been partially or fully closed. Misinformation has circulated through social media and mass media. The pandemic has raised issues of racial and geographic discrimination, xenophobia, health equity, and the balance between public health imperatives and individual rights.

Collectively terrified by this data, we spoke to Cycleplan MD John Woosey who gave us a few more facts and figures. “More than half of all cycle thefts in the UK occur in and around the victim’s home, most notably from gardens, passageways between houses and outbuildings such as sheds and garages. Despite this, only 5% of home content’s policies cover cycles outside of the home as standard.”