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There are several early claims regarding the invention of the bicycle, but many remain unverified. A sketch from around 1500 AD is attributed to Gian Giacomo Caprotti, a pupil of Leonardo da Vinci, but it was described by Hans-Erhard Lessing in 1998 as a purposeful fraud, a description now generally accepted.
In the early 1860s the first true bicycle was created in Paris, France, by attaching rotary cranks and pedals to the front wheel hub of a dandy-horse. The Olivier brothers recognized the commercial potential of this invention, and set up a partnership with blacksmith and bicycle maker Pierre Michaux, using Michaux's name, already famous among enthusiasts of the new sport, for the company.
1890s – Bike boom sweeps Europe and America with hundreds of bicycle manufacturers in the biggest bicycle craze to date; 1890 - The City and South London Railway (C&SLR) was the first deep-level underground "tube" railway in the world, [31] [note 1] and the first major railway to use electric traction; 1893 - Recumbent bicycles invented.
Today many people ride bikes to work for a variety of reasons including fitness, environmental concerns, convenience, frugality, and enjoyment. According to the US Census Bureau’s 2008 American Community Survey(ACS) , on September 22, 2009, 0.55 percent of Americans use a bicycle as the primary means of getting to work. [ 8 ]
In 1884 he acquired a black-enameled Columbia 50-inch 'Standard' penny-farthing with nickel-plated wheels, built by the Pope Manufacturing Company of Chicago. He packed his handlebar bag with socks, a spare shirt, a raincoat that doubled as tent and bedroll, and a pocket revolver (described as a "bull-dog revolver", perhaps a British Bull Dog revolver) and left San Francisco at 8 o'clock on 22 ...
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A marble sculpture bought for $6 and used as a doorstep could be about to make a fortune. The bust, made by French sculptor Edmé Bouchardon, could make over $3 million at auction after a local ...