Innovation: Bicycles

Living in a small, mountainous, resort town for most of my life has caused me to treat bicycles as tools for recreation and keeping up a standard fitness level. One generally doesn’t ride to school in three inches of snow…* However, my newfound proximity to the UC Davis campus has brought home the point that, yes, actually, bikes are an effective mode of transportation.

But how did bikes evolve to their current state? Answer: Innovation upon innovation; taking an old model, learning and understanding how it works, and then rebuilding it to be more efficient, more cost-effective, and – most importantly for the “stereotypical designer” – more fashionable.

A brief history of the bicycle: in 1817, the first machine resembling a modern bicycle was invented by Baron Karl von Drais in the forests of central Germany. “The bicycle was wooden with two wheels, a seat and handle bars” (1). By 1839 – a short series of evolutions later – the first modern bike was made by Kirkpatrick Macmillan. The father-son team of Pierre and Earnest Michaux – who were formerly credited with inventing the bicycle – designed the first pedal and gearing system in 1861. By the end of the decade, rubber tires were being used. The ‘Penny-Farthing’ bicycle (the one with the large front tire) was invented in 1870 by James Starley, and from there, the evolution into the modern day road and mountain bikes was fairly straightforward. An interesting tidbit: it was discovered in 1966 that a student of Leonardo Da Vinci had drafted plans for a bicycle as early as 1490, though the creative process halted there.

As was discussed in the last post, novelty doesn’t exist, so the only “original” ideas are based on old technology – essentially innovations. We build on the shoulders of giants. The most energy-efficient, effective mode of transportation –and the symbol for the city of Davis, California – was dreamed up in 1490, and then was redesigned hundreds of times to reach its current state. This process will continue for another 500 years because that’s how innovation works.
It will be fun to see how much my new favorite method of transportation has changed by then…

*In fact, one doesn’t necessarily go to school at all; “Dude, the powdah’s not gonna’ wait.”

1. http://library.thinkquest.org/J002670/past2.htm

Image (Penny-Farthing): http://www.uh.edu/engines/bicycle.gif