| Most of us got one when we were kids. Five | | | | over a bike ride. Bicycle sales started to go down. |
| years old seems about the age when kids are | | | | By the 1940s, the bicycle, which started out as |
| ready for their first ride. Getting your first bike is | | | | an adult form of transportation, was now being |
| really a time of excitement. Most kids probably | | | | viewed as a toy for kids. The bicycle fell on hard |
| had training wheels on their first bike, these were | | | | times until the 1960s when people had a renewed |
| used to keep the bike from falling down, while the | | | | interest in their health and in the environment. |
| kid was still on it. That was the trick with the | | | | Bicycle sales in the US really went up after the oil |
| bicycle, before you could learn to ride, you had to | | | | crisis in 1973. In the years to follow, we began to |
| learn how to not fall off the seat. Once you | | | | see more innovations with the bike; these included |
| learned how to ride, having your bike became a | | | | higher performing bikes and gears that went from |
| very liberating experience. It was probably your | | | | 3 up to 18 speeds.The bicycle has not only |
| first taste of independence; you could just get on | | | | survived, but it has done as great job of adapting |
| your bike and ride without needing help.The bicycle | | | | through time. It started out as being primarily for |
| has to be listed as one of the greatest inventions | | | | adult use and then it was reduced to a toy for |
| ever. No single person has been given credit for | | | | kids and today the bike has the best of all worlds. |
| that, but some of the earliest forms of bikes | | | | Kids still love getting their first bikes. Bicycles are |
| date back to the early 1800s. Karl Drais invented | | | | still used as a mode of transportation, especially |
| something called the dandy-horse in 1817. His | | | | on college campuses. And adults realize that riding |
| creation didn't have any pedals, so you had to | | | | a bike is a good way to stay in shape. Plus, sport |
| push it with your feet. In the 1860s, Frenchmen | | | | has created a whole new use for bicycles. There |
| Michaux and Lallement created the pedal. This | | | | is something called extreme sports where some |
| new version of the bike with pedals was called | | | | of the competition requires using a bicycle to do |
| the boneshaker. James Starley improved on the | | | | airborne tricks. This sport alone, has created |
| boneshaker and in 1885, he released his version | | | | massive exposure and added sales for the bicycle |
| of the bicycle, it was called the rover. The rover | | | | industry.The bicycle has created its own niche in |
| was considered the first modern type | | | | the world and has been able to fit into so many |
| bicycle.Bicycles have gradually evolved into a great | | | | different cultures. Unlike a lot of past inventions, |
| form of transportation. They were very popular, | | | | the bicycle is just as vital today as it was when it |
| but times change. The car became more | | | | was created. |
| affordable and people were choosing a car ride | | | | |