Drais's dandy horse, the first bicycle

Name: Drais's dandy horse, the first bicycle
Start: 1817
Location: Mannheim

1817 · Mannheim · Europe · Science

The first bicycle had no pedals: you pushed with your feet

Drais's dandy horse, the first bicycle — Gun Powder Ma · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

In 1817 Baron Karl Drais built a two-wheeled 'running machine', the first bicycle. It had no pedals: the rider pushed off the ground and on a level road reached about 16 km/h, twice walking pace. The English nicknamed it the dandy horse.

State: Grand Duchy of Baden

Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 19th century

Did you know

The bicycle may owe its birth to a volcano. After Tambora erupted in 1815, Europe had its 'year without a summer' and horses died for lack of feed; one theory holds that this is why Karl Drais built his horseless running machine. Share →

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