Much to the chagrin of amateur
history Claude Reynaud, the 200th anniversary of the invention of
the bicycle is likely to pass by with little pomp or fanfare as millions of
pairs of eyes gaze at television screens or from the roadside to watch Chris
Froome and his rivals battle for yellow jersey glory.
Billions of people use bicycles,
many on a daily basis, and yet few are aware of this important milestone.
Reynaud has fought a 50-year battle to defend the memory of the invention of
the bicycle. He even houses a museum in its honor at his chateau in Domazan, in
the Occitanie region of France. Reynaud said it was on June 12, 1817 that “for
the first time, a man took a two-wheeler and went on a road” in the Mannheim
region of what was then the Grand Duchy of Baden, now part of Southwest
Germany.
Baron Drais’s “velocipede”
(nicknamed the ‘dandy horse’) had no petals or a chain and required the rider
to propel his “Laufmaschine” (running machine) by pushing off the ground with
his feet. But the Baron’s genius was that “he discovered balance on two wheels”.
“Like all ingenious inventions, it seems obvious, but someone had to think it. He
invented the two-wheeler!”
However, the running machine was far
from a resounding success and had its faults, notably proving difficult to
control on bumpy surfaces. When Drais organized a demonstration of the velocipede
at the Jardin de Luxembourg Park in Paris in 1818, “it was a disaster”. At
first, it didn’t work; he couldn’t sell it, people made fun of it. But the idea
had taken root and was soon being copied, particularly in France, although many
draisines were adorned with horse’s heads. In 1866, Pierre Lallement attached
pedals to the draisine and invented a pedal-powered velocipede.
The next stage in the development
of bicycle saw a huge front wheel attached with a small rear wheel, but it was
a machine that was far from stable and resulted in some spectacular crashes. It
wasn’t until 1885 that two similar-sized wheels were attached to the
velocipede. After that it was just a case of technical improvements, but all
the ideas already existed – brake cables, pedals, chains. The bicycle enjoyed
an exponential success, especially from 1890 with the invention of the tyre.
Reynaud Chateau de Bosc welcomes 6,000 visitors to its museum but the amateur
historian’s greatest regret is that he doesn’t own an original Laufmaschine to
put on display.
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