Many people call pedal bicycles push bikes. Early examples of bicycle demonstrate how wrong they are as they in fact had no pedals and so really were push bikes. Not much good for going uphill, and downhill could be quite adventurous as the only brake was your boot. The illustration shows a great advance as it depicts an early pedal bicycle. As you can see the pedal axis is the front axle and consequently there is no chain involved. This should have pleased Estate Agents of the time.

Notice, however, that it does have a sprung saddle. As the wheels were wooden and the roads in the nineteenth century weren’t very good, this is probably just as well.

The push bicycle was invented in France but Britain developed the pedal version. The illustration depicts a splendid example of Victorian manufacture which was built in Coventry, a city that pioneered bicycle development and later became famous for production of motorcycles.

Early bicycles were really only practical for town use where roads were principally cobblestoned. Not until Telford and Macadam developed the road system and the invention of the chain which produced final drive gearing did this mode of transport catch on. During the middle years of the 20th century it became very popular indeed until people could afford motor cars. Nowadays, although bicycles are still used to a great extent in some parts of Europe, for instance Amsterdam and Copenhagen, in Britain there are only two types of people who still use them. These are youths who normally try to run you down on paths through woodland and Liberal Democrats who wear little helmets and Lycra shorts and get in the way of your car.