# Bicycle question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bicycle-question/200776>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 10, 2003, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bicycle-question/200776 "2003-09-10T15:49:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![insider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@insider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/insider)\
**Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bicycle-question/200776/1 "2003-09-10T15:49:22Z")

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Who invented the bicycle? The tricycle? When is the first historical reference to the bicycle?

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**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\
**Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bicycle-question/200776/2 "2003-09-10T16:16:44Z")

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Although Leonardo da Vinci made a sketch of a bicycle in c1500, the first two-wheeled human powered vehicle is generally thought to be the Draisienne invented by a German, Baron von Drais in 1817. It didn’t have pedals. The first bicycle with pedals was the MacMillan velocipede (1839). The first use of a bicycle chain was in 1878 by Otto and Wallace. The earliest modern looking bike (equal sized wheels, chain driven rear wheel) was made in 1885 by John Kemp Starley.

The earliest tricycle was a Velocipede made in 1868.

Some bike history sites:

[http://members.aol.com/yankpedal/history.htm](http://members.aol.com/yankpedal/history.htm)

[http://www.cycle-info.bpaj.or.jp/english/learn/chistory.html](http://www.cycle-info.bpaj.or.jp/english/learn/chistory.html)

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**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\
**Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bicycle-question/200776/3 "2003-09-10T16:52:49Z")

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Short nitpick: There’s evidence suggesting that the sketch on a da Vinci sheet was not drawn by Leonard himself but that it more likely is a hoax from the 20th century.

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**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\
**Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bicycle-question/200776/4 "2003-09-10T18:04:36Z")

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Shnitte – any good sources for that? It sounds plausible, and I found a site with a brief mention of the sketch as questionable, but I’d hate to give up my DaVinci bicycle T-shirt without a little more info.