Top 10 facts about bicycles
THIS is Bike Week, encouraging everyone to make cycling part of their everyday lives. You can find out all about it at bikeweek.org.uk
Top 10 Facts About Bicycles
You can find out all about it at bikeweek.org.uk.
1. There are more bicycles in the world than motorcars.
2. About 400 million of the world’s one billion bicycles are in China.
3. The earliest form of a bicycle was a wooden plank mounted on two wheels with a cushion to sit on invented by Comte Mede de Sivrac in 1790.
4. This was improved in 1817 by the German baron Karl Drais von Sauerbronn, who added handlebars that allowed his cycle to be steered.
5. Both these devices were propelled by the rider’s feet on the ground. Modern bicycles arrived in 1839 when Kirkpatrick Macmillan added pedals.
6. These early cycles were called velocipedes. The word ‘bicycle’ arrived only in 1868.
7. In 2001, Javier Zapata (Colombia) cycled up 1,200 stairs at the Parque Central Tower in Venezuela.
8. There were 482,000 bicycle thefts in England and Wales in 2012. That’s almost one every minute.
9. There are more than 96,000 bicycle-related patents at the European Patent Office.
10. These include about 20 devices allowing a cyclist to exercise a dog while riding the bike.
