The bicycle ranks as one of the most enduring, most widely used vehicles in the world, with more than a billion produced during almost two hundred years of cycling history. Today, it continues to be popular as a convenient and eco-friendly mode of transportation. In honor of Bike Awareness Day and Bike to Work Week, enjoy these images depicting bicycles throughout history from Bicycle Design: An Illustrated History by Tony Hadland and Hans-Erhard Lessing.
Cover of Bicycle Design by Tony Hadland and Hans-Erhard Lessing. Cover images: a plate, published by Karl Drais in 1817, depicting a Badenian army staff messenger (top). Group Lotus plc (bottom).
Left: Rives’s bicycle, with wooden wheels circa 1869. Right: Meyer’s all-steel bicycle, circa 1869.
An 1879 Bayliss & Thomas 55-inch Duplex Excelsior.
An 1894 Crypto Bantam No. 2.
The J-Rad, a recumbent of the early 1920s.
MIT Professor David Gordon Wilson on a Fomac Avatar recumbent. Inset: An Avatar 2000 (patent drawing).