Developing a New Form of Exercise

     Bikes are a very common form of transportation today. Stationary bikes are also a very popular form of exercise today.

This form of exercise has a fairly long history of development and invention. It was not until 1890 that the bicycle began to be mass produced.

At this time the bicycle was seen both as practical and a great recreational activity. Women also began to ride bicycles on a much larger scale than they had previously done.

Four years later Betty Bloomer's bloomers rose in popularity. Previous to this time, women could only ride adult size tricycles around the park because of the limitations of their long skirts.

However, new developments allowed the women to ride normal bikes and still stay modest. Bicycles were also influential in removing the bustle and corset as part of high fashion.

This was the beginning of what became known as "common-sense dressing" for women. The new clothing fashion increased the ability for women to move greatly.

Bamboo bikes were also developed this year as well as the bicycle messenger business. Bicycle messaging began in California when a railway strike stopped the flow of mail around the Bay area.

A bicycle shop owner formulated this idea and set up a relay that ran between Fresno and San Francisco. Six riders were able to cover about 30 miles each with a seventh rider going the last 60 miles.

Annie Cohan, also known as Annie Londonderry, begins her epic bicycle trip around the world this year as well. She would not finish her trip until the next year.

In 1895, Ignatz Schwinn and Adolph Arnold created the Arnold, Schwinn, and Company. They began to produce bikes.

In addition Albert Pope purchased 75 small bicycle manufacturers. His holdings became the American Bicycle Company.

In 1898, Major Taylor became the American cycling sprint champion. He was also the fastest among the European champions.

Major Taylor was among the first of black athletes to become a world champion in any sport as well. He set many records in his time.

In 1903 Sturmey Archer invented the internal hub gear. Twenty-seven years later hardly any bikes were produced without these internal gears.

This lasted until the 1950s when the parallelogram derailleur was introduced. Then, this device was widely used on bicycles around the world.

In 1920 the automobile rose as the preferable form of transportation. The popularity of bicycles declines until they became known as a child's toy.

Bikes designed for children were created right after World War I in an effort to bring back the bicycle industry. Mead, Sears Roebuck, and Montgomery ward were among the first to manufacture children's bikes.

Schwinn did not begin manufacturing children's bikes until later, but they are still referred to as the 'classic' bike today. They also created bikes with automobile and motorcycle parts to market to the older children who would rather have a motor instead of a child's toy.

This was the beginning of the motorcycle. In 1930 Tullion Campagnolo patented the quick release hub.

A decade later in the 1930's, Schwinn developed bikes with fat tires, spring forks, and stream line Excelsiors. These bikes were designed to put up with the rough use of teenage boys.

This was the first mountain bike design. The Exelsior frames were the basis for the first intentional mountain bike that was designed five decades later.

In 1938, Simplex introduced their cable shifted derailleur. This was followed by Tullio Campagnolo's cable-operated parallelogram derailleur in the 1950s.

For the next twenty years Campagnolo bikes dominated the racing competitions. By the end of his career he had obtained 135 patents.

In 1958, women rode in the World Championships for road and track for the first time. Balina Ermolaeva became the first women's World Sprint Champion with Elsy Jacobs winning first place on the road races.

Four years later the bicycle makes a comeback in popularity as a form of exercise. The President's Council of Physical Fitness was developed and new models of bikes designed to market to the exercising audience.

The English 3-speed was the most popular consumer bicycle during 1962. However the 10-speed derailleur was the ultimate racing bike of the time.

This racing bike was very popular in America. In 1970 awareness of the environment, air pollution, and other destructive habits caused people to turn back to bicycles as a form of transportation.

Today bicycles are still very popular for exercise and transportation.

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